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.
Algorithmic Colonization of Africa – Abeba Birhane
Algorithmic Colonization of Africa – Abeba Birhane
Summary
In Algorithmic Colonization of Africa, Abeba Birhane examines how Western-developed AI systems extend digital colonialism across the African continent. She argues for local, context-aware models of knowledge, ethics, and data that resist extractive computational infrastructures.
Oilab
Oilab
Summary
A research and action lab developing tools, methodologies, and educational projects that strengthen public digital infrastructures, focusing on transparency, participatory governance, and shared data stewardship.
Oxman – Material Ecology and Design Research
Oxman – Material Ecology and Design Research
Summary
Oxman is a research practice at the intersection of design, biology, and technology. Founded by architect and designer Neri Oxman, it explores “material ecology” - a framework for creating sustainable, symbiotic relationships between humans, materials, and the environment.
Public Data Lab
Public Data Lab
Summary
Public Data Lab is an international network of researchers, designers, and technologists experimenting with new ways to make data more accessible, accountable, and public. Their work bridges civic technology, journalism, and critical data studies to foster democratic data cultures.
The Three-Legged Stool – Public Infrastructure Project
The Three-Legged Stool – Public Infrastructure Project
Summary
Essay on the need for public-interest infrastructures combining policy, community, and technology.
Antikythera Research Project
Antikythera Research Project
Summary
A research platform investigating planetary computation, infrastructures, and speculative design, bridging ecological systems and technological architectures.
The New Industrials
The New Industrials
Summary
The New Industrials is a design research platform exploring sustainable production, post-industrial aesthetics, and circular economies. It investigates how material innovation and systemic design can reimagine manufacturing for a regenerative future.
Infrastructural Interactions – titipi.org
Infrastructural Interactions – titipi.org
Summary
Infrastructural Interactions investigates how digital infrastructures shape social relations and collective agency. Through case studies and critical essays, it examines alternative governance models, open protocols, and shared design practices that make infrastructures more accountable and participatory.
Unplatform – From the Superhighway
Unplatform – From the Superhighway
Summary
A research project investigating how to move beyond dominant platform logics toward federated, cooperative, and user-owned digital infrastructures.
Wikienigma
Wikienigma
Summary
A personal, handcrafted wiki documenting notes, research trails, and curiosities, shared openly as a growing knowledge commons that invites exploration, reuse, and transparent learning practices.
Curating Care: Curating and the Methodology of Intersectional Care – Academia.edu
Curating Care: Curating and the Methodology of Intersectional Care – Academia.edu
Summary
An academic essay exploring curatorial practices through the lens of intersectional care, proposing ethical, inclusive, and relational approaches to exhibition-making and collaboration.
Data Body Futures – Reimagining Bodies in Data Systems
Data Body Futures – Reimagining Bodies in Data Systems
Summary
Data Body Futures is a research and art platform investigating how digital infrastructures shape and exploit bodily data. It proposes feminist, decolonial, and speculative approaches to reclaim agency over digital embodiment and identity.
Gabrielle Ione Hickmon
Gabrielle Ione Hickmon
Summary
Writer and researcher focusing on technology, culture, and social justice.
The Social Architecture of Impactful Communities – Nick deWilde
The Social Architecture of Impactful Communities – Nick deWilde
Summary
An analysis of how communities create impact through intentional design of structure, culture, and connection - proposing a framework for collective learning and mutual growth.
The Practice of Change
The Practice of Change
Summary
A collective working with artists, activists, and researchers to develop socially engaged practices, offering tools, workshops, and resources that nurture collaborative change and community empowerment.
Radical Infrastructure: Building Beyond the Failures of Past Imaginaries for Networked Communication
Radical Infrastructure: Building Beyond the Failures of Past Imaginaries for Networked Communication
Summary
This paper rethinks the politics of digital infrastructures, critiquing the techno-utopian ideals that have failed to deliver equitable communication systems. It calls for radical infrastructures-community-driven, decentralized, and transparent networks built on care, sustainability, and solidarity.
Self-Surveillance – ScienceDirect Topic
Self-Surveillance – ScienceDirect Topic
Summary
A collection of scholarly research examining how individuals internalize surveillance mechanisms in digital and social life, revealing the psychological dimensions of control and compliance.
Digital Urban Infrastructures and the Politics of Care – Taylor & Francis Online
Digital Urban Infrastructures and the Politics of Care – Taylor & Francis Online
Summary
An academic article examining how digital urban infrastructures intersect with social justice and care politics, proposing frameworks for equitable and participatory cities.
Small Scale Social
Small Scale Social
Summary
A reflective essay on designing small, intentional online communities that prioritize care, trust, and shared governance over mass engagement and algorithmic growth.
Seeing Faces in Things:
A Model and Dataset for Pareidolia
Seeing Faces in Things:
A Model and Dataset for Pareidolia
Summary
A computer-vision study and dataset of over 5,000 pareidolia images that reveals how machine perception diverges from human seeing, exposing biases and limits in automated visual classification systems.
