HowSpot

Everyday Tech

An HowSpots is a little moment, like a sunday afternoon, where we gather to ask questions, explain to each others and try to use some specific everyday tech. Everyday means we should investigate something that a variety of people could use for many reasons, because we all navigate the world using technology, outside of specific practices (like things that would only be for artists, or nerds).

Starting from people's experience with daily technology, frictions and desires, those moments aims to explore a sensible relationship to technology. No prior knowledge is needed, and just like cooking clubs, sport clubs, or reading clubs, they are many possible interests (having a dedicated pratice in tech isn't necessary at all).

Someone's Home

Unlike schools, collectives, hackerspaces or art centers, HowSpot are always hosted at someone's home.

• To explore the role of intimacy in the sharing of knowledge and how what we do with tech is situated, entangled, in our everyday life, not separated from it.
• To relearn autonomy in terms of the necessary infrastructures: no institutions, no buying cost, no monney and subsidies, no waiting for approbations.
• To easily happen through a single person initiative, and be easily duplicable and improvisable in many contexts.

Think of it like lightweight peer2peer learning moments, instead of centralized pedagogy servers.

Reciprocal Pedagogy

Learning to learn, and learning to teach, is a big aspect of HowSpots. The more technology becomes inevitable, seamless and alienating, the more intimate, inclusive and situated pedagogy becomes a radical skill to train.

Pedagogy skills aren't technical but social or cultural, it's another muscle to train to slowly bridge the gaps between our feelings of empowerment or alienations. Explaining what we know in simple way, or making space for other's concerns, can be really difficult. Anyone in HowSpot can exercice their abilities in collective learning.

If only already tech-focused people are coming to an HowSpot, it isn't really one. Inclusivity isn't a statement but an active effort. Don't forget to always explain concepts or terminology, ask if everyone is following.

Taking and giving

Traditionnally, the host ask everyone to come with nice food to eat during the HowSpot. Just like the food we share: HowSpot are about both giving and taking, uploading and downloading, cooking and eating, talking and listening, teaching and learning.

We do HowSpot for free, this is seen as a constraint that push us to make them fun moment, so we want to collectively keep doing again, even though it requiere (some) effort and time. But for that to open everyone should give (some) effort and time, collectively.