Welcome! You are not alone
Before doomscrolling and dead internet theory became a thing, the internet used to be a place of promise, excitement, and possibility. Surfing the web could be compared to urban flânerie: a surrender to the unexpected, drifting from website to website, from link to link. Serendipitous moments of discovery were free from the aura of suspicion that plagues today’s algorithmically enhanced social media experience (“why am I being shown this content?”), and felt earned, turning linksharing into an act of kinship and community-building.
(W)HOLE shows how, underneath the current desolated surface, the promise of a better digital world is still alive. Understanding the workings and trappings of digital infrastructure is an important first step to revive and fulfill this promise. In the repository, you will find a carefully curated list of initiatives, tools, and resources that aim to study, critique and improve our shared online reality. We invite you to get lost, to find things you didn’t know you were looking for, and to connect with new friends and communities – for the only way to free ourselves from this clusterf*ck, is to do it together.
Welcome! You are not alone
Before doomscrolling and dead internet theory became a thing, the internet used to be a place of promise, excitement, and possibility. Surfing the web could be compared to urban flânerie: a surrender to the unexpected, drifting from website to website, from link to link. Serendipitous moments of discovery were free from the aura of suspicion that plagues today’s algorithmically enhanced social media experience (“why am I being shown this content?”), and felt earned, turning linksharing into an act of kinship and community-building.
(W)HOLE shows how, underneath the current desolated surface, the promise of a better digital world is still alive. Understanding the workings and trappings of digital infrastructure is an important first step to revive and fulfill this promise. In the repository, you will find a carefully curated list of initiatives, tools, and resources that aim to study, critique and improve our shared online reality. We invite you to get lost, to find things you didn’t know you were looking for, and to connect with new friends and communities – for the only way to free ourselves from this clusterf*ck, is to do it together.
S.a.L.E. DOCKS
S.a.L.E. DOCKS
Summary
S.a.L.E. Docks is an independent space for arts and politics initiated in 2007 by a group of activists who decided to occupy an abandoned salt-storage docks in the heart of Venice.
Critique as Care – Human Machine Nature
Critique as Care – Human Machine Nature
Summary
An essay reflecting on critique as a relational, caring practice that strengthens creative communities, proposing feedback as mutual support rather than competition or judgment.
Too Many Projects – Aaron Parecki
Too Many Projects – Aaron Parecki
Summary
Aaron Parecki reflects on the accumulation of long-running web projects, the maintenance burden they bring, and questions the value of spinning up new initiatives without long-term commitment.
Hoppla: Antologi – Internet-based Art Research & Archive
Hoppla: Antologi – Internet-based Art Research & Archive
Summary
Indonesian internet-art anthology that serves as dataset, system, and archive-featuring work chronicles, phenomena, essays, and interviews. A project by Hoppla / HEX Foundation.
Social Media Is an Ecosystem
Social Media Is an Ecosystem
Summary
Essay reframing social media as an ecological system, linking digital excess, attention economies, and planetary exhaustion through an ecofeminist lens.
I’ve Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy – Rottenwheel Blog
I’ve Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy – Rottenwheel Blog
Summary
An accessible critique of the “nothing to hide” argument, explaining why privacy is a collective right and not a personal preference in the age of mass surveillance.
Branch Magazine – A Sustainable Internet for All
Branch Magazine – A Sustainable Internet for All
Summary
An online magazine exploring how technology intersects with climate justice, publishing accessible articles, research, and community-led reflections on sustainable, equitable digital futures.
S is for Server – New Terms & Conditions
S is for Server – New Terms & Conditions
Summary
This essay from New Terms & Conditions explores the cultural and political meaning of servers as spaces of autonomy and dependency.
Stuck on the Platform – Digital Sources (Valiz / Lovink)
Stuck on the Platform – Digital Sources (Valiz / Lovink)
Summary
A live index of sources cited in Geert Lovink’s Stuck on the Platform. Browse footnotes by chapter to explore platform critique and alternatives.
Anti-Surveillance – How to Hide from Machines
Anti-Surveillance – How to Hide from Machines
Summary
Published by DIS Magazine, this article explores creative strategies for resisting machine vision and algorithmic surveillance. It presents fashion hacks, camouflage techniques, and speculative art practices that blur human visibility in a world of constant digital recognition.
Esoteric Codes
Esoteric Codes
Summary
A collection of stories, essays, and experiments exploring unconventional programming practices, highlighting how creative code can challenge norms, reveal hidden systems, and expand digital imagination.
