Dr TOM KEENE: www.theanthillsocial.co.uk / tom.keene@rhul.ac.uk

Media Artist: In worlds of net art, hacking, participatory practice, making, Do it With Others (DIWO), and cultures of Free/Open-Source Software and hardware.

Activist: @savecressingham, The Peoples Audit, Refurbish Don't Demolish.

Resident: Cressingham Gardens Estate 2006 - 2023.

Course Lead: Digital Media Culture & Technology BA at Royal Holloway University.

DATABASE (e)STATE

Artist and activist-led research into the
role of database systems within processes
of urban regeneration and democracy since 2016 ...

Lambeth Council's database systems manage 33,000 homes, 140k annual repair jobs, council expenditure, complaints, rents, tenancies, surveys, central government reporting, regeneration processes, records of council meetings, trees, and much more - though are a little understood part of government democracy

occupies hazy space between art,
activism, academic research, and everyday life.
A cross-disciplinary enquiry into relationships between technical systems, residents, and government. Rooted in ideas of a critical technical practice (Agre, 1997; Harwood, 2013).

"I make things to make sense of things"
(Kat Jungnickel, 2006)

Brings theory and practice into close proximity: Simultaneously making code, objects, conversations, and activism while reading accounts and histories of technology, housing, legislation - then turning to theories of technology and power to help comprehend or articulate what I have observed and experienced.

Challenges a hierarchy of knowledge between acts of making art, administration, programming, lived experience, and theoretical, technical, or historical research.

Research started 2012 (or 2006...):

Cressingham
Gardens
Estate

South West London

Borough of Lambeth

On the border of
Brockwell Park

Leasehold homeowner
between 2006 and 2023

...with my wife, kids, & cat
(we moved 2023)

306 homes

100 Homeowners
200 Tenants
6 empty since 1999
(currently 50+ homes empty because of 'decanting',
lack of will to repair, and unknown future plans)

2012 consultation

"A unique opportunity to decide the future of Cressingham
with the UK's first Cooperative Council"

“Widespread
structural issues”

“The estate is sliding
down the hill”

Housing officer & Ward Councillor
A resident-instigated survey of homes (paid by Lambeth) revealed
poor maintenance as primary cause for concern

2014 “The database told us Cressingham is
too expensive to repair”

Lambeth housing officer, Co-operative council
  • A shift in the consultation - Lambeth aimed to demolish.
  • Options for refurbishment illegally removed.
  • Signed-off plans to demolish 306 homes and replace with 446.
  • Majority for private sale, with only 23 additional council homes.
  • Prompted Database (e)State project - how does an authority think and act through its database systems?

Marches: On Lambeth Town Hall, London Mayors office. Coverage Local and national radio, TV, and print media.

"Save Cressingham is one of the UK's most vigorous housing campaigns"
Paul Watt, Urban Studies academic

Granted four judicial reviews over a ten year period - contested consultation process and plans for demolition.

40+ artist-activist activities

  • Strategies to reveal/intervene in how repairs/maintanence databases configure decisions to demolish homes.
  • Outcomes sit between being art objects, activism, technical endeavour, academic research, administrative tasks, and everyday life.
  • Activities/objects paint a portrait of a lived experience of urban regeneration and how the complexities of technical systems reduce possibilities of demicratic representation.


300+ FOI requests operated like slow database queries instructing error prone humans - flesh componants of database and government machinary - to retrieve data
A 2012 document (via FOI) indicated colours yellow/green, numbers 2/3/15, and other categories identified Cressingham for regeneration. No explaination of criteria. Other estate names ommitted.
Attempts to comprehend how Lambeth produces repairs data - took 4+ years to get a blurred screenshot of one interface.
Attempted to create a technical flow chart - impossible because systems constanty evolve & getting repairs done is not a logical process.

Creating historical, activist, technical, and legal timelines to help navigate, think-and-make-with Lambeth's databases as an evolving field of relations.

Making in Cressingham's Rotunda - a politically charged community meeting space which councillors threaten to remove from resident control.

Constant battles with repairs services - a 27 page timeline of key events over 8 years relating to a single roof repair.

