Instructions on planting a tree
[1] tree_instructions.png, 130 kilobytes
click on an image to load a higher resolution
or you can decide to save a few kilobytes :-)
A website
I think making a website is like planting a tree. There are many things you could consider: Where to plant it—will it have the right ratio of sunlight and shadow? What plants and animals live here? What will happen to my tree in the future? Who will it meet? When will be the last time someone ever takes a look at it? Will parts of it be used to build the foundation of something new?
Every tree has a story to tell, the same way that every website has a story to tell. I want to spread the notion of ‘permacomputing’ and what it means to me in regards to designing (a website).
Permaculture (permanent [agri]culture) is a concept that was formed in the 1970s. Its idea is to set up an ecology that can mostly sustain itself and doesn’t need to be managed permanently. It derives from the observation of nature and borrows tricks from these observations.
Permacomputing tries to employ a similar approach to computing. According to
permacomputing.net, these are its principles:
- Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst
- Care for All Hardware—Especially the Chips
- Observe First
- Not Doing
- Expose the Seams
- Consider Carefully the Interaction Between Simplicity, Complexity and Scale
- Keep It Flexible
- Build on Solid Ground
- (Almost) Everything has a place
- Integrate Biological and Renewable Resources
For me, ‘Not Doing’ and ‘Expos[ing] the Seams’ are ideas that can easily be translated into design choices.
![[2] permaculture_zone_diagram.png, 84 kilobytes](ll_permaculture_zone_diagram.png)
[2] permaculture_zone_diagram.png, 84 kilobytes
Not doing
‘Less is more’ is not a new idea, and not one that is exclusive to permacomputing. Still, it’s aligned with its principles, and a concept that creates interesting constrictions. How far can something be reduced while still being legible? This question inherently deals with sustainability, consumption of resources, waste of energy and data ‘garbage’.
There are demo communities dedicated to making the smallest possible websites. Contrary to the expectation you might have of them always being bare-bones HTML & CSS, sometimes this restriction makes one come up with very interesting solutions, ones that can also be employed in a non-demo environment; ‘internet-tools’ (including all images, typeface, code) is just under 1 megabyte as well.
[3] website_under_1_mb.png, 38 kilobytes
[4] website_under_10_kb.png, 14 kilobytes
Additionally, embracing what I’d call the perks and quirks of your tools instead of trying to control every little bit gives your website a certain autonomy. Autonomy and independence are great things to have and lead to other decisions. See for example
this solar-powered website that shuts down briefly when the sun isn’t shining. The weather also influences what the site looks like.
For me ‘Not Doing’ is also about a philosophical mindset. One that is best described by André Fuchs in a text he wrote for the seminar ‘Design by Refusal’ at HfG Ka in winter 2022 / 2023 (
page 1,
page 2).
[5] solar_powered_website.png, 56 kilobytes
Exposing the seams
This principle is about transparency, in my opinion also about honesty—no hidden algorithms, no hidden data collection. Instead, what you see is what you get. This doesn’t necessarily mean that something cannot be complicated, it should just be possible to trace where it comes from, what it does and why it does what it does. Transparent design is about showing sources and references, but also about making things accessible. Here is where there’s also a connection to
the convivial tool: it should be apparent to the wielder of the tool (visitor of the website or of our garden) how it should be used. This is a prerequisite for allowing the wielder to interact with the tool on a meaningful, eye to eye level (
grassroots movement).
As an example: on
Hannah Gmeiner’s website about permacomputing, the images and videos aren’t loaded automatically when you visit the site but instead on click (an idea that I borrowed). This is a design choice but also a practical choice that reduces redundant energy consumption and internet traffic. It allows you to see behind the curtain (looking at file sizes) and also actively participate in how you want to use the website.
![[6] image_load_on_click.png, 19 kilobytes](ll_image_load_on_click.png)
[6] image_load_on_click.png, 19 kilobytes
[7] tools_for_conviviality_cover.png, 134 kilobytes
The notion of transparency also entails creating open-source software, writing, … everything. This allows for building on existing grounds, combining efforts and creating something bigger than the sum of its parts.
On a slightly unrelated note, honesty in design can also be about using the hidden processes as the subject. In James Langdon’s ‘peak picture pixel pile’, the histograms of photographs of mountains look just like the mountains themselves.
[8] peak_picture_pixel_pile.png, 89 kilobytes
Why a tree?
I would say that in general, planting a tree is a good thing. And permacomputing is all about planting trees. Populating the internet with your websites is also a counter measure to the centralisation of the internet (i.e. only visiting YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, …). Interestingly this approach to landscaping the internet is called walled garden. Permacomputing instead wants to develop an open garden. I think it’s funny how many metaphors there are in this space that have to do with nature— ‘permacomputing’, ‘grassroots movement’, ‘landscaping’ & ‘walled garden’, and I’m sure there are many others you could come up with.
Take a detour along some of the links downstairs and you’ll quickly notice how a lot of them reference each other, but also open doors to many other paths. There’s a growing (another nod to nature), yet tight-knit community for this way of thinking design ( / hacking / computing / coding / …), open for everyone willing to learn & participate :-)
![[9] avoiding_walled_gardens.png, 56 kilobytes](ll_avoiding_walled_gardens.png)
[9] avoiding_walled_gardens.png, 56 kilobytes
The house
The wooden house is a physical relic or artifact that references this website. The website, being hosted on
neocities.org, can hopefully stay online for many more years, independently of whether I can afford to host it or similar problems (as it’s a free domain). The wooden house is an idea I came up with to have something tangible to leave behind at HfG Ka and act as a sort of manual that allows you to find your way back to this website. As of now, there’s no way to get the address of this website, other than going to the physical location of the house for the link. The house is a house because it literally houses this web essay (& because I wanted to work with wood again, after previously making my own
hammer [handle] and
wooden bench).
[10] tree_website.png, 44 kilobytes
[11] wooden_house.png, 14 kilobytes
Reading
Looking
Building
Images
![[1] tree_instructions.png, 130 kilobytes](ll_tree_instructions.png)
![[3] website_under_1_mb.png, 38 kilobytes](ll_website_under_1_mb.png)
![[4] website_under_10_kb.png, 14 kilobytes](ll_website_under_10_kb.png)
![[5] solar_powered_website.png, 56 kilobytes](ll_solar_powered_website.png)
![[7] tools_for_conviviality_cover.png, 134 kilobytes](ll_tools_for_conviviality_cover.png)
![[8] peak_picture_pixel_pile.png, 89 kilobytes](ll_peak_picture_pixel_pile.png){kind=tracking}
![[10] tree_website.png, 44 kilobytes](ll_tree_website.png)
![[11] wooden_house.png, 14 kilobytes](ll_wooden_house.png)
