OK, here we go. The 4th run of the Tunnel training. Build up your very own VPN in Iceland. Give configs to friends, family & activist mates to protect them in this mad era of runaway surveillance, automated attacks & account theft. courses.nikau.io/tunnel/ March 27. 4x4hrs. No prior skills req.

I have deployed and run infra since the noughts, through some wild turns in geo/techno-political history, and will say that now more than ever, #selfhosting is an act of resistance. Depopulate. Defund. Disempower.

Pleased to announce the next Cloudbreak. Learn how to deploy & secure your own sovereign cloud infrastructure using best practices refined from over 2 decades of server administration. This is an ideal opportunity to become part of the movement away from BigTech. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak

Pleased to announce the next Cloudbreak. Learn how to deploy & secure your own sovereign cloud infrastructure using best practices refined from over 2 decades of server administration. This is an ideal opportunity to become part of the movement away from BigTech. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak

Six seats left for Cloudbreak, kicking off Feb 16. In just 6 hours you learn to deploy, secure & admin your very own sovereign EU-based cloud server, complete with Zoom & Google Docs alternatives suitable for fam, small orgs & communities. No comp-sci or tech bg needed. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak/

Six seats left for Cloudbreak, kicking off Feb 16. In just 6 hours you learn to deploy, secure & admin your very own sovereign EU-based cloud server, complete with Zoom & Google Docs alternatives suitable for fam, small orgs & communities. No comp-sci or tech bg needed. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak/

Pleased to announce that the next edition of Cloudbreak will take place on Feb 16, & with a few enhancements to both content and pace. You can become part of the solution, in this era of runaway digital imperialism, surveillance capitalism & Internet enshittification. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak/

Congrats to the participants of the first edition of Cloudbreak! An intense & intensely rewarding 6hrs. Every participant finished with their own EU-based tightly-secured & very capable #selfhosted cloud server, complete with video conferencing & collab doc editing. courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak/

If another year feeding #BigTech is getting you down, consider running your own infra. Become part of the change. In 6hrs I'll guide you through the process of building up & securing your own low-carbon, private & powerful cloud & videoconf platform in an EU datacenter courses.nikau.io/cloudbreak/

Glad to share the details for our Q1 2026 live training, including that of Cloudbreak, a new course in #selfhosting geared toward those with no prior relevant skills. As with 2025, seats are limited to ensure quality coaching with great outcomes for participants. courses.nikau.io/currently-av...

I've released a playlist of little videos introducing core UNIX shell concepts and skills for those curious about getting off BigTech and onto self-run, sovereign server infrastructure. video.nikau.io/w/p/o2pxK81g... #selfhosted #infrastructure

Pleased to announce new training dates. If you'd like to bring self-hosted sovereign server infrastructure to your communities, movements &/or orgs - getting them off BigTech & onto a happier & healthier platform surface - these courses are probably for you. learn.nikau.io/courses/cour...

The Replaybook is out! My contribution was specifically on helping climate-facing organisations chart a pathway from big tech platforms to mission-coherent, #selfhosted and sovereign infrastructure. You can download the book free, or pre-order in print. tacticaltech.org/replaybook/

Very pleased to present another round of Tunnel and Fortress, live classes in the design & deployment of sovereign server infrastructure. I want to teach you to get the communities you care about off Big Tech. video.nikau.io/w/9RVN23fgj7... learn.nikau.io/courses/cour... #exitbigtech #sysadmin

For those in the region, please join us for a rigorous evening of discussion on the dominant belief system of Technological Determinism, its impact on our autonomy, dignity, communities and cultures. criticalsignals.nz/programme/in...

V happy to launch Critical Signals, a cross-over artistic/data sovereignty/kai (food) sovereignty project in #Wellington City CBD. #Aotearoa: with @ira.bailey.nz @julian0liver.bsky.social et al, aiming to get ready for oncoming disruptions, in community. Sign up here criticalsignals.nz

Pleased to share Critical Signals, a 3 month series of events in downtown Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. The series centers practical & visionary responses to an era of collapses. criticalsignals.nz (Programme still growing as we confirm new collabs)

Overjoyed to see our 2011 Critical Engineering Manifesto tooled up for our times, in this powerful reading by Charlotte Kent for the Brooklyn Rail brooklynrail.org/2025/05/art-... TY @tega.bsky.social

I'm very pleased to share Tunnel & Fortress, a new live coached training series bringing the art of system administration to those with no prior experience in the field. Participants will deploy, garden & harden servers to keep their communities safe. video.nikau.io/w/sXj2kQ8vQo... #exitbigtech

PSA - I'm working on some online courses that I'll be launching very soon, skilling up folk (incl from less technical backgrounds) to deploy, maintain and grow low-cost sovereign server infrastructure to keep their communities, friends and families safe in this incredible time.

Glad to share a fun weekend project, a powerful #Meshtastic node in a waterproof & rugged case, for use in comms blackout situations/emergencies. It allows for texting across the mesh with a smartphone. More here: mastodon.social/@JulianOlive...

For those of you heading to Transmediale in Berlin this year, I will be streaming in to join 2 panels. The first panel is with Felicity Hammond and Nina Davies: transmediale.de/en/2025/even... The 2nd with Catherine Griffiths, Anna Engelhardt and Marija Ristic: transmediale.de/en/2025/even...

Every now and again I try my hand at writing short fiction. Here's one that's been feeling ready: julianoliver.com/fiction/the-... #fiction #writing

I'll be giving a seminar 'Communications in an Emergency' on the 14th in Wellington, & an intensive 'Information and Operations Security for Activists' on the 18th. Be sure to check out the other great workshops too. beautifulsignals.nz #infosec #resilience

Sharing here a keynote I gave this yr. I cover the enviro hit of 'AI'/ML & our endangering habits of animism & anthropomorphism. Also look at embedded racism & the broader cult of technological determinism in this tech. I called it Machine Cult. A kind soul uploaded it here: vimeo.com/952557065

For those of you in Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara / Wellington, I'll be having a wee chat about disaster resilient communications on the 24th, at the very nice Vogelmorn. I'll cover wired & wireless fallbacks, packet radio, meshing, long-range analog radio & antennae options, low cost software radio++

'The Closed World' is my most recent artwork. I took a standard refractor telescope and modified it to look upon an entirely fictitious, computer-generated cosmos. Commissioned for the ADA Symposium 2024, it's a piece about truth in an era of machine-made content. julianoliver.com/projects/the...

If you are a US-based org working in support of human rights and/or the environment looking to swiftly migrate your server infrastructure and data to safer soil, get in touch. We have extensive experience helping at-risk orgs find a safer home for their work. nikau.io Pass it on #infosec #opsec

Trust issues with Bsky (fear it won't end well) so have resolved to stick to my ethos over at Mastodon (mastodon.social/@JulianOliver). Nonetheless will post low volume bytes and pieces specifically related to my work here.