LAMBETH'S 300+
ADMINISTRATIVE TECH

Lambeth Intranet, PCounter, SCCM, VMWare vSphere, Xen Server, Active Directory, Business Objects XI.i (Northgate Housing Universe), C-Series, Election System (Xpress), Email (don’t use on Structure Diagram use Services CIs), Exchange 2010, Framework, Framework Admin Tool, ImerjaMail, LANDesk, Microsoft .NET Framework, Networker, Northgate Housing, Oneserve, Parking Kiosk, PassMe, SCCM 2012, SharePoint, Telephony Call Pilot, Telephony CCM6, Telephony TM3 (Phone Management), Uniform, Academy, Anite Public Access, CASPAR, Contender, DRS, Framework Business Objects, Framework Business Objects (InfoView & Web Intelligence), ICPS Suite, Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle RMAN Backup Repository, Public Access Planning, Query Builder, Visual Files, Zengrab, AIM (Axis Income Management), Cy-borg HR, Northgate HAF, Northgate Self Serve Housing Application Form, Oracle Applications Express, Talis, Talis Income Manager, Gandlake, GCSx Outlook Web Access, Genero Desktop Client, Oracle E-Business, Oracle HR, Oracle Applications: Accounts Payable, Oracle Applications: Accounts Receivable, Oracle Applications: Cash Management, Oracle Applications: General Ledger, Oracle Applications: PO / iProcurement, PuTTY, Trend Micro Enterprise Protection (Anti Virus), AddressMatch, Address-Point, ADManager Plus, Alto Web Services, ArcGIS (Web GI software). ArcSDE (Server GI software) (supporting web and desktop GI; spatial data for Symology, Public Access, Artifax Artemis eBookings, ArtifaxEvent PDC (Prof Dev Centre), ArtifaxEvent Registrars, ArtifaxEventOnline (PDC), Asylum Seekers Live, AUTOCAD Infrastructure Design Suite, AUTOCADBuilding Design Suite, Bacas, Bibliotheca Smart gate Manager, Bibliotheca SmartServe Kiosk , Bibliotheca SmartTunnel Manager, Cashier Kiosks, dataMAP, Directory Equiries Intranet, Education Management Information Systems, E-forms, Egress, EPIC, Fast Entry, FTPs, Geocortex, Hummingbird, iCasework, iCasework Members Enquiry, IMPULSE, InCase Intelligence, Issue Manager, iStorm, JTB Flex Report, Keystone Asset Management System, LAS Console, Leaving Care, Logotech Fixed Assets Register, London Grid for Learning, Marcomm Newsflash, MatchCode, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, Modern.Gov, Natwest Bankline, Netloan PC Booking, Oracle Applications: Application Desktop Integrator, Oracle Applications: Discoverer, Oracle Applications: Financial Statement Generator, Oracle Applications: Learning Management.

