Cloud of Cards, a home cloud kit to re-appropriate your data self, is the principal outcome of Inhabiting and Interfacing the Cloud(s), a joint design and ethnographic research project. It is accompanied by two books in Print-on-Demand and free PDFs that document its creation.

The main results of the project consist of four digital and physical artifacts (ABCD), forming a set of modular tools (‘cards’) that are delivered as an open-source DIY kit, freely accessible at www.cloudofcards.org and on Github. The purpose of these tools is to enable everyone, in particular the community of designers and makers, to set up their own small-scale data-center and cloud, manage their data in a decentralized way and develop their own alternative projects using this small-scale personal infrastructure.

The research and publications were carried out from 2014 to 2018 as a collaboration between ECAL (design) and HEAD – Genève (ethnography).

Cloud of Cards kit, main recipe:

1) Read the statement about the complete Cloud of Cards kit, or alternatively download the two accompanying books about the design and ethnographic research (in PDF for free, or in Print-on-Demand) and consult them.

2) Download the Cloud of Cards kit assembly manual and recipes (PDF, 10mb).

3) Assemble your own 19” Living Rack (A) using the blueprints and instructions freely accessible on this site.

4) Install a Linux server in this rack and add community ownCloud (or Nextcloud) software.

5) Continue to follow the instructions and download the Cloud of Cards Processing Library (B). Either install it on your server, or on your personal computer for development purposes.

6) Develop your own cloud projects and/or connected objects or anything else cloud related you can think about.

7) Simply install ownCloud client (desktop, mobile), connect it to the 5 Folders Cloud (C) and discover its automatised functions.

8) Assemble the 5 Connected Objects (D) and associate them with your cloud to add physical interaction.

9) Play Cloud of Cards!

Two documentary books

The joint design research project entitled Inhabiting & Interfacing the Cloud(s) and its complete process have been subject of online documentation at www.iiclouds.org. Selected parts of this documentation have been used to create two books: Cloud of Cards, the purpose of which is to objectify the research-creation process employed and its results; and Cloud of Practices covering ethnographic research into cloud usages.

With texts by Christophe Guignard, Nathalie Kane, Patrick Keller and Nicolas Nova, interventions by Random International, students from ECAL MID (media & interaction design), EPFL+ECAL Lab and Alice Lab (EPFL), fabric | ch, and several other peers, as well as a discussion with Matthew Plummer-Fernandez (#Algopop).

Download the free PDF version of the Cloud of Cards publication (design research). The POD paperback version can be bought as well on Lulu.

Download the free PDF version of the Cloud of Practices publication (ethnographic research). The POD paperback version can be bought as well on Lulu.

Access the full chronological documentation at www.iiclouds.org