2024-08-07 02:12:28
Old computers, monitors, consoles, netbooks, or “old” cell phones? The adjective is part of an industrial strategy, but there is a group of people from Rosario who question it by risking their “voracious” curiosity, ingenuity, and willingness to learn and share knowledge to collect and understand how these technological components work, which are black boxes for most users. They are determined to repair them, invent new uses for them, and conspire against the short lifespan that manufacturers impose to maintain their sales flow. They challenge the business logic of planned obsolescence and transform “electronic waste” into new useful devices. Revived, reconfigured, or reprogrammed, they donate them to libraries, popular soup kitchens, senior residences, students, teachers, and other workers or civil associations.
They define themselves as cyber surgeons in Argentina. In Rosario, they united under the name Hackfun with common identity and goals, but also their own. On Saturday, August 31, they organize the Second Federal Meeting of Cyber Surgeons in the city with the presence of peers from other provinces. The first was held last year in Córdoba. It will be an open and free call at the Centro de Expresiones Contemporáneas. In the warehouses facing the Paraná River, they will showcase what they do and try to inspire others to join this adventure where software and hardware combine with art and stimulate questions about society, its modes of production, and consumption. As a curious detail, there will be, among many other activities, a sort of community computer potluck: recycled components will be available for anyone who wants to make profitable use of them, and an invitation to contribute by bringing in outdated circuit boards or devices that visitors want to leave for a chance at resurrection.
“Hackfun started in 2019 as a primarily online community that held sporadic meetings, organizing talks or meetups. With the pandemic, we saw the need for many people to have a computer to make video calls and continue with their activities, work, or studies. From that moment on, we began to look for unused equipment and refurbish it,” recounts Martín Vukovic about the beginnings of what they call the local “cell” of cyber surgeons, clarifying that they have their own agenda that greatly exceeds the repair and return to service of computer components.
Lisandro Raviola is also part of Hackfun. He adds that in the beginning they held “sporadic meetings and events in various physical spaces.” They were “an itinerant group that met physically to hold ‘repair-a-thons’ (computer recycling days) at homes or community spaces, coordinating through virtual channels.”
They took an important step last year. The group established a regular presence at the Experimenta space, on the first floor of the Centro Cultural La Toma (Tucumán 1349). “Having a physical space created a reference point and facilitated the approach of more people, allowing us to grow as a community and diversify our activities,” Martín enthusiastically states.
Although they accept the label of “nerds,” they explain that the group formed in Rosario exceeds that definition. “It is composed of a very inclusive, curious, and enthusiastic group from different areas. There are people from Computer Science, Political Science, Fine Arts, electronics, music…” Vukovic lists without exhausting the list. And it is not just specialists: it is an open space for other abilities. “Anyone eager to learn, teach, and collaborate is welcome. No prior knowledge is necessary. The only requirement is a desire to learn, experiment, and have a voracious curiosity.” Retrocomputing, audiovisual arts, history, politics, and digital rights, Lisandro enriches that spectrum of interests and trajectories within the team.
Raviola reinforces the description of this borderless universe. “Very diverse people have approached us with a common interest in the uses and impacts of technology in general, and in new information and communication technologies in particular. Another common denominator is the desire to share knowledge and learn in a community manner.” And he emphasizes that the above is associated with transcendent concerns, questioning perspectives, and the desire to impact reality: “We have a profile oriented towards building inclusive and supportive communities, promoting the social impact of our activities to reduce inequalities and critically discussing hegemonic technologies by experimenting with alternative modes for their production, use, and circulation.”
The cyber surgeons from Rosario clarify that it is not necessary to have knowledge of computing or electronics. Anyone interested in joining can do so through the contacts listed on the Hackfun website or by approaching La Toma on Wednesdays from 7 PM.
It’s not trash, you just need to want it
According to the Global E-Waste Monitor in its latest 2020 report, Argentina generates 465,000 tons of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) per year. A good portion of this corresponds to computer equipment. 60% ends up in landfills or dumps. In contrast, only 5% of these items are recovered or recycled. The rest becomes a pollution source due to the materials that, as they degrade, release toxic substances into the environment.
Argentina ranks third in the regional ranking of this waste, behind Brazil and Mexico, with an average generation of 10.3 kilos per person annually.
