The Public Brain
A kiosk that reads the archive back to you
பொது மூளை
Inside every Civic House, one hardened terminal. It reads the archive back — in Tamil, English, and every language Velicham speaks — with no login, no tracking, no upload path.
Now · Aarambam
Spec drafted. Node 000 (cloud core) already answers Velicham questions today via docs.tlte.cloud. Physical kiosk hardware pending Civic House 001 opening.
Becoming · Nilaiththanmai
Every Orbit node runs a Public Brain terminal. Reader offline, DTN-synced weekly to the cloud core, no internet required to read.
Hardware baseline
- Fanless mini-PC, ≥16 GB RAM, ≥1 TB SSD (full corpus mirror + margin).
- 27" e-ink-preferred or low-blue-light IPS panel; anti-glare.
- Hardened Linux (immutable rootfs), read-only user session, auto-revert.
- Physical write-block on all USB ports. No microphone. No camera.
- Wired Ethernet only — no Wi-Fi radio, no Bluetooth.
What a visitor can do
- Read every MP Pack, Unmai desk, Reading Room dossier, Chronicle chapter.
- Ask Velicham — retrieval-grounded, cites every claim.
- Print a page (staff-mediated).
What a visitor cannot do
- Log in. There is no account.
- Upload files, submit testimony, or contact anyone.
- Browse the wider internet. Kiosk is walled to the archive.
- Be tracked. No visitor identity is captured; a daily anonymous counter is aggregated only.
Safeguarding for under-18 walk-ins
- Two-person rule — no adult alone with an under-18 in the room.
- Distress signposting card (UK: Childline 0800 1111) visible at the terminal.
- Content filters on the kiosk conform to the 21 Laws and the Magalir Avai safety rules.
- Any disclosure of harm routes to the safeguarding lead, not held on the kiosk.