Hive

Enabling more effective collective politics

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cellphones are everywhere. they are increasingly the center of the ongoing debate about democracy, and political subjectivity: do these devices enable us, or do they enshrine us in ominous atmospheres of surveillance, addiction, and control? they are a symbol of a problem that has always plagued us, but that seems more and more pressing in these fast-paced, technological times: how can we use technology constructively towards a more democratic politics, when there is already such a powerful economy in which it serves to concentrate power in the hands of those that already have it, and to reinforce cruel and unjust regimes?

hive is a technology that enables more effective collective political action. it is designed to safeguard and augment the effect of a category of action that we consider a crucial organ of the democratic body-politic: the protest. hive allows each user to records their perspective through the app, which automatically uploads the footage anonymously as soon as it is available. this footage is aggregated online, dynamically generating an archive of the event’s coverage.

more importantly, hive keeps protestors informed during the event. as well as retrospectively constructing an archive, it operates as a collective technological relay system in real time. the illegal use of live firearms is often employed during protests. using a classifier that has been trained to distinguish between the live fire and rubber bullet fire on the basis of their distinct audio signatures, hive collectively listens through all users recording a perspective, and notifies all users as soon as significant danger is detected.

hive enables safer and more transparent protests, by using cryptographically secure networks to directly convey the catalogue of protestors and participant perspectives of an event, while keeping those users informed and aware at the same time. over the past 48 hours we have developed a prototype iOS app—but in principle hive’s technology can be used in drones, smart cameras, and a range of other operating systems to construct a stronger democratic presence that can hold crimes committed against it accountable.

as soon as a hive device registers live fire, the entire hive is notified. this principle demonstrates hive’s potential as a technology that records and registers action, enhancing an interpretation of the protest both in the present and the future

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