Framings
Different ways to conceptualize and present your MAZI Zone (feel free to share your own ideas by creating a new "Issue" at this repository):
The most straightforward use of a MAZI Zone is for online collaboration between trusted and by default engaged people in the same room.
In a conference or a workshop, people would connect to the local MAZI Zone if invited by the organizer and using applications such as NextCloud and Etherpad they can carry out collaborative tasks with high speeds and easy access. This can especially useful in cases when Internet connectivity is not available (see Figure below).
Note that Internet-based platforms, like Dropbox and google drive & docs, have certain “objective” drawbacks for this scenario, even if Internet is available. First, everyone should have registered, or register ad-hoc, to the selected service, which excludes those that do not wish to do so; certain platforms have undesirable privacy, copyright or pricing policies for some, and others are reluctant to create yet another account on their colleague's favorite platform just to share a few files. Such people might need to be unnecessarily excluded or forced to subscribe to a service they do not approve. Moreover, the network connectivity offered by a local WiFi network can be faster in both directions (download and upload) and more "private" than the corresponding Internet connection, which might be a rather important feature for large, and/or private, files.
And even if the common assumption is that Internet connectivity is not generally an issue, in reality, most of us have experienced connectivity problems in the most unexpected situations (e.g., visiting an institution with strict access policy, or a crowded place with a saturated Internet connection) that have forced us to share our slides through passing USB sticks over the table, eventually failing to leave the room with all the relevant content in our computers.
Figure: During the INURA conference in Havana, Cuba the deployed MAZI Zone was extremely useful due to the lack of Internet connectivity, both for sharing photos from the various activities during the conference, but also for collaborative editing during some of the sessions.
Tips for this framing:
A MAZI zone could be permanently attached to a specific place and play the role of a digital guestbook, which could be even complemented with a physical one (a real guestbook). You could also print out a few previous postings from the „digital space“ for stimulating participation. This will allow your guests to share their impressions from visiting the place and collectively build its digital identity.
You can install a guestbook at your house, your restaurant, or your museum, if you have one. But a solar panel could enable you to add a digital guest book to the most unexpected locations, like a remote lake, a ghost town, or even the peak of Everest!
For such a framing you could enable only the MAZI's Guestbook application, http://demo.mazizone.eu:8081/, and make this the main page of your portal.
Figure: A hybrid Guestbook installation, including playful messages for announcing the local network and a display to show the contents of the Guestbook, after a half-day Openki course on the "Organic Internet" in Zurich's Parkplatz
One of the most important limitations but also novelties of a MAZIZone is that it is constrained in space. So, when it makes sense a MAZIZone could be framed as a digital space overlaying a physical one. In other words, the emphasis could be on the space that a MAZIZone is installed.
Figure: A MAZI Zone can help the dissemination of the identity of a space, like L200 in Zurich which is in a very central location and thus can engage people interacting with each local network through displays in its windows.
Similar to the hybrid space, a digital layer could be added also to a specific object, a photo exhibition, an art or historical piece, even a tree, as in Unmonastery pilot. Again, passers by can learn more about the object by connecting to its MAZI Zone, and even contribute comments and complementary content.
Figure: A hybrid photo exhibition installed in Kraftwerk1's community space
A MAZIZone could be imagined as a way to bring attention to a specific "message", a piece of digital information. For example, activist groups have used the MAZI toolkit to support campaigns of different sorts. Using a clever SSID and/or complementing your MAZIZone with a physical object is critical in this case.
Figure: A MAZI Zone was installed during the "Fuck off Google" campaign in Berlin to advocate in favour of alternatives to Google
The "party zone" or any gathering with friends at home is a very simple and very useful framing that could be used as an "entry point" to the idea of a MAZI zone. Here is an example of a typical scenario: You organize a gathering in your place (or there is one at your friend's house). Since there is a password for your WiFi connection you should either let your guests know about the password (some will not see the signs, will ask you, they will not type it correctly, etc.) Instead, you could just plug in your "online mode" Raspberry Pi, which is already configured to be connected to your (or your friend's) WiFi router, offering your Internet connection without the need for a password.
In addition, your guests can type the URL of the local network, e.g., http://party.zone, (ideally part of the SSID to make it easy to memorize). There they can share photos taken during the event but also older photos with the people in the room. You could even have a projector showing all these photos on the wall in real time.
For this scenario, again NextCloud and Etherpad are the most appropriate applications.
The most challenging form of communication that a MAZI Zone can facilitate is between strangers residing in physical proximity for short or long duration.
The "contact" framing refers to people that live next to each other for years, they are neighbors, but have never talked between them and have no idea of each other's background, culture, even language. If you live in a big city like Paris, London, or New York this situation might sound familiar.
A MAZI Zone accessible only from people in close distance can help bridge this gap without strong commitments. For example, a simple etherpad document could be used as a fully anonymous communication channel allowing for free expression and playful interactions.
You can become the facilitator of such communications in your block of apartments by preparing a nice poster placed in the entrance of the building inviting everyone to join and share small parts of their private life, the language they speak, the food they eat, thoughts and feelings. If you are a new resident this might be a nice way to introduce yourself!