[p2p-research] CloudFab Update & More

[Suresh Fernando]

Eric,

Can we arrange a time for a quick chat on Skype? You can find me at sureshf.
Over the coming couple of weeks I want to talk to a few folk that are
working in this space to get a better feel for what is actually going on.
Right now I'm still operating at a pretty theoretical level.

You obviously know a lot about the space and have an informed perspective.

If this works for you, just give me a couple of times and I'll confirm.

Thanks for your interest.

Suresh

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 8:50 AM, Eric Hunting <erichunting at gmail.com> wrote:

> Actively, there's Open Pario (http://openpario.mime.oregonstate.edu:3000/)
> Samuel mentioned earlier and the Open Innovation directory project (
> http://open-innovation-projects.org/) and harkopen (
> http://twitter.com/harkopen) and Open Source Machine (
> http://opensourcemachine.org/), which are both more blog-like directories.
> I strongly suspect that at some point Sourceforge will get into the act too,
> once the idea of open hardware reaches a certain critical mass in the
> traditional open software community. I've noticed there seems to be some
> reluctance in that community to embrace this concept, as if many see it as a
> passing fad. Maybe the current open hardware projects haven't been
> sufficiently structured enough to be taken seriously by programmers. Or
> maybe they're just getting old. That community seems to have been missing
> the boat or coming on late on a number of things lately, like the OLPC, the
> software package revolution, net-appliance-based personal computing (what I
> call distributed computers), ubiquitous computing, open microprocessors,
> virtual computers (based on programmable gate arrays), etc.
>
> There's also my own ToolBook concept, but that's still just a proposal and
> it's more focused on the notion of a publishing cooperative as a means of
> economic support for open hardware development within a collaborative
> community of Makers, writers, and graphic/media artists. The basic idea is
> that it's pursuing free and open designs and technologies and a
> collectivization of open industrial knowledge but are earning a basic living
> for its participants and supporting the overhead of this work and shared
> workshop facilities by the income from publishing media about it. (it
> sometimes looks like Make Media is evolving in this direction, but won't
> actually commit to something like this) It would also have a world outreach
> side where it would be using some of its first-world income to support
> third-world knowledge and appropriate technology distribution through mobile
> fab labs -which, of course, gives our Maker community very practical things
> to devise open hardware solutions for. (like the flat-pak refrigerator
> concept we've been discussing in Open Manufacturing lately)
>
> I'd be happy to contribute where I can, though I've been stretched thin
> lately. I'm trying to find a way to transition out of the college textbook
> brokering business I've really come to dislike. (it's gotten to where it's
> hard for me to even read a book for pleasure anymore because every time I
> pick one up the thought of the blatant and ubiquitous corruption in
> academia, the mafia-like practices of the publishers, the growing right-wing
> political corruption of textbook content and its export overseas, the casual
> lying and cheating of everyone in the industry at the expense of students,
> and the worsening resentment of the students themselves just fills me with a
> sense of disgust) I've two key projects that may lead to this; a T-slot
> Sourcebook project which is intended to be an introduction to the potential
> of extruded aluminum T-slot profiles -like the old 80:20 system and the new
> MakeBeam- and the Utilihab project, which is the development of an open
> source plug-in house-building system based on larger T-slot profiles. (see
> http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/File:T-SlotPavilion1b.jpg
> http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/File:T-SlotPavilion1a.jpg
> http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/File:MarineEcoVillage.jpg
> http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/File:MarineEcoVillage12.jpg) But I'm sort of
> stymied by a lack of at-hand workshop facilities. Projects like yours,
> though, may help as they establish networks of fabricators I might be able
> to contract production from and also as a way of hosting info for these
> projects for their own promotion. I'm also very active in the space advocacy
> community and have been working for some years on a futurist writing project
> called TMP2 (http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) which, if I ever find
> sufficient illustration, is also intended to produce a book and simple Venus
> Project style films. So you'll have to bear with me if I'm behind the curve
> a lot.
>
> Eric Hunting
> erichunting at gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Jan 9, 2010, at 1:42 PM, Suresh Fernando wrote:
>
> > Eric,
> >
> > Thanks for the detailed response!
> >
> > Are you aware of any projects in addition to http://www.100kgarages.com/that you feel are trying to do something similar?
> >
> > Also, we are in the process of putting a team together to scale this
> process up. Your understanding of the issues in the space would be
> invaluable. Let me know if you would be interested in getting involved in
> some way.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Suresh
>
>


-- 
Suresh Fernando
WEBSITE: http://radical-inclusion.com
WEBSITE: http://wiki.openkollab.com
BLOG: http://sureshfernando.wordpress.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/sureshf
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/suresh.fernando
604-889-8167
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