Everything and Something Else – Multidisciplinary project-brand
Everything and Something Else – Multidisciplinary project-brand
Summary
Slow, multidisciplinary project-brand (since 2021) spanning physical, digital, and mental work-handmade objects and tools like Dotwork-guided by clarity, simplicity, and ease.
Good Internet Magazine
Good Internet Magazine
Summary
Online magazine for a healthier internet: short essays, guides, and community spotlights on humane, accessible, low-carbon, privacy-respecting tech.
TRANSFER Data Trust – Artist-owned decentralized archive
TRANSFER Data Trust – Artist-owned decentralized archive
Summary
Cooperative data trust to preserve media art using smart contracts and decentralized storage, incubated with Gray Area and partners.
Self-Hosting a Cluster on Old Phones – Hackaday
Self-Hosting a Cluster on Old Phones – Hackaday
Summary
An independent online magazine highlighting creators, communities, and projects that imagine a healthier, more humane internet culture beyond platform capitalism and extractive digital norms.
Artist as Hacker – Jodienum (Hacking.Art)
Artist as Hacker – Jodienum (Hacking.Art)
Summary
Essay and artist-portfolio text that explores hacktivist practices in art-code as critique, tactical détournement, and creative refusal of platform logics.
Radical Online Collections & Archives – Guide (Hatful of History)
Radical Online Collections & Archives – Guide (Hatful of History)
Summary
Guide to radical digital archives-labor, anti-fascism, queer history, community collections-with links and tips for finding, browsing, and using materials.
How the Internet Became Shit – Herman (Bear Blog)
How the Internet Became Shit – Herman (Bear Blog)
Summary
A sharp critique of the modern web’s decline into ad-driven, bloated platforms, calling for a return to simplicity, autonomy, and user-owned spaces online.
Carbon Efficiency in Software – Interconnected Blog (Matt Webb)
Carbon Efficiency in Software – Interconnected Blog (Matt Webb)
Summary
Reflection on how software design choices directly affect carbon emissions, advocating for efficiency, awareness, and ecological responsibility in code.
Ted Chiang: Fears of Technology Are Fears of Capitalism – Kottke.org
Ted Chiang: Fears of Technology Are Fears of Capitalism – Kottke.org
Summary
Essay framing techno-anxiety as rooted in capitalist systems rather than technology itself.
Ed Fornieles – TANK Magazine
Ed Fornieles – TANK Magazine
Summary
Interview with artist Ed Fornieles discussing social media as performance, exploring identity, participation, and affect in online cultural environments.
Ambient Co-presence – Feeling together online
Ambient Co-presence – Feeling together online
Summary
What it means to “be together” online without chatting: status pings, lo-fi rooms, and open calls. Why it feels warm, when it drains, and design tips to make it healthier.
Understanding Aphantasia with Generative AI – Ola Bonati
Understanding Aphantasia with Generative AI – Ola Bonati
Summary
A reflection on perception and imagination through generative AI, connecting neurodiversity and creative resistance.
A Digital Garden Inventory – Ray Sims (Medium)
A Digital Garden Inventory – Ray Sims (Medium)
Summary
An overview of “digital gardens” as a slower, more personal way to publish and share ideas online, emphasizing learning, transparency, and interconnected thinking.
Meshtastic – Off-grid LoRa mesh messaging
Meshtastic – Off-grid LoRa mesh messaging
Summary
An open-source project enabling long-range, off-grid communication through low-power mesh radios, giving communities resilient, decentralized networks independent of commercial infrastructure.
The Institute of Network Cultures
The Institute of Network Cultures
Summary
A research institute producing publications, events, and tools that critically explore digital culture, online communities, platform politics, and experimental, decentralized media practices.
Principles of Perma-Hybridity – Geert Lovink
Principles of Perma-Hybridity – Geert Lovink
Summary
A call to mix old/new tech at scale: revive “dead media,” break platform black boxes, localize alternatives, and pair reuse/repair with cultural action-hybrid-punk beyond cloud hype.
Neuroqueer
Neuroqueer
Summary
A collaborative publication exploring neurodiversity, queerness, and creative expression. Neuroqueer merges activism and art to challenge neurotypical norms and promote inclusive futures.
AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism – New Socialist
AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism – New Socialist
Summary
An incisive essay analyzing how AI aesthetics reproduce fascist ideologies through algorithmic control, visual normalization, and digital myth-making.
