“Coding” is a constant process of reflecting what we do in the RUSTlab: how we collaborate, what we achieve, who we are, what we want. Contrary to a “code of conduct,” which is a set of rules for how to engage in a community, “coding” is the process of negotiating exactly that. Only that coding will never settle in a code of conduct. Practically, coding is a process of writing and particularly re-writing a text together about our lab practices. It serves as a record of our work and serves as navigation by including notes on our wishes for the future and issues to take care of in the present. It transpires what the RUSTlab desires, materializes our imaginaries, and documents our experience. But most importantly, its existence and iterative revisions are devices for continuously reminding ourselves to consider how we do academia and if this indeed corresponds to academia as we want it.
You can find the coding text in its current version here: https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/coding-rustlab-0/essay. This is the text we use as a device to reflect about our practice. We do so by continuously comparing it to our actual practice and revising it. In 2023 we decided to make this document public (at least for those who have an stsinfrastructures.org account) in order to also get feedback and ideas from people who are not members of the lab, and in order to share our lab practices and inspire those of others.
We would like to express our thanks to the CLEAR Lab and their Lab book – Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research – which was our initial inspiration to start coding.