Dovadi

A short update on my preparations for the so called Off The Beaten Track Fablab. Although I need more time to work the details out, the idea is to go back to an older (!) and proven concept of me, which I called Studio Didacto and started when I was employed by Atos Origin.

The core of Studio Didacto is to create (a) space and time for learning and experimenting with new technologies, but in the context of an assignment or a challenge from a real customer. With my former employer Studio Didcato was especially meant for people in between two assignments. Now the idea is to use the same concept for interns or trainees with the starting point (or constraint) of sustainable software development with Ruby.

So I’m planning to introduce a new service called (again) Studio Didacto which is meant for customers to help in prototyping, the first iterations of a software project and/or a transition to Ruby. At the same time Studio Didacto will also partly sponsor one likewise project but in the context of a Fablab. Such a project will be staffed by interns (and/or other volunteers), but will have a broader scope then only software development and (given the local (and of course global) challenges) will need to contribute to a more sustainable live style. Finally a project in this Studio Didacto/Off The Beaten Track Fablab will always be Open Source (off course)!

I think it will not be easy to get this off the ground, but I feel it has a lot of potential and for me most of my beliefs, ideals and qualities come together in a beautiful way …....

For those who are interested in my efforts to establish a FabLab on the island Texel I like to point to another Dutch post on the FabLab blog.

Stay tuned, because I started preparations for an Off The Beaten Track FabLab!

Yesterday, we had a great day on our Entrepreneurs conference here on the island of Texel.

We gave a keynote presentation about the concept Fablab, which went very well.

It was nice to have a lot of new contacts with the local community and it gave us new ideas for the next steps in establishing a FabLab on Texel.

Because of our involvement in the Fablab community, we’re very interested in extending the functionality of Google Sketchup with the Ruby API. We like to use Sketchup for basic 2.5D snapfit design, for example like this or this. For the moment it is a research project to determine the possibilities of the Ruby API.

Here’s an introduction video of SketchUp developer Mark Limber talking about some of the possible ways to extend the software with the Ruby API.

An intern for this project is very much welcome…....

Crowdsourcing firm Kluster officially launched yesterday at the TED conference with a big challenge: “over the next 72 hours we will harness the collective power of TED attendees, and our online community to develop a totally new, tangible product.“

The idea behind Kluster is that a group of passionate people working together can come up with better solutions for any decision-making problem than a single person. Whether that is planning an event, designing a new logo, or creating a new product, Kluster believes their system can work.

I find it an interesting concept. Especially because Kluster also introduces it’s own currency: the watt. I think a sort of Local Exchange Trade system (LETS) as a catalyst for cooperation and innovation is promising. Is this principle a way forward for the International Fablab community?

It was about time to do an update of our website.

First, we migrated from Typo to the more ligther-weight and stable Mephisto. The migration was also the moment to use a more timeless theme (Scribbish) and, from now on, to post in English.

It also reflects a slight change in our business focus. We’re still very much dedicated to our Ruby and Rails work, but our active involvement in the Fablab community has lead to a repositioning of our services.

With the expertise of Ruby, Rails and agile software development and our knowledge of digital and personal fabrication, we think that we’re better suited for multidisciplinary projects on the edge of open source connected soft- and hardware.

We closely follow the trends and developments in that sector and we of course share this on our blog.

So stay tuned …... !!

Van woensdag (26-9) tot vrijdag (28-9) sta ik met Fablab op het cross media festival PICNIC als event partner. In drie dagen gaan we de open source 3D Fab@home printer bouwen.

De meest actuele ontwikkelingen kun je weer volgen via Twitter.

Morgenochtend vroeg vertrek ik naar de overkant van de oceaan waar ik een bezoek zal brengen aan het vierde internationale Fablab Symposium in Chicago.

Net als mijn vorig werkbezoek aan het Fablab in Noorwegen deel ik mijn ervaringen op http://www.fablab.nl.

In Chicago volg ik aan het eind van de komende week ook de conferentie Rails Edge,

waarover ik mijn ervaringen alhier zal delen.

Agile Dovadi is onder andere betrokken bij de stichting FabLab.nl. In het kader daarvan ga ik komende maandag (22 januari a.s.) voor een week op werkbezoek bij het MIT-Fablab in Noorwegen (het MIT-Fablab ligt in Lyngen voorbij de poolcirkel).

In een Fablab ontmoet open source en agile werken de ‘harde’ werkelijkheid. Ik nodig jullie hierbij uit om mijn avonturen te volgen op FabLab.nl, waar ik elke dag mijn belevenissen zal posten. Lees daar ook meer over de stichting en het fenomeen FabLab in het bijzonder.