In this talk, we explore the idea that “Community Tech” is a response to sociodigital transformation. Everyday we are bombarded by news of the advances of “Big Tech”, from digital innovations such as AI, to problems circulating around social media and online harm, to ever faster broadband connections and the Internet of Things. Sometimes, advances in technology seem to progress without our involvement or consent, appearing in our lives, taking centre stage, and dominating the ways that we live and work.
But what are the alternatives and where might these tech alternatives emerge from? Are communities the answer, and if they are what are the alternatives that they can propose? What of tech that is focussed on sharing, care, networks, conversation, and need? What kind of future does this kind of tech help us to imagine? How might we, through cooperative models of ownership and design ensure that tech works to benefit society?
Bringing together ideas and practises from community economies, tools of conviviality, and alternative ways of organizing, we discuss how communities might engage in positive ways with tech to navigate the challenges of sociodigital transformation.
//Matt Dowse
Matt is a Post doc researcher at the ESRC Centre of Sociodigital Futures at the University of Bristol. Founded in 2022, the Centre brings together world-leading interdisciplinary expertise to explore sociodigital futures in the making to support fair and sustainable ways of life. The work of the centre asks questions about a world where society and digital technology are increasingly bound together. Matt’s current research is to understand more about community tech, the practices that make it, and what claims about the future are being made by those people who do it.
//Nick Sellen
Nick is a tech practitioner from Bath, interested in deeper economic and social transformation using technology that is rooted in community. He is the main developer of the Karrot community organising platform, which supports groups of people that want to coordinate activities on a local, autonomous and voluntary basis.
//Peter Lewis - Peter is a software engineer at the University of Bath, where he heads up the End User Compute team, responsible for many of the tools, devices, and management systems that support the university’s day-to-day digital operations. Outside of work, he’s passionate about reducing reliance on centralised tech platforms by making self-hosted, privacy-respecting, and resilient alternatives more accessible. Peter also serves as a Parish Councillor in Batheaston, where he leads the Nature and Environment Working Group, supporting local projects that strengthen both the community and its surroundings.
//Bryn Jones - (University of Bath) has written about the power of 'platform corporations' as part of his academic research into the politics of corporate business (Corporate Power and Social Responsibility, Edward Elgar publishing). This research includes papers for EU lobby groups. He is Education Officer for Bath and West Co-operative Party and chair of Bath Cooperative Alliance.
We suggest that sustainability comes from the ways of organizing that emerge from the entanglement of technology and community in everyday lives and what is at stake.
Ticket Donation - PAY WHAT YOU CAN
We welcome all those who are interested to discuss community tech and sociodigital transformation. This event is funded by Bath Cooperative Alliance, any donations are greatly appreciated to recover venue hire costs and speaker travel expenses.
Venue Information
The Museum of Bath at Work is walking distance from Bath's commercial centre. Please see here for venue accessibility information: https://museumofbath.org/visit/ the event will take place in the venue's top gallery - accessible via lift.
