Welcome to the IOPA forum! Introductions thread

Hello Everyone,

Isaac here from Kumasi Hive Ghana, I’m glad to be part of Innovative Manufacturing in Africa, and I look forward to a wonderful collaboration with all of you, and to the success of this project.

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“Using wisdom of the crowd to solve interdisciplinary problems.”

I love this. :heart: Thank you so much for sharing.

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Hello @Haris_Shekeris

Sorry for my late response. YES the school of collective intelligence are very open to collaboration from different fields.

Here is our school website https://sci.um6p.ma/

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Yes @schutton.

Our team have finished drafting the questions for the task ahead. We have also sent the survey tool(KoboToolbox) for @kny5 review.

Overall, we are good to go. :blush:

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Greetings everyone,
I am Derrick Mugasia from IOMe254 in Kenya. I am glad to be part of this network and part of the Innovative Manufacturing in Africa project. Looking forward to fruitful engagements.

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Great progress! Thank you so much for the update :+1:t3:

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Hi everyone, my name is Ebuka Ezeike. I’m a Physicist from Abuja, Nigeria and I am happy to join this beautiful community. :innocent:
Other skills I have:
I am a voice over artist, video editor and podcast editor and producer.

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Hi Ebuka - I just joined and read your comment about voice over (+ Physicist) and thought I’d share a project link that I’ve been supporting: WISDOM OF PEARL MP3 PROJECT ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH - YouTube

I’m not sure how much sense it makes without too much context though. Basically the idea is audio-based education, particularly in areas where people do not have the means or opportunities to go to a physical school.
Also it could complement physical school or support critical knowledge transfer to illiterate communities.

I’d love to develop it further if folks think it is a good fit. Also I would like to look into making it more resilient, repairable, and open where possible.

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Hello everyone, I am Sam. I’ve worked around several open innovation initiatives and am currently exploring (juggling) a couple of projects around cheap transport drones, audio player based education, and a few bits and bobs around additive manufacturing (incl. in austere environments), relief and resource efficiency.

I’ve probably met a couple of you at TFOM23 CONFERENCE + EXPO - Interfacer EU Project and loved the vibe.

Although I am not the most constantly available person I wanted to make sure I can reconnect with the community here (and vice versa)!

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Hi @nowbreakit :wave:t4: welcome to the conversation. The first project that comes to mind is World Librarians (WL), which is a socio-technical solution to responding to research and other inquiries from schools in rural Africa. The system is reliant on providing open access/openly licensed content that is both topically and culturally relevant. I know that there had been some inquiries received in the past regarding FGM and sexual/reproductive health, but I am not certain how many; I would recommend reaching out to them to see if there is call for/a need to develop and deliver any of the Wisdom of Pearly content via this system: CONTACT

Another collaboration of interest that is related/a collaboration with WL is BloomBox, a repurposed shipping container that provides an entirely self-sustaining open-concept learning environment/computer lab. More information from one of inventor Sofie Roux’s gofundme campaigns.

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Hi Sam,

This is a great project. How do you want me to be a part of this?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks

Ebuka

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Thank you so much for these pointers!

I’ll look them up and check how we can perhaps conceptually integrate them. BloomBox also sounds like it could be a good complement / hub & spoke kind of thing. :+1:

I’ll try and discuss this with Eric soon.

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I’ve just now (in the last few weeks) re-energized the topic with a super-talented spoken word artist / writer and she was excited to learn about it.

She’ll likely be setting up an NGO in Germany (which would really help get this to the next level). I will be happy to set up a topic and get into discussing more details, ideally with her joining in.

But I also want to be mindful that this is just an “introductions thread” and not derail it too much :upside_down_face:

But if you have any specific thoughts or questions on this - I am happy to delve into it more.

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Sounds interesting.

I’d like to be a part of what you’re doing. Just keep me updated as events unfold.

Thanks

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Regarding spoken word/media production @nowbreakit - allow me to introduce a colleague (via the World Librarians program) of mine, Wachira Warukira (Waruks), who is based in Kenya and is the Founder/CEO of a media production agency.

@waruks is also working on setting up a makerspace in Merti, and I thought it would be great to connect him with Stephane Fandanka, @Fadanka, as well - as one of our recent OKW award recipients, he is currently conducting research on best practices in the development/implementation of makerspaces in Cameroon along with mapping their locations and available machinery.

I leave it to you all to connect - and am excited to see what develops.

Sounds good!

Let me know if you need any help connecting w/ Bloombox - I met with Sofie Roux (she’s brilliant) in Nairobi a week+ ago, and am close colleagues with the other lead on the implementation of a Bloombox WL lab in the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi.

