1 00:00:05,027 --> 00:00:07,692 *RC3 preroll music* 2 00:00:07,692 --> 00:00:14,640 Herald: Hello, and welcome back on the x-Hain stage at this very strange RC3. Now 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:22,320 on the second day and our next talk is by aprica and Saad, we're going to talk about 4 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:27,280 how to add critical making to your critical thinking to your making. And 5 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:35,360 there was a talk two years ago at 35 c3 when we're still able to meet in person, 6 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:40,040 which was also already talking about the subject. And this now kind of as a follow 7 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:45,120 up. And they're going to talk about what we can learn from critical makers and 8 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:50,880 other grassroot initiatives. Yes, the stage is yours. 9 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:56,960 aprica: Thank you, Carl. Thank you so much for hosting us here under the tree and 10 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:06,320 X-Hain. Well, maybe not so great to be here and great to have you all watching in 11 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:12,800 the stream, and I hope next year we will meet on the trees again and also not on 12 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:22,160 the trees and the at the rocket. So I'm aprica . I'm part of the global innovation 13 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:31,040 gathering a big worldwide community that I often describe as global erpha, which most 14 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:36,160 of the CCC- folks would know as a Erfahrungsaustauschkreis. So knowledge 15 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:43,360 sharing and circle. And so we are also a knowledge sharing circle, and I'm joined 16 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:48,160 by Saad, who was one of the amazing members of the association and of the 17 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:53,120 network of gig from Singapore. And do you want to quickly introduce yourself as 18 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:58,000 well? Saad: Sure thing. I'm based in Singapore 19 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:05,600 normally, and last year we had a little talk about with Regina and on critical 20 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,560 thinking and critical making, which was actually quite phenomenal. The response 21 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,840 was really great. And who had a chance to work on this, together with the other gig 22 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:21,200 members, members of the Global Innovation Group, which is also part. So I'm very 23 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,760 happy to be with you a little bit of my background. I'm a tech person. I run a 24 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:32,640 small startup in Singapore and I also help with maker spaces and tech for good. And 25 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:38,000 I'm a huge coffee snob that that's me. aprica: Other people would call it coffee 26 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,720 coffee geek. *both laughing* Saab:That works too. 27 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:49,640 aprica: Nice. So I think some people now in the stream also see our slides and we 28 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:55,040 are on the first slide. And on the second slide, you would see a picture of an 29 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:03,760 actual stage and an actual Congress where Regina and Saad last year defined 30 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:11,120 critical, making the topic rules two years ago. It's basically yesterday like pre- 31 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:16,720 pandemic, but it's also 100 years ago, right? So last time*laughs* you spoke 32 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:22,800 about the topic, you define it as adding critical thinking to the making. And so we 33 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:30,400 arrive at critical making. And I guess there's like 200 other definitions of 34 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:36,160 this. Which one did you share, Saad? Saad: Making with a purpose, I think, is 35 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:43,200 the one that puts the best. The idea that the skills and experience and knowledge 36 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:48,800 that have being applied towards something that is constructive and meaningful, and 37 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:53,600 that means very different things to very different people. So depending on the 38 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:59,120 context that you're in, the definition changes quite dramatically by sort of 39 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,200 digging down into it, making with a purpose, understanding what that purpose 40 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,120 is, rather than just using your 3D printer for printing you over their heads all the 41 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:13,120 time, you think about how this could actually help people with customization, 42 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,600 personalization, things like that. So that's the that's the sort of thing that 43 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,160 definition, but I prefer to making with the purpase. 