Overview

The MAZI project started in January 2016 and will run until December 2018. It is funded under the H2020 CAPS initiative (Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation).

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What does MAZI stand for?

MAZI means “together” in Greek and the goal of MAZI is to provide technology and knowledge in order to:

• empower those who are in physical proximity, to shape their hybrid urban space, together, according to the local environment and context.
• generate location-based collective awareness as a basis for fostering social cohesion, conviviality, participation in decision-making processes, self-organisation, knowledge sharing, and sustainable living
• facilitate interdisciplinary interactions around the design of hybrid space and the role of ICTs in society.

The MAZI project partners:

NITlab, University of Thessaly, Greece

NetHood, Zurich-based non-profit organization, Switzerland

Centre for Interaction Design, Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Design Research Lab at the Berlin University of the Arts, Germany

The Open University, UK

INURA Zurich Institute, Switzerland

SPC in Deptford, London, UK

Neighborhood Academy in Prinzessinnengarten in Berlin, Germany

unMonastery, nomadic group, UK & Greece.

More information about the MAZI project consortium.

What is new about MAZI?

MAZI is working on an alternative technology, what we call Do-It-Yourself networking, a combination of wireless technology, low-cost hardware, and free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) applications, for building local networks, known as community wireless networks.

By making this technology better understood, easily deployed, and configured based on a rich set of customisation options and interdisciplinary knowledge, compiled as a toolkit, MAZI will enable citizens to build their own local networks for facilitating hybrid, virtual and physical, interactions, in ways that are respectful to their rights to privacy, freedom of expression and self-determination.

MAZI takes the perspective of existing grassroots initiatives, whose goals are social and political in nature, and explores ways that DIY networking technologies can help pursue them.

How will the MAZI develop the toolkit?

The MAZI project includes four pilot studies, in Germany, Greece, Switzerland and the UK. These pilot studies will take into account different perspectives namely technological, scientific, political and social. Through this work with the pilot studies, the MAZI project will develop a toolkit, which will include:

• Installation scripts and hardware options for covering a target area with a DIY network.
• FLOSS web applications for location-based exchanges and interactions, easily customized according to the context.
• Templates for the design of physical artefacts that could complement the deployed network.
• A rich set of guidelines for customization of the functionality offered by the different toolkit offerings.