As we approach a future where body-worn devices capture increasingly intimate biometrics, the question of who controls that data has never been more urgent. This talk introduces rim, a techno-social vision and set of protocols challenging the standard model of cloud-based data extraction by building tangible, person-to-person systems for storing and sharing potentially intimate live data streams, innovating at the edge of taboo to expand human connection while preserving privacy and autonomy. There will be a demonstration of early prototypes of wearable devices implementing an “SD-core” aesthetic and detailing the technical underpinnings of protocol concepts including data “dissolution” and “crystallization” with erasure coding and intermittent connection tolerance. Beyond technical implementation, the presenters will discuss how this paradigm shift creates space for entirely new forms of human-to-human connection at the boundary of what’s technically possible and socially acceptable.

Ever wondered what your message history reveals about your communication patterns? This workshop teaches you to extract and visualize your own Signal message history using open-source tools, keeping your data entirely on your local machine while exploring patterns like messaging frequency, vocabulary usage, and communication habits. You’ll also practice democratic design to explore techniques for message history analysis, wearable self-data collection concepts, and definitions of SD-core. With various chains, clips, and jewelry-making supplies available, the presenters will help you store your visualized message history self-data on a micro-SD card that you can craft into a piece of jewelry! Bring your own micro-SD or purchase one from the workshop at cost. You can subvert the extractive data economy and flaunt your independence from the Data Giants one fashionable piece at a time.

This talk focuses on a project with medical students in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico to develop affordable delivery drones that can get urgent medical supplies to remote communities. What currently takes days to reach by mule through mountainous terrain can hopefully be accomplished in minutes by air. This talk chronicles the evolution from off-the-shelf hobby planes to locally-built, 3D-printed aircraft capable of autonomous waypoint missions. The speakers will discuss the technical choices behind their current $1000 prototype (and how they plan to cut costs in half), alongside the organizational structure they’re developing to sustain this work. Recently, they established “club guilas” with local medical students - one of whom has completed pilot training for the test aircraft. The biggest challenges faced aren’t the technical ones, but rather organizational sustainability: how to transition from a project driven by visiting engineers to one owned and operated by local communities. Plans will be shared for creating a federated network of university clubs, and the blueprint for a lean nonprofit structure to support them.