44 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:26,720 aprica: Well, yeah, that's certainly one of them. Yeah, very easy to understand 45 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:32,640 once. Also, it's also very academic concept. And so everybody who's interested 46 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:38,160 in this whole concept and all and all the different areas of critical making, we 47 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:43,840 highly recommend. I highly recommend because speaking of this, I really 48 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:49,200 recommend to watch the talk by Regina and Saad. It's like one hour long, and it will 49 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:57,280 give them very comprehensive and also academic viewpoint of the topic. And today 50 00:04:57,280 --> 00:05:03,680 I think we will focus more on, what happened since then and what's beyond just 51 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:13,040 the not just beyond the concept. So to go to the third slide, you see, this is one 52 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:17,680 of the pictures also shared in the talk back then of the global innovation 53 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:23,840 gathering, when we also were still gathering physically with the Big Blue 54 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:33,760 Mobile Lab. And I would love to go like for two minutes into what's happened since 55 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:38,960 we gathered the last time. So what happened during the pandemic in terms of 56 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:48,160 how? How did critical making evolve in public perception during the time of the 57 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:54,240 pandemic? Saad, what would you say? Saad: Well, I think we've seen a 58 00:05:54,240 --> 00:06:03,840 phenomenal response, a global response from makers to meet the needs of what the 59 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:10,640 pandemic has surfaced. I mean, I think there's a phenomenal potential here in the 60 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:16,720 nature of this response. But if we remember about a year or so ago and I 61 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:21,440 know, time is broken because of COVID, but about a year or so ago, there was this 62 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:28,160 shortage of personal protective equipment, PPE and people came forward in order to 63 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:34,400 try and help. And it wasn't just health care workers, it wasn't just social 64 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:39,680 workers. It was anybody and everybody who had skills or knowledge or experience, 65 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:46,560 tried to find a way to make themselves useful. And this happening on a global 66 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:53,600 scale in response to something like the personal shortage of PPE. Drew out a lot 67 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,480 of critical neighbors, as in makers who were quite comfortable with how 3D 68 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:04,000 printers work or how maker spaces work, and trying to apply that to a social need, 69 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:11,440 which I think is remarkable in itself. But on a global scale, I think that that that 70 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:17,440 potential is phenomenal, that all of us have had to find ways to adapt digitally 71 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:23,600 and go online and do things remotely. And I really miss having a CCC in person, for 72 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:28,960 example, and the global innovation gathering hasn't happened in person. So I 73 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,880 really do miss that and I'm looking forward to a time where we're able to meet 74 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:39,360 in person again, trying to stay optimistic, but with we're still not out 75 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:44,720 of it yet. The pandemic is still very much something we're adapting to, something 76 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:51,440 that we're responding to. And to answer your question, what's changed, I feel, is 77 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:56,720 that people are now more involved. People who are normally sort of in their own 78 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:02,640 maker spaces bubble or in the tech bubble or in the hacker space bubble are now more 79 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:08,800 involved and more engaged and recognized for the skills to be relevant to a social 80 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:14,320 cause. So I think moving forward, I would like to see us try and tap on that 81 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:19,120 potential as much as possible. aprica: Yeah, definitely, and I mean, the 82 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:25,520 space we're in at the moment, the Ixion can make space was like at the forefront 83 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:32,000 together with, of course, many other spaces in Germany to produce such 84 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:38,400 protective equipment. And if you see around around us now, you also see like 85 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:43,920 lots of figurines of, I don't know, Yoda hats, for example, and many other things 86 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:49,920 that bring joy to making as well. And that, for example, help to educate about, 87 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:58,278 which tools to use, for example. And then, yeah, looking in what you're doing in 88 00:08:58,278 --> 00:09:05,160 Singapore, was creating toys for children with disabilities, which you also sharing 89 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:10,784 in the talk two years ago, where they can interact with like big buttons instead of 90 00:09:10,784 --> 00:09:15,848 like tiny, tiny things that they can't really touch and interact with. That's 91 00:09:15,848 --> 00:09:22,347 also bringing lots of joy. And it's not only always to counter a pandemic, but it 92 00:09:22,347 --> 00:09:29,865 was there before. And now I think it's very, yeah, more in mainstream. Well, it 93 00:09:29,865 --> 00:09:37,960 was for a time more arriving in mainstream that this is really, yeah, a movement or 94 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:47,061 movements to follow and to contribute