No-Internet – Communication Beyond the Internet
No-Internet – Communication Beyond the Internet
Summary
Research into off-grid, censorship-resistant comms: cryptographically secured append-only logs, CRDT-based apps, and broadcast-only models. Recommends SSB and offline mesh apps.
Compost Digital – Issue One
Compost Digital – Issue One
Summary
A hybrid publication experimenting with digital publishing as an ecological, collective, and regenerative practice - exploring how we can “compost” data, media, and design.
Stacktivism – Politics of Infrastructure
Stacktivism – Politics of Infrastructure
Summary
Essays and links on the politics of technological stacks-cables, data centers, logistics, standards-showing how power flows through infrastructure and how people can study and contest it.
Other Internet
Other Internet
Summary
Research hub on civic tech & web3: DAOs, Uniswap governance, crypto public goods, community “lore,” and social security for contributors-clear write-ups and reports.
Real Life Magazine
Real Life Magazine
Summary
An online magazine publishing critical essays on how technology shapes everyday life, examining surveillance, platforms, labor, identity, and culture through accessible, socially engaged analysis.
How to See Infrastructure – A Guide for Seven Billion Primates (Rhizome)
How to See Infrastructure – A Guide for Seven Billion Primates (Rhizome)
Summary
An easy field guide to spot the internet around you-cables, antennas, manholes, data centers-and how policy and power shape them. Read the city and make the invisible visible.
Sapphirepunk Manifesto – Privacy as Commons, Crypto with Care
Sapphirepunk Manifesto – Privacy as Commons, Crypto with Care
Summary
A manifesto reimagining cypherpunk: privacy as a starting condition; cryptography with solidarity, ethics of care, and plural infrastructures-community over hyper-individualism.
The Web Is Too Big – Scott Richmond
The Web Is Too Big – Scott Richmond
Summary
A reflective essay on the overwhelming scale of the modern web, advocating for smaller, slower, and more intentional digital ecosystems rooted in care and community.
Scratching the Surface #102 – Laurel Schwulst: What Websites Can Be
Scratching the Surface #102 – Laurel Schwulst: What Websites Can Be
Summary
Designer/writer Laurel Schwulst on websites as places, teaching & writing, peer-to-peer ideas, and the winding path.
Soft Glossary – Gentle intro to creative web coding
Soft Glossary – Gentle intro to creative web coding
Summary
A minimal, typographic “glossary” that introduces web programming and creative coding with playful, interactive examples-by Gina Bartzok & Isabell Henninger.
#stacktivism
#stacktivism
Summary
Project interrogating the politics of infrastructure, logistics, and planetary urbanization.
Subpixel Space – Toby Shorin on tech, culture & moral theory
Subpixel Space – Toby Shorin on tech, culture & moral theory
Summary
Longform essays and notes on technology, design, online culture, and moral theory.
Notes on Platforms and Publics – Substack Essay
Notes on Platforms and Publics – Substack Essay
Summary
This Substack essay reflects on how digital platforms shape public discourse and creative production. It critiques platform dependency and explores decentralized, community-driven publishing as a mode of resistance and autonomy.
Floating Labor Camps of the Future-Now (Subtopia)
Floating Labor Camps of the Future-Now (Subtopia)
Summary
Subtopia’s 2009 essay on seaborne “labor camps”: offshore worker housing/prisons as mobile zones of control, tying logistics, migration, and speculative urbanism.
Ditherpunk – The Art of Doing More with Less
Ditherpunk – The Art of Doing More with Less
Summary
A playful technical essay exploring the creative and aesthetic potential of dithering - using constraints, simplicity, and minimal computation as design virtues.
The Disconnect – Offline-Only Digital Magazine
The Disconnect – Offline-Only Digital Magazine
Summary
An offline-only digital magazine. Visit, then switch to Airplane Mode to read fiction, essays, and interviews-no ads, no tracking, no links-just focused reading.
The HTML review
The HTML review
Summary
A literary web experiment published entirely in handcrafted HTML, celebrating minimal, low-tech, author-owned publishing and resisting platform-driven, commercialized web norms.
MOLD Magazine – Designing the Future of Food
MOLD Magazine – Designing the Future of Food
Summary
MOLD explores the relationship between food systems, design, and ecology. It investigates how technology and culture shape what we eat, proposing regenerative and socially just futures for nourishment and the planet.
Commune Diverge Shift Connect: A Press Press Handbook
Commune Diverge Shift Connect: A Press Press Handbook
Summary
A clear, friendly guide to cooperative cultural work. Made by Press Press & the Institute for Expanded Research, with steps, exercises, and resources across prep, ground, growth, and expanded work.