Hi Everyone! I’m Will Ruddick from Grassroots Economics (https://grassecon.org) based in Kenya -and sitting with @schutton right now and super excited about IoP. Also working with David Johnson at https://www.inethi.org.za/

What we do is create vouchers (on-chain Celo) that trigger access to mesh networks and soon other IoT stuff like power.

@schutton and I would love to put up some upcoming projects on the opportunities channel soon. Feel free to get in touch.

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Hi all! Hopping on this thread to introduce myself. I am Bri, and I serve as the community coordinator for the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) Community. Our goal is to make open science hardware (OSH) ubiquitous, and we do this through our annual Gatherings (and other events), where we bring together developers, artists, researchers, and more from across the world.

I often find myself working with folks from the Alliance, as many of us in GOSH are very interested in decentralized manufacturing for OSH. We have a project directory running on our website that pulls OSH projects with an Open Know-How manifest, and I look forward to seeing how things progress with both Open Know-How and Open Know-Where!

GOSH also has their own council, so I am curious to learn more about your governance structure (and task force!) as well!

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I’m here because I’m curious what Sarah means by Want.

I am here due to Sarah Hutton’s work on Maker Passports due to discovery from Tibi who is part of the Sensorica Network:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qM2j30bYv4&start=1437

TBH, I have had a habit of avoiding further formal education if I can, so I don’t know if reorganizations there would help me. For me a credential might be a verified proof of my projects, knowledge, and associations. (signed json-ld payload??) Twitter tends to be a pretty good snapshot of my activity and attributes of my identity. I usually am uncomfortable sharing what university credentials I have because it leads people to jump to conclusions and it can be limiting because I have to talk about my interactions and experiences in school and experiences and relationships elsewhere seem to take a backseat.

I have kept a Distributed economy blog for years:

It was oddly satisfying to be a member of this hackerspace:
A Distributed Economy: Photos of Ohm Space HackerSpace/MakerSpace . Somehow having it be a group of folks gathering in a warehouse and not necessarily associated with or trained by conventional institutions was oddly gratifying.

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Hello @bshambaugh / Brent :wave:t4:

I believe you may be referring to the what of the People and Skills spec, and yes json web tokens aren’t far off the mark.

So, starting with:

WHAT do makers need to prove as part of the digital passport?

When attempting to establish a spec that could serve as a framework across a global network of fablabs/makerspaces - attempting to develop something that includes all possible skills needed is pretty far-fetched. The approach instead was to establish categories of skills (the WHAT), and develop a spec / input form to create a user record that allows for expansion/recognition of specific skills and knowledge at the local level. Following text analysis, literature review, interviews and surveys with makers and makerspace leaders across Africa, Europe, and North America, here are the categories:

  1. General Orientation
    Examples: general understanding of a makerspace or fablab, what equipment is typically in the space, depending on population it serves, and standard approach for use.

  2. Health and Safety
    Examples: general first aid training and knowledge, such as dressing wounds, CPR, or other emergency first aid procedures.

  3. Electronics
    Examples: soldering circuit boards, microcontrollers/Arduino, Raspberry Pi, circuitry components/VCAs.

  4. Woodworking
    Examples: Woodshop safety, operating wood lathes, bench/table/band/miter saws, CNC routers, handheld woodshop power tools, and widebelt/other sanding tools.

  5. Laser Systems/Cutting
    Example: Laser cutters; etching on glass, wood, plastic or stone; engraving.

  6. 3D Modeling/Printing
    Example: Experience with 3D modeling software such as Maya/Autodesk, Sculptris, and SolidWorks; experience and training with common 3D printers such as Prusa, Ultimaker, Makerbot; printer maintenance and repair/extruder replacement, knowledge of filament and different printing types such as nylon, PLA, metal, etc.

  7. Sewing
    Examples: repairing or making items such clothing or upholstery; using Singer (Quantum Stylus or others), Berina (Sergers or others), or Industrial Grade (Consew) machines.

Every space interviewed has a baseline orientation/operations training - whether in person, online (as a class), or documentation that is required for users to complete before using the space, whether a part of a membership program/package, or for day use.

And, research is ongoing!

The big takeaways from makerspaces/makers who are currently testing the spec, it is clear that it is tricky to give examples of ‘what training’ (that is to state, citing explanatory examples like Master Sewing and Design Professional (ASDP), *Laser Safety Officer (BLS), ANSI Z136.1 / Z136.3-*Compliant *Laser Safety trainings (health, industrial, cosmetic), CITF Trainings (Carpentry) and so forth is not useful, since certifications vary wildly by regional in some case - but more importantly, citing specific certification bodies gets back to the issue of traditional educational models/accreditation/degrees being at the root of the problem with credentialing systems.

So my question for you @bshambaugh is: would you like to be a part of the working group that is discussing these issues? I am in the process of setting up group chats for the remainder of the year, now that everyone’s back and sorted from summer holidays and fall activities are getting back into the swing.

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