ARCH 300

Institution Building & Strategic Infrastructure

From Personal Practice to Public Systems

The 200-level taught you to work as an individual Archaeobytologist. The 300-level asks: What institutions must we build to ensure this work—and The Three Pillars—survive the next 50 years?

"The Internet Archive is one flood away from losing 800 billion pages. GeoCities was deleted by corporate decree. The Fediverse fragments across volunteer servers. Web3 promised sovereignty but delivered speculation. This course asks: How do we build institutions that embody The Three Pillars and endure for generations?"
Level
Advanced Graduate
Format
9 Modules
Credits
4 Units
Type
Strategic Design

Prerequisites

00

The Institutional Void

What happens when the Archaeobytologist retires, gets acquired, or runs out of funding?

Examine the brittleness of digital memory and why individual practice isn't enough. Analyze failure modes from the Internet Archive to Web3.

Foundations Case Studies
Start Module
01

The Business of the Archive

What are sustainable business models for preservation work that embody sovereign Ground ownership?

Design preservation organizations with 10-year sustainability plans. Explore funding models, governance structures, and alignment with The Three Pillars.

Business Models Archive
Start Module
02

The Economics of the Anvil

How do you monetize sovereignty in an economy optimized for platform rent-seeking?

Create "foundry" business models that sell sovereignty. Design service offerings, pricing models, and 3-year financial projections.

Economics Anvil
Start Module
03

Building the Seed Bank

How do you scale preservation beyond heroic individuals to collaborative infrastructure?

Design distributed preservation systems with technical architecture, social coordination, and economic incentives.

Collaboration Infrastructure
Start Module
04

Curating the Haunted Forest

How do you create public-facing institutions that honor murdered platforms and extinct ecosystems?

Design digital museums and memorials. Create curatorial statements, exhibition designs, and ethical frameworks for lost communities.

Memory Institutions Curation
Start Module
05

The Political Economy of Ground

What are the technical, legal, and political paths to reclaiming digital sovereignty?

Design complete sovereignty systems addressing all layers: infrastructure, protocol, identity, data, and social governance.

Sovereignty Policy
Start Module
06

Movement Building

How do you transform a practice into a recognized academic/professional discipline?

Create a 10-year movement-building strategy for Archaeobytology. Design pathways from practice to recognized discipline.

Organizing Field Formation
Start Module
07

The Public Intellectual

How do you translate technical scholarship into public discourse and policy impact?

Create public-facing interventions: op-eds, manifestos, policy proposals, or public lectures for non-technical audiences.

Public Scholarship Writing
Start Module
08

Forging the Third Way

What does a web that embodies The Three Pillars actually look like—technically, economically, and socially?

Final capstone: Design a complete "Third Way" system with vision, architecture, business model, governance, and migration strategy.

4 weeks Capstone Design
Start Module