Oracle Applications: Oracle Financial Analyser, Oracle User Productivity Kit (UPK), Paye.net (PAYE Portal) and ACR, PDF Creator (Intranet), Q-Flow, RAFTS, Respond, RSS, SAS, School Data Loader, Sky, SMART for dataMAP, SPOCC, SPOCCnet, Strand (Electoral Register), Symology Insight, Synergy, Talis Assure (offline module), Talis Bridge, TalisPrism 2, Talis Prism 3, Total Land Charges, Verifone (Chip ‘n’ pin), Websense filtering system (Libraries), Youth Offender Information System, ArcMap, Aspireview, AutoCad Vehicle Tracking, Bibliotheca RF4 returns kiosk, Bibliotheca Tag Apply & Smartwedge, Cute PDF Converter, Deepfreeze, Electoral Register Lookup, Food Surveilance System, GIFTS, GPCC (Locks down machine group policies), JCAD Audit Tracker, JCAD Lachs Insurance, JCAD Risk Web 3.1, KeyAccident, Keyline, Keysign, Landmark (standalone systems), Landmark (web system), Launcher (launches LLIAS products), Locker (additional password access to PCs for local administrators), LTA Toolkit, MasterTrader, MultiVue, Oracle I Supplier Portal, RSU school reporting online, Sage ACT!, SENATE, SNAP survey forms, Tableau, Talis Decisions, Talis Soprano, TEDDS_12, Trucrypt, Webspy (internet monitoring), 1APP, Acrobat 8 Pro, Additional datasets, Adobe Acrobat Distiller, Airwatch Mobile Data Management, Claro Read Pro, ClaroView, ControlPoint, D.cal, Dolphin Supernova / Lunar + (Special needs software – includes screen reader), Dragon, E-Casework, epass, Ezytreev, Financial Investigation Toolkit, Firefox, Fireworks, Fisher Family Trust, Fitbug Bug Manager, Flash, Flash Player, Framework (Report Repository), Google Chrome (PC), Google Earth, Home to school Transport Database, Hotspot Dectective, iChIS, ID Pro, IDOX Public Access, Illustrator, InControl Intelligence, InSearch Intelligence, Inspiration, Keypass, Lambeth Contracts Register, Learning Pool Authoring Tool Vers 5.3.0.0, LifeSPAN IS, LLIAS (booking, client and kiosk), Lumension Port Security, MAC OSX 10.5.1 Leopard, MapInfo, Metacompliiance, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Excel Converter, Microsoft Office 8 for MAC, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Project 2013, Microsoft Visio 2013, Microsoft Word, Mindjet, Mobile phone software i.e Nokia PS suite, Mozilla Firefox (PC), ODEX, Olympus Administrators Tool, Olympus Dictation Tool, Olympus Sonority, Omnidata, Parallels Desktop for MAC (Virtual PC), PC Memo Scriber 4 (Dictaphone), PDF-Xchange 3, Pensions, Photoshop elements, Planning Perfomance Reports, Plantime, Pupil achievement Tracker, QuarkXpress v7 (MAC), Quickbooks, QuickTag, Quicktime Player, Read and Write Gold, Reading Assistant v4.1 (Rapid Programme), S106, Safari 4.0 (530.17), School governor database, Schools Data Loader, SharePoint Online, SIMS (Schools Information Management System, Smart Board software, Spark Space, SPRUNT(Firewall access only), SPSS, TEAM Energy Accounting, Technology Forge Facility, Telephony e-Operator, Telephony NICE (Voice Analytics), Telephony NICE (Voice Recording), Telephony NU Technology, TOAD, TRAVL, TVCO, Tweetdeck, Uniform Enterprise, Universal Management Information System, Video Anywhere (Trigman Security), VRR, Windows Movie Maker, Winscribe, WinZip 8.1, Zoomtext.
Diagrams of democratic process exposed multiple versions of democracy and entanglements of technology
Service charge meetings: Quantity surveyor taught us to interrogate
our bills. Identified 200 suspect repairs that had been charged twice, lacked sufficient detail, should have been an insurance claim, not completed - triggered a full resident audit of repairs.
Creating spreadsheets: Identified hidden data structures, how information travels, and governed Lambeth's responses to residents by forcing consistant language.

Invented the acronym 'HARMS' to account for more-than-technical complexities

(Housing Asset Repairs Management System)

Fictional title which acknowledges anything that 'feels' associated with Lambeth's
databases (inc. humans) are part of what they are and do.

The 'Special Purpose Vehicle' (a VERY niche housing finance joke) helped inspect repairs while simultaneously amusing my kids, film the estate, and audit repairs data - exposed how the acts of databasing demand and distribute labour with ethical, personal, economic, and other consequences

Audit exposed £127k worth of suspect repairs in a two year period

  • Officers couldn't cope with volume of resident-generated data
  • Refusals to pay followed by automated threats of legal action
  • Residents still chasing repairs from 2012

SQL queries

Attempts to comprehend algorithmic logics of demolition and displacement.

Explored a service charge bill as a material manifestation of Lambeth's databases involving different grammars of action: Block def, Job Number, Work Order Type, Job Details, Issue Date, Completed.

AtYourService.py A performance of code - scanning service charge PDFs with computer vision to import fields of data, into a resident controlled database. Each import triggers an 'on hold recording' from Lambeth's repairs service.
The Shadow Database: Reversed-engineered Lambeth's primary housing database.
Display's repairs and maintenance data for 33,000 homes between 2011 and 2016. Around 140k annual repair jobs listed by individual estate and home
http://shadow.db-estate.co.uk/
The research underlined that housing databases can be understood through multiple registers that can be technical, institutional, intrapersonal, academic, governmental, economic, historical, algorithmic, situated, environmental, and more - where each register sustains its own truths and ethics
...exposed how the primary key of a Repairs Job instantiates relationships between Housing officers, maintenance contracts, contractors, sub-contractors, residents, homes, environment, local and national government
...revealed an asymmetry between council tenants and homeowners, where tenants cannot audit repairs data because they do not receive service charge bills
...disrupted Lambeths' claim to have built “1,000 council homes since 2014” - turned out to be 17 and possibly as low as 9
...supported an application to the Secretary of State for the Right to Transfer ownership of Cressingham into community hands - which can stop Demolition.
...also supported the resident Right to Manage, where residents continue to setup a Tennant Managment Organisation to manage repairs