The Authoritarian Stack
The Authoritarian Stack
Summary
A data-driven investigation mapping how tech firms and investors turn core state functions into private platforms, creating a new layer of infrastructure that challenges democratic governance.
BEAST – The Hearing Science
BEAST – The Hearing Science
Summary
A project investigating algorithmic bias in wildlife detection systems by building alternative, human-labeled datasets, revealing how automated classifiers misinterpret animal presence in natural environments.
1KB.club
1KB.club
Summary
A minimalistic static website challenge: host your site under 1 kilobyte, emphasising constraint, simplicity and control over infrastructure.
250KB.club
250KB.club
Summary
A movement and community advocating websites that load within 250 kilobytes even on mobile - promoting lightweight, efficient, inclusive web infrastructure.
512KB.club
512KB.club
Summary
Similar to 250KB.club but allowing up to 512 kilobytes-continuing the push for lightweight web practices and digital sustainability.
Open Collective
Open Collective
Summary
A platform that enables communities and groups to raise, manage, and spend money transparently, with open-source infrastructure, fiscal hosting, budget visibility and tools for ongoing collaboration.
Binary Calculations Are Inadequate
Binary Calculations Are Inadequate
Summary
Binary Calculations Are Inadequate is an artistic and theoretical platform exploring how binary logic shapes technology, identity, and society. Through speculative design, essays, and interventions, it calls for non-binary, plural, and post-digital approaches to computation and knowledge.
Ascii Today
Ascii Today
Summary
A lightweight online generator for creating ASCII-styled text banners, offering a simple, low-tech tool for designers and developers seeking minimal, platform-free visual elements for the web.
JustDeleteMe – Account Deletion Directory
JustDeleteMe – Account Deletion Directory
Summary
A directory of direct account-deletion links for hundreds of online services, helping users quickly reclaim control over their data and reduce lingering digital footprints across platforms.
Baserow – Open-Source No-Code Database
Baserow – Open-Source No-Code Database
Summary
Airtable-style, open-source platform to build databases & apps. Cloud or self-hosted, API-first, extensible with plugins; GDPR/HIPAA/SOC2 options.
Bitchat
Bitchat
Summary
A peer-to-peer chat platform built on decentralized protocols, offering privacy and autonomy without centralized servers.
CoBox – Building Blocks for the Cooperative Cloud
CoBox – Building Blocks for the Cooperative Cloud
Summary
A cooperative initiative developing modular, peer-to-peer storage tools that let communities run secure, offline-first cloud services on their own hardware without reliance on big tech.
Components.ai – Open-Source Generative Design Tools
Components.ai – Open-Source Generative Design Tools
Summary
Create responsive components, palettes, and sites; build custom no-code design tools and explore computational theming for accessible color systems
Cover Your Tracks (EFF) – Browser Fingerprinting Test
Cover Your Tracks (EFF) – Browser Fingerprinting Test
Summary
A browser test by the EFF that analyzes how easily your device can be tracked through fingerprinting, helping users understand and reduce online surveillance risks with practical guidance.
Dark Crystal – Social Secret Sharing for Key Backup
Dark Crystal – Social Secret Sharing for Key Backup
Summary
A peer-to-peer secret-sharing system that lets users securely back up and recover private keys through trusted friends, distributing cryptographic fragments to maintain control without central servers.
Datasette – Explore & Publish SQLite Data
Datasette – Explore & Publish SQLite Data
Summary
Open-source tool to turn SQLite into an explorable website and API, with an ecosystem of plugins for analysis and visualization.
Dither it!
Dither it!
Summary
A simple browser-based tool that converts images into dithered, low-bandwidth graphics, encouraging lightweight digital practices and creative workflows outside heavy proprietary software.
DNS Checker – DNS Propagation & Lookup Tools
DNS Checker – DNS Propagation & Lookup Tools
Summary
Check global DNS propagation and query records (A/AAAA, MX, NS, PTR), domain health, IP/geo, and more across 100+ resolvers with map views and utilities.
Earth Nullschool – Real-Time Visualization of Global Weather Patterns
Earth Nullschool – Real-Time Visualization of Global Weather Patterns
Summary
Earth Nullschool is a mesmerizing data visualization platform that maps real-time global weather, ocean, and climate systems. It translates complex environmental data into an interactive experience, revealing the dynamic interdependence of planetary forces.
Image Scrubber – Anonymize Photos in Your Browser
Image Scrubber – Anonymize Photos in Your Browser
Summary
Browser tool by Everest Pipkin to strip EXIF metadata and blur faces or details-built for protest safety and quick, offline-friendly use.
Excalidraw – Collaborative Hand-Drawn Whiteboard
Excalidraw – Collaborative Hand-Drawn Whiteboard
Summary
Free, open-source whiteboard for sketching diagrams with a hand-drawn feel; real-time collaboration, libraries, and a paid Plus workspace option.
Flourish – Interactive Data Visualization Platform
Flourish – Interactive Data Visualization Platform
Summary
Create and embed interactive charts and stories from templates; works with Sheets/CSV and is widely used by newsrooms and organizations.
Forem – Open-Source Software for Communities
Forem – Open-Source Software for Communities
Summary
An open-source platform for building independent online communities, giving creators full ownership over data, moderation, and governance while avoiding dependence on centralized social networks.
