Info on dyne.org
Dyne.org is a non-profit effort lead by a grassroot committee of hackers dedicated to development of free and open source software to leverage access to technology for the freedom of expression.
We act as an international network of experts syndicating and contributing to diverse digital developments for their quality and role within societies: we share peer reviews, mutual support and resources for the sustainability of peace, justice and prosperity.Definitions
Dyne
One dyne is the force required to cause a mass of one gram to accelerate at a rate of one centimeter per second squared in the absence of other force-producing effects.
A dyne is 100.000 times a Newton.
The dyne measure has been established by Heraclitus, a greek philosopher born at Ephesus around 540 b.C., whom once also said that much learning does not teach understanding.
Panta rei
Hackers
By using the term hacker we mean:
- A migratory lifeform with a tropism for computers.
- One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
- A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
- One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
- An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in a Unix hacker.
- An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
Grassroots
Grassroot is a spontaneous, non-hierarchical and passional way to participate and do things, which you can see as deeply different if not opposed to the Corporate way.
The fundamentals of this network are subjects, defining by their interaction with our connected codes: dyne.org is not represented neither subsumes them. Subjectivity emerges by the code that has published, its need to exist not induced by advertised desires, rather than material needs and utopias.
"If you trust entirely what big corporations tell you, you may end up massively obese with only one muscle in your channel changing finger." – Story Henry on GNU Social mailing-list
Theory and practice can't be separated in our network of autonomous peers: while the participation is open, development tools and documentation are shared so that anyone can train independently to interact with each other, peer to peer, without a center.
Free and Open Source Software
FOSS implies 4 fundamental freedoms: the freedom to run the program, for any purpose; the freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs; the freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour; the freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
We consider this total freedom (as in libre, not simply as in gratis) extremely important, as it leaves people autonomous in creating their own local economies to self sustain development efforts. Being free to modify, redistribute and even resell immaterial goods renders local efforts independent from neo-colonialist economies: players weakened by the global market can develop independently, still cooperating on a globally shared source base.
Community
A young and displaced brotherhood of hackers, alchemists, radio amateurs, mathematicians and nomads.
The Freaknet is an on-site medialab, museum and poetry hacklab in the Mediterranean island of Sicily, surviving since 1994 the hostile environment of South Italian criminal administration and cultural repression.
The Hackmeeting is since 1998 the annual gathering of computer and reality hackers, an auto-organized TAZ inspired by people and projects at CCC, 2600, GNU and EFF.
Servus.at supported the birth of this digital community since the very beginning, hosting it in the digital space, offering solidarity and support for our on-line operations.
Our digital community is born from these on-site communities and even more on-line, in the past 8 years it gathered a wider international participation that interacts on software development and network cultures.
History
Dyne.org appeared online in 2000 when the HasciiCam software was published: an invention widely appreciated for its artistic value and for making possible to broadcast live video using old hardware from a slow network connection.
Once upon a time dyne.org homepage consisted of its skin-like coloured background, the upper menu recited "korova, muse, ascii, proximity, theorema, timezones, conspire" while a transforming Moebius band decorated the center of the page, tagged with a quote from Gertrude Stein
a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Inspired by a mix of software and poetry, a growing network of developers released to the public software made to insure freedom of expression, configuring dyne.org as a free software atelier, a portal to Digital Creation and Media Art.
dyne.org software is redistributed by:
- Ibiblio public library archive
- Free Software Foundation (USA)
- Ircam, Centre Pompidou (FR)
- Providence Univ. Taichung (TW)
- Tecnhische Univ. Ilmenau (DE)
- Netherlands Unix User Group (NL)
- Computação / Uni de Campinas (BR)
- Heraklion University Crete (GR)
and many others.
Openness, knowledge sharing and freedom of creation have been the philosophical principles guiding the evolution of dyne.org, hosting creations that have been conceptualised not for a profit, but for their role within society.
Technology
The reuse of old technology, the preservation of old computer and of our "digital past" (software, documentations and media supports) is for us a way to stop the unsustainable consumerist way of producing technology nowadays.
For our software creations we use programming techniques based on the GNU and BSD traditions of coding, which are carefully cultivated even by the youngest programmers of our community.
The dyne Operating System
Press reviews:
dyne:bolic GNU/Linux multimedia live CD is developed since 2001. As a 100% free operating system, this GNU/Linux distribution is among the few recommended by the Free Software Foundation. You can employ this live-CD without the need to install anything: the easiest installation ever.
dyne:bolic is an operating system shaped on the needs of media activists, artists and creatives as a practical tool for multimedia production: you can manipulate and broadcast both sound and video.
It is optimised to run on old computers, turning them into a full media stations: the minimum you need is a pentium 1 with 64Mb RAM and IDE CD-ROM, or even a game console.
It supports strong encryption for private data that can be carried around and flexibly employed on usb sticks.
dyne:bolic is part of the Linux Audio Consortium and has been nominated among the top 10 open source projects in 2005, in its lifespan this project has been redistributed by several magazines and publications all across the world, up to the realistic estimation of more than one million copies.
Mission
To promote the idea and practice of open source knowledge sharing within civil society: by fostering research, development, production and distribution of free software solutions when employing public resources.
To open the participation to on-line and on-site communities, leveraging the democratic and horizontal access to technology, lowering the economical requisites to its accessibility, redistributing power to grass-root communities.
To foster employment of free software in education and creativity: exploring new forms of expression and interaction, disseminating new languages that can be freely adopted and re-elaborated by everyone, insuring the long term conservation of digital artworks.
To support free software development, also when non-profitable: being software a socially relevant media it should not be invented and maintained only on the basis of its merchantability.
Strategy
The community of FOSS users still consists mostly of insiders, while the potential of the developed software has reached an outstanding quality that can improve computing tasks in a growing number of applications.
FOSS solutions offer a wider degree of freedom: software that can be adapted to specific needs and can evolve following the needs of the community of its users and developers.
Free software for the freedom of speech
It's an important strategic goal for dyne.org to provide free software based solutions to facilitate horizontal communication between peers in absence of hierarchical powers and control, to enhance freedom of speech and expressive practices that are not depending from established corporations and judicial monopolies.
Free software for netecology
Development should be aware of all environmental issues connected to it and, as such, keep the research focused, whenever possible, on recycling technical equipment that is already existing, develop environmental friendly systems, find ways to optimise the use of energy sources employed.