In XPUB, each group begins its two-years programme by setting up a self-hosted server. We called ours Soupboat, and it houses many of our prototypes and experiments. This small server, running on a Raspberri Pi, feels like a place to call home on the internet. Over the past two years we have done all sorts of projects there: generated web-to-print publications, custom CMSs to keep track of birthdays, Etherpad documents, and soup recipes, workshops, personal wikis, and so on. While living on a server with others, my approach to code began slowly to change. Publishing open git repositories, instead of hiding behind private ones. Writing more readme files to be more generous with friends and colleagues and tutors. Cultivating small gestures and rituals, like leaving comments in config files to remind others where to mount the next app or where to find some credentials.
At the same time, this awareness grew by acknowledging the particular context of this [situated software](https://gwern.net/doc/technology/2004-03-30-shirky-situatedsoftware.html). In many readme files for example, the explanations are tailored specifically for the Soupboat, and they cannot probably be ported 1:1 somewhere else.
Nonetheless, the space is prepared for hosting new guests.