Gender Decoder – Spot Bias in Job Ads
Gender Decoder – Spot Bias in Job Ads
Summary
A simple tool that scans job descriptions for subtly gendered wording, helping organisations write more inclusive postings and supporting fairer, more accessible hiring practices.
GeoKey – Participatory Mapping Platform (UCL ExCiteS)
GeoKey – Participatory Mapping Platform (UCL ExCiteS)
Summary
Web-based, open-source infrastructure for communities to collect, share, and discuss local knowledge; manage schemas, users, media, and use a REST API.
Almanac – Shutdown Notice
Almanac – Shutdown Notice
Summary
Almanac, the docs/wiki tool, is shutting down on Jan 31, 2025; users are directed to migrate. Page explains timeline and next steps.
Hugo
Hugo
Summary
Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again.
Graph Commons
Graph Commons
Summary
Collaborative platform for mapping, analyzing, and publishing network graphs.
Witness SecureSmartCam – Guardian Project
Witness SecureSmartCam – Guardian Project
Summary
An open-source mobile app that allows activists and journalists to capture, encrypt, and securely share visual evidence while protecting identity and data integrity.
OMG.LOL – A Friendly Internet for Humans
OMG.LOL – A Friendly Internet for Humans
Summary
A friendly community platform offering personal web pages and email addresses under “@omg.lol”, designed as a low-friction space for independent expression and connection.
Hide referrers from your links
Hide referrers from your links
Summary
A simple link-anonymizing tool that removes referrer information when opening URLs, helping users browse more privately and share links without exposing their identity or activity patterns.
Url
Hyper Island Toolbox
Hyper Island Toolbox
Summary
Request access to Hyper Island’s Toolbox: 100+ facilitation methods and activities for creative, collaborative teams. Log in to start using ready-made workshops at work
Good Country Index – What Countries Contribute to the World
Good Country Index – What Countries Contribute to the World
Summary
Interactive rankings of countries’ contributions to the common good across 7 categories (35 indicators). Latest v1.6 uses mostly 2022 data; browse scores and country balance sheets.
Internet-in-a-Box – Offline “Library of Alexandria”
Internet-in-a-Box – Offline “Library of Alexandria”
Summary
Build a tiny local server (e.g., Raspberry Pi) serving Wikipedia, OER, maps, and more to nearby devices-ideal for schools and clinics without internet.
Kinopio
Kinopio
Summary
A collaborative spatial thinking tool where users create shared, free-form canvases to organise ideas, fostering playful co-creation, gentle social interaction, and non-extractive online collaboration.
Kumu – Map Relationships & Complex Systems
Kumu – Map Relationships & Complex Systems
Summary
Create interactive relationship maps to make sense of stakeholders, causes, and feedback loops; share public projects, embed, and analyze networks.
Url
LOADMORE – Gallery of mobile-first web design
LOADMORE – Gallery of mobile-first web design
Summary
Gallery of distinctive smartphone sites. 360+ examples tagged by style/function to inspire mobile-first, phone-native design. Submit links and follow updates.
Lunar Phase – Experimental Web Publishing Platform
Lunar Phase – Experimental Web Publishing Platform
Summary
Lunar Phase is an experimental, minimalist publishing platform that reimagines how websites can exist as poetic and sustainable ecosystems. It values slowness, autonomy, and aesthetic simplicity in contrast to commercial web culture.
Miniflux – Minimalist, self-hosted RSS reader
Miniflux – Minimalist, self-hosted RSS reader
Summary
A minimalist, open-source RSS reader designed for speed, privacy, and simplicity, allowing users to self-host their news feeds and reclaim control over information consumption outside platform algorithms.
Murmurations – Protocol for decentralized directories
Murmurations – Protocol for decentralized directories
Summary
Ein verteiltes Protokoll, das Gemeinschaften ermöglicht, über gemeinsame Metadatenstandards Inhalte zu veröffentlichen, zu entdecken und sich zu vernetzen, wodurch föderierte Verzeichnisse und dezentrale Netzwerke ohne zentrale Plattformen entstehen.
Next Cloud
Next Cloud
Summary
An open-source platform for self-hosting cloud services, offering file sync, communication tools, and collaboration features that let individuals and organisations control their own data and infrastructure.
Obsidian
Obsidian
Summary
A local-first knowledge management app that lets users build interconnected markdown vaults, supporting personal information autonomy and flexible workflows without platform lock-in.
Offpunk – Offline-first CLI browser (Web/Gemini/Gopher)
Offpunk – Offline-first CLI browser (Web/Gemini/Gopher)
Summary
A low-tech, offline-first browser and content manager for Gemini, Gopher, and the web, designed to minimise complexity, reduce dependence on heavy browsers, and support resilient, user-controlled browsing.
Prism, Tempora & Co – How Your Data Travels
Prism, Tempora & Co – How Your Data Travels
Summary
Interactive by OpenDataCity tracing where requests to popular services travel from Germany/Switzerland/France, showing how cross-border routes expose data to surveillance touchpoints.