Kernel 3 Pitches Now Open!!
So.... are we there yet?
Jessica here, taking over the newsletter briefly from Jasmine. (If you were around 2021-2022, I was newsletter editor back then.) I’m the Editor-In Chief of Kernel Issue 3, and I’m so excited to announce that we’re finally opening pitches. TLDR: submit your pitches here (nonfiction) or here (creative) by 5/16.
What is happening with Kernel 3?
You may have noticed that this year’s theme is a bit awkwardly not parallel with the previous two issues. In line with Jasmine’s restated ambition for Reboot, Issue 3 will serve as a transition to a new era of Kernel. Future issues will be smaller and more frequent; they will also be more tightly scoped around a substantive theme (as always, learning from our friends and mentors at Logic).
With Issue 3, we finish the progression of Where do we go from here? How do we get there? with Are we there yet? We also begin the next series of named, topical themes with SUSTAIN. (If there’s a theme you’d like us to cover in the future, or that you might feel strongly about editing for, please also reach out!)
What do we mean by SUSTAIN?
SUSTAIN is a bit broader than I anticipate future issues to be (last chance to get your truly random unhinged pitches in). That said, I hope the following will help illustrate what I’m envisioning the issue might be shaped like:
Some ~vibes~ I’m hoping for in this issue: There’s always excitement in the launch of something new. What’s left once the sparkles have faded? Maintenance work (not to be confused with tweeting about maintenance work). You can grow or you can shrink; what’s the plan for the future? You can’t be disappointed if you never follow through, if you never commit to a project in the long term. How do you keep up the energy and attention of a group of people? “Sustain” need not imply a good thing. Sometimes things go on for longer than they should; how do you know when to quit? Endings can be quiet or they can be loud; you can force someone else to end something, too. I don’t necessarily mean “sustainability” in the environmental sense, but I don’t not mean it, either. Locate us in time; are we at the beginning, middle, or end?
Examples of some topics I’m curious about (not even close to exhaustive): Did something happen to tech worker organizing — what changed in the last few years? What if we… blew up a pipeline? Or a datacenter? Is the tech industry’s place in the cursed set of default safe undergrad career goals (banking consulting medicine law) changing anytime soon? Any update on the NYPD misconduct database, now that it’s been a few years since launch? How should we think about the SO2 balloon people — are they clowns or geniuses?
Some styles of inquiry I like: How do interpersonal relations (who’s friends? who’s enemies? who’s a “weirdo” and who’s “cool”?) shape macro-level politics, and what ultimately happens in the world materially? Where do values as stated conflict with values as practiced? I’m a sucker for intellectual history, as long as it’s grounded. Can theory be not just descriptive, but prescriptive in the real world? Give me some concrete case studies. Give me your hottest takes and your most ambitious manifestos — just do the work to back it up.
I won’t be excited by: “X won’t save us” or “capitalism is the root cause” or “technosolutionism is doomed to fail” style arguments (We know. We live in a society. Nothing will save us. Now what?) Also, I am not anti-AI (still regularly thinking about Optimal Path — when AI content is good, it can be really good), but just know that I’ll have a pretty high bar for quality and insight (unfortunately when AI content is not good, it can be really not good).
What formats are we looking for?
As in previous years, we have a few separate content tracks with separate submission forms. All contributions will be compensated.
Nonfiction: essay, interview, or (new this year!) software criticism. Pitch here!
Essay: short (1000-2000 words, $250) or long (3000+ words, $350)
Software criticism: up to 2000 words, $250
Interview: $200
Creative: visual art, poetry, or fiction. Submit here!
For fiction and poetry, please specify if you are interested in your piece being workshopped/edited or if it is a final/completed piece.
Compensation will be $100-300 depending on the scale of the piece.
Closing note
One of my favorite parts of editing the newsletter was getting to share cool things the community’s been up to and I’m so happy to get to do it again!
Jacky worked on the Distributed Press API, which makes it easer to post to the decentralized web — they just released v1 (read his essay from last year on data neutrality!)
Emily, Kernel 2’s Editor in Chief, making excellent posts (and software and policies and protocols) over on Bluesky
Finally, if you’re interested in contributing to web, editing, design/layout/illustration, or distribution, one last day to fill out the team interest form! Again, you can reach me at jessica@joinreboot.org.
Missed you all and excited to read your pitches,
Jessica & Reboot Team