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Mesh Networks @ PublicSpaces Conference 2025
Panel - How do we communicate when disaster strikes?
Western Europe is slowly coming to grips with the fact that all the digital
infrastructures we depend on, may not be as dependable as we all
thought. Network architectures come with their own infrastructural ideologies
embedded in them. They are not just a medium for the circulation of digital
messages, but also distribute power in particular ways. With the wars in Ukraine
and Gaza intensifying, and the U.S. taking a more antagonistic approach than
Europe had been used to, Europe is increasingly re-evaluating its choices with
regards to our communications infrastructures.
Some community-led initiatives are gaining prominence that focus on implementing
pilots or prototypes of mesh networks: communication infrastructures that are by
design much more decentralised or federated than the centralised communications
infrastructures we have become used to. Thereby pinpointing and highlighting key
weaknesses in how we have come to depend on central providers that are not
infallible. Perhaps it’s these mesh-type networks that are essential to becoming
a more resilient society?
In this session, we hear from Radical Data and their mesh networks initiative,
which participants of the conference can join themselves and experiment with.
Next to that, Maxigas will describe the Reticulum protocol for building local
and wide-area networks with readily available hardware, which comes with an
anti-military licence and a bottom up user community also active in Amsterdam.
It is an interesting example because of the attempt of its designers and users
to embed social values into the technical choices of protocol design,
implementation and deployment. Lastly, we learn about the Black-out Box, an
initiative by Waag Futurelab which is part of the Meshtastic network, a network
of hackers and organisations experimenting with a LoRa mesh-network that
functions fully independent of the internet. And may be part of an emergency
network in case all else fails.
Speakers:
https://conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/mesh-networks-1
View all episodes
By Panel - How do we communicate when disaster strikes?
Western Europe is slowly coming to grips with the fact that all the digital
infrastructures we depend on, may not be as dependable as we all
thought. Network architectures come with their own infrastructural ideologies
embedded in them. They are not just a medium for the circulation of digital
messages, but also distribute power in particular ways. With the wars in Ukraine
and Gaza intensifying, and the U.S. taking a more antagonistic approach than
Europe had been used to, Europe is increasingly re-evaluating its choices with
regards to our communications infrastructures.
Some community-led initiatives are gaining prominence that focus on implementing
pilots or prototypes of mesh networks: communication infrastructures that are by
design much more decentralised or federated than the centralised communications
infrastructures we have become used to. Thereby pinpointing and highlighting key
weaknesses in how we have come to depend on central providers that are not
infallible. Perhaps it’s these mesh-type networks that are essential to becoming
a more resilient society?
In this session, we hear from Radical Data and their mesh networks initiative,
which participants of the conference can join themselves and experiment with.
Next to that, Maxigas will describe the Reticulum protocol for building local
and wide-area networks with readily available hardware, which comes with an
anti-military licence and a bottom up user community also active in Amsterdam.
It is an interesting example because of the attempt of its designers and users
to embed social values into the technical choices of protocol design,
implementation and deployment. Lastly, we learn about the Black-out Box, an
initiative by Waag Futurelab which is part of the Meshtastic network, a network
of hackers and organisations experimenting with a LoRa mesh-network that
functions fully independent of the internet. And may be part of an emergency
network in case all else fails.
Speakers:
https://conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/mesh-networks-1