This is an automatic English translation of the Dutch original.
Imagine: the internet is down. No Signal, no news sites, no mobile network. How do you still find out what is happening in your city? And which messages can you still trust?
It sounds like a far-fetched scenario, but outages, power cuts and deliberate disruption happen more often than we think. It is precisely at such moments that reliable information is needed most. That is why, in the MeshMedia project, Post-X Society is exploring an alternative that works without the internet: a mesh network. In it, small, cheap devices pass messages on from one to the next. Without big tech, without central control.
But can you practise journalism on a network like that? Can you connect an editorial team and its audience when all the usual channels drop out. And can you still trust that information?
In this workshop we run a field test. We head out into the wider world with our devices to see how far the MeshCore network reaches: where the signal keeps working, where it drops out, and what it takes to get an area fully covered.
During this workshop, SETUP will also briefly touch on the new hyperlocal radio station Radio Werkspoor. A radio station that may not be as efficient as communicating via group WhatsApp or Instagram, and may not solve our digital dependence on Big Tech. But an ambitious way to discover how we can relate anew to the infrastructure that carries our society.
What are we going to do?
- We will briefly talk about Radio Werkspoor
- We explain how a mesh network works
- We spread out across the city with nodes and place repeaters at strategic spots.
- We test how far messages travel and where the weak spots are.
- Together we test whether the coverage map of Utrecht also works in practice.
Who is it for?
For anyone who finds mesh technology and journalism interesting: journalists, techies and the plain curious. No technical prior knowledge is needed. We explain how the equipment works as we go. Handy to have, though: shoes you can walk in for a while and a willingness to see the city in a different light.
Practical details
27 August 2026, 19:00 – 21:00
Nijverheidskade 13, Utrecht, UT
This workshop is organised together with SETUP, registration via:
Header photo by Zizi zi from Pexels
This meetup is part of our research within the Incubator programme of the Dutch Journalism Fund (Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek). The SVDJ Incubator is a funding and mentoring programme aimed at finding solutions to shared challenges within the journalism sector.
Through knowledge-sharing, mentoring and funding, the SVDJ fosters an independent, diverse and future-proof journalistic infrastructure in the Netherlands.
For questions about the SVDJ Incubator or the solutions that have emerged from it, go to www.svdj.nl/incubator.
