Short Abstract:

Recovering a DIY format of knowledge dissemination as old as Gutenberg's press, PliegOS.net mobile print-station WANTS YOU to coproduce on-spot paper chapbooks (from conversations & collage) as experimental auto/coop-ethnography: pop-up copyleft care & mail art - VS - CheatGTP & zombie-creativity!

Long Abstract:

In 2009 we found a collection of Catalan chapbooks in an old suitcase, dating back to the early 1900s. This sparked the cooperative-based project pliegos.net, which develops co-publishing methodologies and FLOSS tools for creating new chapbooks in community settings. From distributing zines at BCN Ecoxarxa Fair or running a printing booki van at Kosmopolis Fest 2011, to recent print-sessions such as the PlegaVeu poetry readings, experimenting with instant voice-to-paper transcription.

Our next stop at the 18th EASA Biennial Conference will follow current uses of the PliegO’Maker tool for making postal mail-chapbooks –just tested at an artist residency, an ethno-photography installation & a youth mental health project. We plan a small DIY-printing station to facilitate meaningful conversations and cut&paste collages, transformed on spot into paper chapbooks, ready to be signed and sent by good old mail. Our care goes to open up fresh co-writing-sharing processes that steer clear of the tentacles of AI!

This proposal is part of a larger research project on collaborative writing with ethnographic value, and a component of a wider open editing initiative by femProcomuns. The sessions can be intensive in terms of A4 & A3 paper, print ink/toner (b/w and colour), as well as postal stamps for the planned distribution of outcomes. Since the content gathering process requires text & audio input, as well as scanned materials, participants must agree beforehand to the copyleft nature of the project and basic content, privacy/data issues, with a signed form prepared ad hoc following academic standards.