Welcome to the Age of Digital Mysticism, Moyosore Briggs
Welcome to the Age of Digital Mysticism, Moyosore Briggs
Summary
An accessible look at how TikTok “manifesting” and Web3 mix spirituality with network effects-willing outcomes, and revealing the hope, hype, and risks of algorithmic belief.
Whimsica11y – Friendly accessibility tips & patterns
Whimsica11y – Friendly accessibility tips & patterns
Summary
Bite-size guides to web accessibility with clear examples and checklists-semantic HTML, ARIA basics, color/contrast, focus, and inclusive content you can ship today.
Why Do We Interface? – A Micro-Book on Interfaces
Why Do We Interface? – A Micro-Book on Interfaces
Summary
Short, friendly read on the past→present→future of interfaces. See how design choices shape how we learn, share, and act-and why UI changes what we can do.
Cabin: Privacy-first, cookie-free analytics
Cabin: Privacy-first, cookie-free analytics
Summary
Simple website analytics without cookies or profiling. Lightweight dashboards, no personal data collection, and GDPR-friendly by default.
100 Ways to Share Your Work (Beyond Algorithms)
100 Ways to Share Your Work (Beyond Algorithms)
Summary
A generous list of 100 low-pressure ways to share ideas-newsletters, zines, workshops, office hours, print, community spaces-so you can publish without chasing platforms or virality.
Getting Off Google, Facebook, and Amazon – Amelia Hruby
Getting Off Google, Facebook, and Amazon – Amelia Hruby
Summary
Guide and manifesto for digital autonomy through small, ethical, and independent web practices.
Wild Domesticity – Are.na Editorial
Wild Domesticity – Are.na Editorial
Summary
Wild Domesticity is an Are.na editorial exploring how digital and domestic spaces overlap in contemporary life. Through reflections on design, labor, and intimacy, it reimagines home as an ecological and collaborative infrastructure rather than a private, isolated space.
Technical Images: Film01 – Angelicism, Art, Showtime, True Detective, Shein (Document Journal)
Technical Images: Film01 – Angelicism, Art, Showtime, True Detective, Shein (Document Journal)
Summary
A cultural essay examining algorithmic aesthetics, influencer culture, and the visual politics of platform capitalism through filmic and artistic lenses.
Making Space for a Handmade Web – Figma Blog
Making Space for a Handmade Web – Figma Blog
Summary
An invitation to reimagine the web as a space for creativity and care - advocating for slower, personal, and community-driven approaches to digital design and publishing.
Community Growth Comes From Repeatability (Indie Hackers)
Community Growth Comes From Repeatability (Indie Hackers)
Summary
Rituals, recurring events, and clear expectations create a rhythm-and rhythm drives community growth. Try weekly prompts, meetups, and repeatable formats.
Feminist Data Manifest-No – Refusing harmful data regimes
Feminist Data Manifest-No – Refusing harmful data regimes
Summary
Collaboratively written manifesto that rejects exploitative data practices and commits to feminist, community-centered data futures-with clear declarations and a curated reading playlist.
Reliable Green Web Hosting: Does it Exist?
Reliable Green Web Hosting: Does it Exist?
Summary
Years-long search for truly green hosting. Why uptime and support often fail, why RECs ≠ real renewables, and what to demand-plus a tool to test your site with Ecograder
The Internet Is Not What It Was – Rough Type (Nicholas Carr)
The Internet Is Not What It Was – Rough Type (Nicholas Carr)
Summary
An essay reflecting on how the internet’s open, decentralized ideals have eroded under the weight of commercial control, data extraction, and algorithmic mediation.
Shaheer Tarar
Shaheer Tarar
Summary
A minimalist index of Shaheer Tarar’s work-autonomous Wikipedia browsers, mapping tools, games, and films-spanning software, hardware, and moving image.
Distracted by the Dopamine Slot Machine – Sluggish
Distracted by the Dopamine Slot Machine – Sluggish
Summary
An essay dissecting the addictive architectures of social media, exploring how algorithmic design exploits attention, emotion, and reward systems to sustain platform economies.
The Internet Exists on Planet Earth – Mindy Seu
The Internet Exists on Planet Earth – Mindy Seu
Summary
Mindy Seu’s essay reveals how the internet depends on mined minerals, underwater cables, massive data centres and energy-intensive infrastructures, grounding the digital in the physical.