The Idea
Hi Adam,
thanks alot that looks good. 'scuse sooo slooow response - kids
yesterday and in bed with a head cold today argh!
On Thu, Nov 08, 2007 at 08:58:30PM -0500, adam hyde wrote:
> so...as I understand it we will present an idea to the physics room
> about how to build a installation/workshop for the opening of ada and
> will run for 1 week as a walk in workshop?
>
> Other points...please correct as you see fit..
>
> * anyone can come to the period we are there and bring something ala
> dorkbot to show on the condition that they can explain how they made it
> and bring enuff stuff so others can actually make it
I'd add that it must be able to interconnect it with the rest of the
geekosystem.
> * we will design several activities from our long lists of workshops we
> know and offer them for free for 1 week as a walk-in workshop at the
> p'room
yep
> * documentation of the week will be shown as we make it in te p'room as
> well as going to mic
We could send the whole installation to MIC in a container for more
additions.. if we wanted it to have an afterlife beyond doco, though
being able to carry 'the piece' on a usbkeydrive is v. desireable too!
> * the opening night is a 'make party' - a night of intensive geekery,
> making things...maybe some simple stuff...transmitters etc
Maybe the opening night should be trying to use what has been built?
> thats the core of it right?
>
> i also thought maybe we can make a recipe book of stuff that ppl have
> made and put them in one place (a book ...all handwritten etc...this
> could also be a final part of the 'work'
good idea.
here's some extra thoughts (below) and some idea of what steps we
might need to take.
Let me know what you think and catch up in the next few days and we
can finish working these together into a proposal for PR.
cheers
/julian
General
-------
I'd like to highlight the enviromental and energy consequences of
geekery through the project somehow.
In a way it feels more more like curation than making something. We set
the parameters and themes and then people can contribute.
When we were talking I was envisioning the finished thing being some
totally odd mess of connected components, like a 3d functional mind map
made out of physical and software components.
Each component interconnects or interfaces with at least one other
component. Some might be only connected by a power lead or network
cable or a bolt.
So what we are talking about is a bit like a framework for an open
collaborative design process. Here's what I thought we might actually
have to do.
Process
-------
# Define a template of what each component should have:
Design (build instructions)
Energy usage profile (how much energy it consumes, produces or stores)
Interfaces (how it interfaces with other devices)
Provenance (where the bits come from)
Developers (person or group doing the dev)
Manual (how it is used)
# Set up some example components
Micro FM
Cantenna and accesspoint
Solar panel
potato power source
...
# Set up the space
Get materials,
tools,
parts
wiki
whiteboard
# Invite people (to the list and in the PR pr :)
To submit designs(build instructions)
To bring devices they already have
To build components at the workshop
To teach component building
To interconnect components using interface descriptions
To document
# Oversee the workshop
Teach component building on some of our component designs
Interconnect components using interface descriptions
Document
# Possible Afterlife
Publish as book/site
Send to another venue as doco
Send to another venue as workshop idea and framework
Send to another venue as object to be built on
Put in a container and send on a world tour!
Themes
------
Community (a community of user/makers drawn from ada and the public)
DIY (make culture)
FLOSS (both in software and applied to hardware)
Energy (the geekosystem should produce net power)
Enviro (use recycled components etc.)
Goals?
------
I don't know if there should be a specific of general design goal of
the geekosystem? Like 'to build a carbon neutral free media lab' or
something? Just something to direct ppl a bit. Maybe we are beter off
doing that by what we choose for our components?
Name
----
All ideas are 2nd hand - did a bit of a google and found:
'Inside the geekosystem' 1999 Chris Taylor for Time magazine
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,35380,00.html
Unfortunatley I can only find the intro and not the whole article so
far. Do we mind re-using a pre-dotcom crash term?
http://geekosystem.com is just a link farm..
Funding
-------
Let's work out what we can afford to do with whatever budget there is
from PR. I figure that will cover travel and accomodation, a bit of
preparation before, material and the time of the week on site.
Then if we want to make it deeper and spend more time - how much it
would cost and where to get money from.
See what would be available from MIC or other funders..
I can for sure afford to put that week and prep time into it, but
would need to get some money out of it if it is oing to be alot of
ongoing work.
Context
-------
Maybe we should write something to contextualise it in art/geekery?