I like understanding the nature of different kinds of information and finding ways to organize and representit. I play with code so I can make sense in a wider variety of ways.
Most of my recent code is about annotation and archives — and keeping the tools forthem openable, tinkerable, self-hostable:
- Archie — a static-publishable, multi-media exhibit annotation platform
- atlasdraw — a map-grounded annotation editor: an Excalidraw fork over MapLibre with geo-anchored elements
- papadam — audio archives and annotations
- Troparcel — collaborative Tropy metadata sync over a Y.js relay
- commonplace — a self-hostable static app that turns Are.na channels into a draggable notebook
- vibecode-maintenance-skills — tend & graft: twin Claude Code skills for keeping what exists healthy and proposing what doesn't exist yet
I am excited by situated research that engages with stories from the ground on their own terms as a long-term effect. I am interested in collectives that bring forward alternatives that are more rooted in stories from the ground rather than imposed ideas passed down from positions of hegemony. What does it mean to co-make artifacts that help us imagine anti-capitalist, anti-caste and anti-colonial systems and languages? I would like to humbly play my part in such efforts while considering my privileges and limitations in a lifelong venture.
Browse the full body of work by discipline — research, writing, UI/UX design, pedagogy, art — or start here:
- Care-full Collectives and their Care Practices on care as infrastructure
- The Disenfranchisement of Adivasis in Kerala ethnography, literature review
- Papad — Community Audio Knowledge Archives and Milli — Connect and Annotate your Archives the fieldwork the annotation tools grew out of
- [How to do counter-UI/UX design](https://khattamicah.xyz/counter-design/ reading interfaces as objects of power, not neutral surfaces
- Speculative Storytelling in Wayanad
- Fertile Technofutures from Bidar for Compost Magazine
- Learning from COWs: CommuWifi-Mesh for Branch
- Digital History of South Asia an open, contributable reading trail
More at khattamicah.xyz.