The worst part is that a good portion of what is discarded as electronic waste is not waste: it can still be used. Both in its original functions and in others. And that is what they do at Hackfun.
“Many devices that are normally considered lost, like trash, we manage to reuse completely. Also, when their main function becomes unusable, we often find other uses for them,” Martín shares. He gives a few examples: a computer that instead of a metal case is installed in a cardboard box, which they call Compucaja, a large reflector made from an LED TV that no longer displayed an image but can emit a powerful white light with the backlight of the screen. Or a computer whose monitor worked partially and was configured to display the entire image in the functional section. “All kinds of hacks we do half to rescue what we can and half to have fun doing something different and original,” he explains.
Old games, new passions, recovered culture
They have already held events to showcase what they have achieved based on those varied interests. For example, what they refer to as “retrocomputing” and video games. “On two occasions, we set up a retro Arcade,” he mentions, referring to the large machines that began populating game rooms in the 1970s. Those who attended, he says, were able to enjoy network games like in the classic Cybers on those original retro consoles.
The activities, Martín repeats, are very varied. “They range from repairing computers or electronic equipment, programming, recycling, or reusing all kinds of materials, organizing events, new and retro video games, experimenting with devices of all sorts like Arduinos or Raspberry Pi (open hardware electronic boards that use a programmable microcontroller).” Plus, there is a dynamic of mutual teaching and learning of programming languages and various technologies.
“We have organized community open events related to video games in 2023 and 2024. For this, we used original consoles or clones from various generations (Atari 2600, Family Game / Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation 1 and 2),” adds Lisandro. And he adds: “retro” computers with their historical games and operating systems (DOS and early versions of Windows), and more recent ones that through emulator programs allow running games produced for different platforms over the last four decades.
Several generations, he enthuses, participated in those activities. “We try to do a sort of archaeology of video games, pardon the archaeologists, and build the history of different modes of playing throughout time,” he continues with another apology, this time to the historians. It is not, he clarifies, a concession to nostalgia: “Our intention is to show the historical evolution of a central aspect of computing and appreciate the richness and variety of video games as cultural objects.” And he highlights again how communities of interests recover what the market discards, in this case in the symbolic sphere: “Paradoxically, in the era of the permanent and indiscriminate recording of information by large technology corporations, a huge part of the cultural heritage linked to video games and other digital works could have been lost had it not been for the work of many archivists and emulator program developers, which has allowed continued access to and enjoyment of these works that the market considers obsolete.”
Another software for another life and with different values
Many of the extended uses of the devices are achieved thanks to the installation of what is known as free software, which in addition to the technical advantages is part of a movement that focuses on collaboration for its improvement and the social value as a counterpoint to the objective of corporate profits. “It is developed openly and transparently under premises not only of technical quality but also of community value,” Lisandro summarizes.
“The fact that it is open and modifiable (its source code is available) allows adapting each software to the needs and characteristics of different types of users and computing devices,” continues the Hackfun member. For this reason, he points out, applications can be optimized for the use they will be given. And since the code of the applications is public, it can be audited by anyone with the appropriate knowledge and improved upon detection of a security vulnerability. Something more on the latter, fundamental in these times: “It is possible to know what the program does with user data and therefore determine if it respects privacy.”
Raviola emphasizes that there is no reason to accept the software designed by large corporations without question. “There is a huge ecosystem of applications to choose from, starting with the main software that any device needs: the operating system.” Once freed from that apparent comfort advertised by companies, he says, “it is possible to select the system that makes the best use of the available resources (processor, RAM, storage space…).”
What is most commonly used in this paradigm shift is the GNU/Linux operating system in one of its many distributions. Lisandro mentions Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora but clarifies that there are others like FreeBSD. He highlights that even Android, installed on most cell phones and many televisions, “incorporates many aspects of Linux.” However, he warns of a “trap”: “In the case of cell phones, installing free operating systems is still not as straightforward as on laptops or desktop computers due to the deliberate incompatibility of hardware produced by different manufacturers.” But they have already begun to circumvent this. And that, with free operating systems compatible with Android, like Lineage OS, “which already work on many phones and tablets allowing extending their useful life just like with computers.” To bolster this “progress,” he concludes, there are repositories like F-Droid (the equivalent to app stores of proprietary systems) that allow installing free software on Android phones and thus leverage its advantages in terms of security, performance, and privacy.