> The Towel Team: Caretakers of the Hitchhikers Academy
The **Towel Team** (a playful nod to the classic "Don't forget your towel!" from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) forms the backbone of the organisational and digital infrastructure that supports the activities of the Academy's fellows. Their primary mission is to nurture, support, and empower the group of selected paid researchers—called Hitchhiker Fellows—and, by extension, the broader hitchhiker community. Currently, the plan is to start with a cohort of seven Hitchhiker Fellows, with the ambitious goal of expanding that number to 42— a reference to the famous Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
# What Kinds of Support Does the Towel Team Provide? The daily and strategic support provided by the Towel Team falls into **three main categories**: 1. Practical Support 1. Tending and Well-Being 1. Togetherness
# Key Relationships
The role is expected to work closely with the: - Happening Fellow - Space Fellow
In terms of asynchronous and synchronous flows, utilising novel and familiar physical (embodied) and online (virtual) practices.
A few specific fellowships have particularly close ties to the Towel Team: - **The Happening Fellow** is focused on organising and strategising events—membership drives, crowdfunding, dynamic gatherings—where practical and digital support from the Towel Team is vital. - **The Space Fellow** oversees the technical infrastructure—the ‘architecture’ of the digital realm (‘Magrathia’ as a nod to Douglas Adams). The relationship here involves specifying needs, testing tools, and collaborative development of systems to support the Academy’s mission and security.
# Approach The unique or unusual feature of this team is ther ability to work with remote, diverse, and often problematic talent.
- Mental Health. Hitchhiker's and Field Researchers - in general thinkers involved in the space of imagining the future, and caring about the problesm we face - these characteristics attract individuals with vulenrabilities, difficulties fitting into organisational structures and/or mental health problems.
- Digital Bureaucracy, Federation - decentralised asynchronous coordination
*In summary*: The Towel Team is pioneering a holistic framework to support the unique needs of Hitchhiker Fellows through practical assistance, well-being care, and collaborative practice. As they pilot this with the first cohort and scale to their goal of 42, they’re setting a template for truly supportive digital institutions far beyond their own community.