I recently asked on the London Live Coding discord forum:
“Can everyone help me write this blog post?
It’s about robustness and so we need to test the robustness of the community. Suggestions of better ways will also be accepted. I’ve started you off with some (optional) headings.
https://pad.disroot.org/p/Fragility%2Frobustness
Please add your name in the text or write anonymously pastagang style, either is fine.
🩷 This is an experiment 🩷”
(I’ve made one tiny edit on the contributions which was to remove some parenthesis around a voice which very much should be heard. I borrowed them for this part but I won’t give them back hehe)
This is what happened:
bus factor
🚌
The bus factor is a way of measuring how fragile your event/whatever is. If there’s only one organiser, and they’re knocked over by a bus on the way to the venue, what happens? Who knows which guests have been invited? Who knows where to find the keys? When are the caterers coming and what’s been agreed in terms of setup? and so on. This can also apply to essential services. What happens if the internet goes down, en route or during the event? What if there’s a transport strike?
this phrase makes me a bit queasy, its a bit brutal.However, Lu provided this alternative version which I like a lot:
yes haha “bus factor” in this case meaning “daniel takes a bus out of london” or “joey takes an airbus to china”
context
at the previous algoravioli I was late and because I was bringing the mixer they were playing sound from the projector for the first hour. Fittingly enough it was in fact that my bus was held up behind a stuck car so I missed my train.
fragility/robustness
so ideally we need to make sure events aren’t dependent on one person - that’s where robustness comes in. because what we have is too precious to stop if one person can’t or won’t be involved any more. a couple of people asked me if I could share more about what I do, which would be helpful for others to expand and continue things.
bystander effect?
(this is not real btw, debunked thoroughly in Human Kind by Rutger Bregman)
sometimes if things happen magically around you, you can take for granted how much was being done by others and then it comes as a shock if they stop.
I must emphasise that although I lead a monthly event, and generally show a lot of enthusiasm for things, this scene is not all down to me. not by a long stretch. for starters, the concept of algorave and live coding was developed and nourished by many others over many years, especially yaxu.
what I do and why
If I have done anything its mainly just putting my own chaos tweaks on things and talking with venues (just three, one is now closed). It was yaxu who put me in touch with the greyhound originally and first did algoraves at corsica studios.
so my own contribution to the scene is mainly thoughtful enthusiasm. there is no secret sauce. very occasional making decisions and assertiveness.
what we do and why
todepond, joey, nadya, laura, dea, evan, peter, janeishly, Bea from Peckham Digital, plus many more
I think I feel very supported by the community and Daniel especially. If something goes wrong I know I won’t be left alone to figure it out which is not something I’ve experienced before and probably the main reason why I’ve felt able to help with some events.
This is so different to my university environment, which feels competitive and fuels impostor syndrome for most students. It makes me appreciate the live coding scene more and want to see it grow. Being part of a space that embodies pastagang mantras has really boosted my confidence, so I want to give back and help carry that energy forward.
To sum up
What we do: run bad events
Why? so we can write bad code
todepond brings a massive amount of energy, effort, wisdom and promotion to the scene that I would say is prob the single biggest impactful contribution in last two years
Bea from Peckham Digital has also made a huge foundational contribution by organising festivals and the summer bootcamp, which have brought in a lot of people who are crucial to the scene. Thanks Bea, you’re amazing.
Joey and Nadya have been doing events which have been super lovely and it looks like there will be more!
Laura has done two algochill events and an awesome presentation alongside bringing loads of energy and ideas to the scene.
Dea has be running the creative coding crafts space for a long time and has recently started up the touch designer group with others which is really popular and hopefully will bring more visualists to our events!
Peter took the lead on the V&A algorave and did a fantastic job! has also hosted a meetup and done a lot to help sunday socials happen.
janeishly has contributed a lot of energy and assistance from afar, as well as attending the first algoravioli
Evan has organised three(?) events at Folklore (alongside many many events and contributions over decades) despite having a young baby to care for.
Louis has been doing a few Low Stakes High Spirits events in Camberwell - in fact theres one coming up!
do we need to do anything differently?
? ? ?
results are in
so how did we do? Well the community is 200% more robust, which is great. plus we have discovered some questions to answer:
- was this a good way to test the robustness of the scene?
- is there a way of writing blog posts collaboratively that gives more ownership to the community? as opposed to publishing on my blog
- hang on isn’t that pastagang?
- does posting the link for 24hrs on discord give enough opportunity for others to participate?
- can you give any answers that will increase the robustness of the scene?
ps. I will accept further edits/contributions, or please write something elsewhere! Robust-first :)