{B/qKC} launches its official database for Black History Month ♡
{B/qKC}'s semi-regular newsletter | pub_7
> Hello_world!
It’s finally here.
{B/qKC} is excited to unveil its official website and archival database today for Black History Month. <3
After three years of research on Soakie’s, and nearly five years since I began this research project, I’m deeply excited to share this website with you all.
We won’t succumb to Big Tech.
“The platforms that host our networked public sphere and inform us about the world are unelected, unaccountable, and often impossible to audit or oversee.”
— CHELSEA BARABAS, NEHA NARULA, ETHAN ZUCKERMAN,“THE DECENTRALIZED WEB: DEFENDING INTERNET FREEDOM THROUGH DECENTRALIZATION: BACK TO THE FUTURE?” (2017)
It’s hard to imagine our world without central governing authorities–which has ultimately translated to how a majority of us use the web.
Need to search something? You Google it.
Need to share something online? You Tweet or Instagram it.
Need to store something? You upload them to an arbitrary “cloud.”
Ease of use has translated into intense consolidation of the internet. Just a few companies (Meta, Alphabet Inc., Amazon) have control over most of the web, meaning they can also control:
what users get access,
what content is promoted or hidden,
and whether entire archives can disappear overnight.
Billionaire Elon Musk, for example, infamously purchased Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, and became its CEO. With nothing standing in his way besides capital, Musk was able to completely reinvent, albeit extremely controversially, one of the web’s most used applications–all the while aligning himself with political leaders in the process.
However, there is a growing movement to “decentralize the web” by divorcing from these corporations and using technology to put power into the hands of the people.
The world’s first fully decentralized Black queer archive (probably)
In accordance with our mission, {B/qKC} aims to be the true steward of our archive, and make this database openly accessible for years to come.
Rather than relying on a third-party service like Google, DropBox, or Squarespace–with rising costs for usage, ethical concerns around our data and their damaging corporate practices–we’ve chosen to build this site using open, decentralized and self-hosted infrastructure.
Decentralized infrastructure: Built using a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol called IPFS (InterPlanetary File System), CollectionBuilder for static site generation, and self-hosted on our own server–meaning the archive exists outside corporate control and can persist regardless of what Big Tech decides.
Ethical compensation model: We paid elders $2,000 to license their materials while implementing co-licensing that keeps them in control of their originals–challenging the extractive “donation-based” model of traditional institutions.
Minimal computing approach: While AI companies build massive data centers, we’re proving that meaningful digital preservation doesn’t require environmental devastation–the entire archive runs on a Raspberry Pi 4. A typical data center uses millions of gallons of water annually for cooling, our Raspberry Pi 4 draws about 6 watts of power.
Active memory work: We’re using the archive to bridge generational divides, make visible the systems that displaced Black queer spaces, and mobilize for their return.
Thank you for believing in this vision and for supporting work that centers Black queer communities, challenges institutional extraction, and imagines more just futures.
We beat our fundraising goal this year!
But you can still throw us some coins ;)
In order to keep these sexy updates coming, the money needs to flow as well!
Thanks to you, we beat our $2000 fundraising end-of-year fundraising campaign and had 55 donors contribute. Wow!
{B/qKC} is fiscally sponsored, which means all contributions are 100% tax-deductible and go directly to supporting the work I do as a Black queer artist and the sustainability of this project.
By supporting {B/qKC}, you’re investing in my work as an artist and memory worker and in the long-term preservation of Black queer Midwestern stories. Together, we can build a future where our histories are celebrated and never forgotten.
With love,
Nasir