Although located at the same university campus, it was in Brussels during FOSDEM 2018 where the organizing committee met and decided to take on the task of bringing Fosscomm to Crete. This decision would bring together the few remaining individuals engaged with FOSS at the university. Five years later some have parted ways, but with a core group still in Crete, the team reunites to bring once again communities and people of FOSS closer together, attract new individuals, and put the “commons” back in the spotlight.
University of Crete Radio Station
The University of Crete Radio Station (rastapank 96,7) is a community-driven radio station developed primarily by students and alumni of the University of Crete, located inside the campus. It is part of a broader community that is active within the public university space.
Its operation is based on selflessness and co-operation, and all decision-making is taking place during a monthly general assembly. The financial support of the project comes from donations and contributions from the public during various organized events. It began broadcasting online in 2012 and since 2017, the University sponsors the rental and electrical supply of an antennae system based in Rogdia, where equipment for FM signal transmission has been installed.
The team aims for experimentation, de-commodification, and actively utilizes, designs, and contributes free software and open data. This culture of DIY (do-it-yourself) and knowledge exchange extends to everyday interaction. The radio serves as a platform and opportunity for shared creative time.
toLabaki
When the open source philosophy comes out of the hard drive to the physical world and is combined with imagination, collaboration, interaction of knowledge and desire for creation, toLABaki comes to make things happen. We make things ourselves (DIY), using anything that is available. With the desire to explore and in the spirit of the hacker culture, we analyze existing systems to maximize their potential in solving everyday problems.
toLABaki becomes a common meeting place for those who want to share their ideas, work on them and create.In our lab space, at the University of Crete’s Voutes campus, we collect equipment, donated by individuals, that is available to enrich everyone’s projects!
We decide based on consensus, we endorse openness and we welcome anyone willing to join this process in the spirit of cooperation.
Article cover image from Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, modified by us.
