Join host Eleanor Drage and guest Tara Merk as they explore how community-owned data centers can revolutionize digital ownership. Discover innovative models that challenge big tech's dominance, promoting sustainability and local empowerment. Learn from Germany's success in renewable energy and cooperative governance. This episode reimagines internet ownership, focusing on community needs for a fairer, greener future.

Reading list:

• Tara Merk’s LinkedIn
• Community Data Centers
• The making of critical data center studies
• Data infrastructure studies on an unequal planet
• Getting into fights with data centers: Or, a modest proposal for reframing the climate politics of ICT
• Data Center Opposition Report

Edited by: Meibel Dabodabo

Can cloud infrastructure be owned and governed by the people, and not just Big Tech? Friederike von Franqué, policy advisor at Wikimedia Germany, reveals how feminist principles and decentralized infrastructure are transforming the internet from a corporate service into a public commons.

In this episode, we explore Friederike’s work with Wikimedia Germany. From the energy-intensive data centers of Frankfurt to Stockholm’s municipally owned fibre infrastructure, we examine the struggle to build technology that prioritizes the common good over corporate profit. Friederike explains why hyperscalers are not always the solution, and why we need environmental accountability and community-driven design.

This conversation pulls back the curtain on the hidden data systems powering our lives, offering a provocative roadmap for a more equitable and sustainable digital future.

Reading List:

• Friederike von Franque website
• "Enough of the Billionaires and Their Big Tech. 'Frugal Tech' Will Build Us All a Better World": An article by Eleanor Drage.
• Wikimedia Foundation / Wikimedia Germany
• “Wikipedia Is Running On Its Own Metal: The Power and Limits of Self-Hosted Infrastructure”by Wikimedia Europe
• Data centres are reshaping the global investment landscape by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Edited by: Meibel Dabodabo

Why do we often overlook the transformative power of open licensing in technology? Richard Bowman, a researcher and advocate for open source innovation, reveals how open licensing and frugal tech principles are not just ideas but powerful tools for global change.

In this episode, we delve into Richard's journey from developing innovative microscopy to championing open source scientific hardware that challenges traditional tech ownership and promotes accessibility. Discover how these principles are reshaping global health and education, inspiring new ways to think about technology's role in society. Richard dismantles the myth that technology is neutral, illustrating how it can be a force for justice and empowerment.

From creating locally repairable microscopes to developing community-driven scientific tools, this conversation uncovers the potential of open technology in crafting a more equitable and sustainable world.

Reading list:

• Richard Bowman’s GitHub https://github.com/rwb27
• OpenFlexure Official Website https://openflexure.org/
• The Humanitarian Technology Trust https://httrust.org/
• We need to break science out of its ivory tower – here’s one way to do this by Jenny Molloy https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-break-science-out-of-its-ivory-tower-heres-one-way-to-do-this-76354
• The Open Source Hardware Movement by Andre Maia Chagas https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000014
• Making hardware open source can help us fight future pandemics by Richard Bowman and Julian Stirling https://theconversation.com/making-hardware-open-source-can-help-us-fight-future-pandemics-heres-how-we-get-there-153280
• Microscopy for everyone: how the OpenFlexure microscope is changing global healthcare https://www.theiet.org/membership/member-news/member-news-july-august-2025-issue/microscopy-for-everyone-how-the-openflexure-microscope-is-changing-global-healthcare
• OpenFlexure in MagPi Magazine (Issue 158, p. 112) https://magazine.raspberrypi.com/issues/158
• Sharing of hardware is a missing link in the open science puzzle via SPARC https://sparcopen.org/impact-story/often-overlooked-sharing-of-hardware-is-a-missing-link-in-open-science-puzzle/
• Open Science Hardware Policy by Julieta Arancio https://osh-policy.org/

Edited by: Meibel Dabodabo