Over the past few years there has been a renewed interest in 'alternative' on-line services. These are services that imagine different experiences and models to the ones we are used to from corporations like Google, Facebook and Apple.
Some of these alternatives are that in name only, opting for similar or identical business models as the platform they want to become an alternative to. In essence a different brand serving the same product.
Others projects take a different approach. They fundamentally challenge the status quo through putting effort in building free software ecosystems based around open protocols.
The interest of *Welcome to the � Federation* is to consider software projects that are working towards these alternative ecosystems. In particular those projects whose activities have reinvigorated interest for their underlying protocols, in part by their focusing on design, language and user experience (UX).
These software practices can be understood as forms of Critical Engineering[^1]or Software As A Critique[^2], developing a theoretical critique of systems into concrete and practical responses.
The Wtt�F question is then how arts and design communities can play a supportive role in these processes by contributing skills, knowledge and exposure.
Wtt�F will host a series of two-day gatherings that invite developers of these software projects and people active in arts and design. After an evening of presentation and discussion on the first day, the second day will be a hands-on worksession.
* June 1st: ['The Ecosystem Is Moving'](/conversations-gultsch.html), an evening on XMPP, federated chat and Conversations with Daniel Gultsch
* 2nd 2018: 'The Ecosystem Is Moving' worksession. A hands-on dive into the affordances and challenges of Conversations as part of a larger free software ecosystem
[^1]: "The Critical Engineer considers Engineering to be the most transformative language of our time, shaping the way we move, communicate and think." <https://criticalengineering.org/>
[^2]: See: <http://constantvzw.org/w/?u=http://constantvzw.org/w/eft/2539.html> and <https://wiki.laglab.org/Software_as_a_Critique>
