Convivial Computing extends from the idea of tools for Conviviality, of a pluralism of tools that guarantee an individual’s right to work, arguing that the tools need be as varied, creative and lively as the people who use them.
The term was coined by Ivan Illich, who’s worry of overgrowth and overproduction led him to some problematic sexist views on gender and population control. However, his work inspired other movements in working to build a modern society that is not dominated by industry and instead recognizes the limits of natural resources. These views on tools and sustainable resource usage, social organization and interdependence led to movements such as permaculture and Permacomputing.
A central goal when building convivial tools is to address a major theme and challenge when designing tools for thought . The tool should be limited, but non-rigid, to promote fostering of emergent use cases and adaptable to changes in infrastructure. To embody these characteristics the software should be modular, composable and modifiable by the user. Even pushing the user further towards being a designer of the tool. With this, once can see parallels to local first and doorless software.
This review by Damaged Earth Catalog argues the ideas were much more interesting than the actual steps taken, since they focused too much on changing the tool, but not enough on the context a tool is used. A similar argument is made in The web browser as a tool of thought, which calls for medium for thinking over tools that automate workflows that promote thinking
They see the distinction between user and programmer as a major obstacle for the usefulness of computers. Convivial tools encourage users to be actively engaged with, and to generate creative extensions to, the artefacts given to them, releasing designers of tools from the impossible task of anticipating all possible uses of a tool and all people’s needs.
A more recent paper, Andrea Vetter’s Matrix of Convivial Technology describes 5 dimensions for assessing technologies for degrowth - relatedness, adaptability, accessibility, bio-interaction and appropriateness;