Week 12 (labtalk)

Reading
Cory Doctorow Makers, this is an interesting piece of fiction based around people that are creating tech in various areas. It is a well constructed story and interesting. I think that it could have been abit more extreme but it is a fantastic example of the cross over that making, sci-fi and fiction are forming. well worth a read if you are looking at the areas of making.
Return to the tradition: DIY Design Jing Chen, China. An interesting comment stating that 'people have never lost the habit of DIY'.
User innovation & Hacking, Eric Von Hippel. Interesting view and truth about producing is slowly turning away from the manufacturer and coming into the hands of the User.

Doing
Been sorting probes and getting people so far there are 20 bee keepers, 3 archaeologists and 4 bushcraft/woodsmen. These diverse groups are so interesting to engage with to define the term 'making' then looking at the band between digital and analogue. I gave a Lab Talk at Horizon in Nottingham. Presentation to follow. I am still thinking of areas that I need to explore and still creating a manifesto helps me concentrate the mind, the areas of most interest to me still at the moment is people with no ability at construction but have practical application. The term construction needs to be explored as most people can construct a hot beverage...

Lab Talk/lecture download here

Talking
Had a good meeting with 100 percent open to discussion the definition of open innovation and open design. An interesting conversation. I have also been talking to the Culture Lab in Newcastle, what an interesting space for collaboration, iteration and assembling minds across diverse backgrounds.

Interview with Rory Harwood 100 percent open (abridged version)

What is the definition of Open innovation?
Our boiled down version, is innovating with someone else, a partner a customer, anybody outside of your four walls. It’s about sharing risk and sharing rewards. It’s about being vulnerable but also sharing the upside of any conclusion. What that means for open design? The designer is the lone inventor or genius. Design is a more collaborative process how it has developed and from a business model sometimes more challenging. You still need to great creative but it is allot more democratic, the tools are there, Illustrator, Photoshop etc. for people to use.

You use Crowd sourcing in your projects, has this changed the face of how you work? Or approach work?
Its popular, people want it so we do it. Different things happen at scale, it is also important not to lose the human dimension; the really brilliant ideas can get overlooked by the masses. It can filter out the highlights and interesting area, you have to look hard and be aware that any mob can be dumb unless it is used correctly. We work hard to make sure that the environment and fit is correct through experience.

What would you call making?
I think it is everything that is then made physical or tangible. We all have the tools to be a mini/maxi journalist or making music, I think that making has changed as we were very passive but now it is the web 2.0 of the physical world. It embodies want to try stuff, local motors are really interesting for this. All cars are sold on credit, that’s the business model so they are basically loan companies. And local motors have a better default rate on their products, because you have a hand in making your own car. It makes more business sense and goes more with the grain of who we are as people. Everyone knows it is changing fast.

I showed you Afrigadget and you are familiar with Makezine, what are your thoughts on them?
These are both examples that are driven by need which makes them more interesting, they are driven by specific function, need or finance. The web is written in ink not in pencil, which is interesting because it forces us to be more responsible. We know our reputation follows us, so this is fact that follows us around for the rest of our lives. I think that now is a really interesting time in our modern history, we are under allot of pressure, the economy is being tested, the political power and there are allot of problems to solve.