Discarded Digital: investigating the amateur re-use of digital rubbishes

  • Faire (avec) exhibit in Bagnes

    Faire (avec) exhibit in Bagnes

    Seen last Saturday: VéloMagnéto by Gerry Oulevay combines a training bike and a (discarded-then-saved) audio player that allows people to listen to a story written by Antoinette Rychner. This piece is part of an exhibit called “Faire (avec)” (“Do (with)”) at Musée de Bagnes in Valais (Switzerland). Gerry is one the participants in our research…

  • “Declining Technologies” seminar

    “Declining Technologies” seminar

    Nicolas went to the 37th International Workshop organized by NeTWork in the gorgeous abbey of Royaumont (France). The topic this year was  “Decommissioning Aging Installations and Declining Technologies” and he gave an overview of the field research we are currently conducting. Given the general theme, Nicolas focused his presentation on the role of amateurs in…

  • Seminar at “Centre Internet & Société”

    Seminar at “Centre Internet & Société”

    The Centre Internet & Société in Paris, which belongs to CRNS, invited Nicolas to give a talk about the project. Right before his presentation, the organizer pulled his own printed copy of the Dr. Smartphone book (which can be seen as the ancestor to the Discarded Digital project). Nicolas introduced the motivations and methods we…

  • Entretiens du Nouveau Monde Industriel 2023

    Entretiens du Nouveau Monde Industriel 2023

    We had the occasion to present our research at the 2023 edition of Entretiens du Nouveau Monde Industriel, organized in Beaubourg (Paris) by Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation, Bibliothèque Publique d’information du Centre Pompidou, l’Association Épokhè and NEST. Given the focus on play, Nicolas introduced how lots of re-using practices concerning digital media and electronic…

  • Motherboard aesthetic

    Motherboard aesthetic

    A recent aesthetic with crafted objects: the re-use of computer motherboard by artisans. I ran across this little cow in a chalet in Solalex, in the Swiss Alps and found it interesting with regards to the sort of contrast it has with the general atmosphere of the place made of wooden furnitures, dimmed light and…

  • NO SCHOOL Nevers

    NO SCHOOL Nevers

    Anaïs is off to the NO SCHOOL in Nevers to give a presentation about digital repair practices (our previous project). It’s also a great opportunity to visit and conduct observation during this two-week summer school initiated 4 years ago by artists Benjamin Gaulon & Dasha Illina. This alternative school model brings together around forty people…

  • Research bulletin #2

    Research bulletin #2

    Following up on the last issue, here is our second bulletin, focused mostly on reading notes about the project.

  • Producing fanzines as a research tool

    Producing fanzines as a research tool

    “Materializing reflections: the production of Fanzines as a research tool” was the title of a talk given at the annual colloquium of the SSE (Swiss Ethnological Society) on Thursday. I took part of the first panel named “Comics, drawings, photos, films, blogs: Feedback and fair benefit sharing, giving research results back to a broader audience”,…

  • Le soin des Choses

    Le soin des Choses

    Quelques notes dessinées lors de la conférence de Jérôme Denis et de David Pontille qui présentent leur livre le « Le soin des Choses » à l’Université de Genève. « Qu’ont en commun une chaudière, une voiture, un panneau de signalétique, un smartphone, une cathédrale, une œuvre d’art, un satellite, un lave-linge, un pont, une horloge,…

  • Research bulletin #1

    Research bulletin #1

    The project started two months ago, and we’re slowly figuring out how to communicate about our activities. Along with this blog, we chose to produce short “research bulletins” that describe various issues such as research methods, analytical and vernacular idioms as well as ideas we had. Anaïs put together the first bulletin, that you can…