to as well. So what we often do and this is 95 00:09:47,061 --> 00:09:55,843 the next slide is we create a Horizon 2020 proposal for things we want to do. And so 96 00:09:55,843 --> 00:10:02,783 this is my work actually to bring in funding that lasts us for two and a half 97 00:10:02,783 --> 00:10:09,802 years, for example, in this case, to really further research, to collaborate 98 00:10:09,802 --> 00:10:16,766 with researchers as a civil society organization ourselves and to be able to 99 00:10:16,766 --> 00:10:24,332 work together globally on a specific project and on a specific topic. So in the 100 00:10:24,332 --> 00:10:31,395 craziness of the beginning of the pandemic, we found that critical making is 101 00:10:31,395 --> 00:10:37,440 the one topic that is not very researched and that we can contribute to as a network 102 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:43,269 and also connecting with Regina as part of the two billion and other organizations 103 00:10:43,269 --> 00:10:48,533 that you see here with Vicki Factory. That's a global platform for makers to 104 00:10:48,533 --> 00:10:55,680 share designs, for example, and to find a community of other designers and makers 105 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:02,091 and the Center for Social Innovation in Austria and also Vitt in Finland. So we've 106 00:11:02,091 --> 00:11:08,805 produced this project together that got finally accepted by the European Union, 107 00:11:08,805 --> 00:11:16,080 which was really nice. And so we are now thankful for getting support for the 108 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:24,023 research we're doing now in critical making. So this was after after Congress 109 00:11:24,023 --> 00:11:33,093 that we wrote this. And the main goal and you see this on the next slide, is to help 110 00:11:33,093 --> 00:11:40,268 make a communities to work with anyone to contribute to open source innovation. And 111 00:11:40,268 --> 00:11:47,156 so from this very complex like research frameworks that Horizon 2020 is using, 112 00:11:47,156 --> 00:11:54,204 like the responsible research and innovation framework and others, we found 113 00:11:54,204 --> 00:12:01,767 that it connects very well with values that also we want to further contribute 114 00:12:01,767 --> 00:12:11,247 to, like openness, like inclusion. And so we selected a few of those. We selected 115 00:12:11,247 --> 00:12:17,790 gender diversity, we selected young talents. We call it because in such 116 00:12:17,790 --> 00:12:26,253 proposals, you often have to use language that speaks to the funder. And we also 117 00:12:26,253 --> 00:12:35,990 selected openness as a very broad term, also to research on. And today I would 118 00:12:35,990 --> 00:12:42,503 like to show you a little bit of what's already happened, because we're now at the 119 00:12:42,503 --> 00:12:48,280 end of the first year of the project and show you about what we're up to as well. 120 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:56,441 So to just give you a very tiny glimpse into, what we did in the gender work 121 00:12:56,441 --> 00:13:05,620 package, we work with different spaces, different makers in several countries. And 122 00:13:05,620 --> 00:13:13,480 in this case, I brought two examples of case studies that will be published soon 123 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:20,650 about different spaces. The. One is Miss Baltazar Laboratory and Austria, which I 124 00:13:20,650 --> 00:13:27,063 highly recommend to check out. And then there were like many different more and 125 00:13:27,063 --> 00:13:32,985 also X-Hain. And of course, I need to show that here as we are in X-Hain at the 126 00:13:32,985 --> 00:13:40,160 moment. *laughs* And this is super nice because of course, if you like think about 127 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:46,961 gender, many people would assume it's only about like inclusion of women of girls in 128 00:13:46,961 --> 00:13:53,889 maker spaces. But of course it's not. It's like to have an understanding of the 129 00:13:53,889 --> 00:14:01,400 multitude of genders and also like them to to include everyone. Also have a nice 130 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:09,160 space for people identifying as male, female and many other genders. And in this 131 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:17,477 case, it's just so nice also about X-Hain, that they are not saying like we have 132 00:14:17,477 --> 00:14:24,120 space for women or we have space for only for a specific kind of nerd. But we want 133 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:31,667 to be very, very inclusive and very safe for everyone. So that's just a very tiny 134 00:14:31,667 --> 00:14:38,994 examples you will find online more in our deliverables. We call it that. Yeah. The 135 00:14:38,994 --> 00:14:44,842 reports that we have to hand in to the European Union. And then after handing 136 00:14:44,842 --> 00:14:51,040 them in, we take snippets out of these and published them and a more like human 137 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:58,501 interaction formats, that people outside of academia can also read better and watch 138 00:14:58,501 --> 00:15:06,500 better. Than the next one I see in slide nine is Yang Taelons, which basically make 139 00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:14,144 about maker education for young people. And there you already find online, and 140 00:15:14,144 --> 00:15:20,000 that's the next slide. The review of measures to integrate young people into 141 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:26,028 make a community. And then we looked mostly only at Germany at the moment and 142 00:15:26,028 --> 00:15:32,707 want to be creating this for other countries as well. So if you're interested 143 00:15:32,707 --> 00:15:38,267 in this part of the project, you can already download like the full report, the 144 00:15:38,267 --> 00:15:45,463 first one. But you can also reach out to us and contribute to the next steps. And 145 00:15:45,463 --> 00:15:53,357 then the part in the next slide openness, which is the one that I want to be talking 146 00:15:53,357 --> 00:16:01,258 a little bit more about, because that's the one, where we're mostly working 147 00:16:01,258 --> 00:16:08,717 together here. So for openness, you see in the next slide, that was some academic 148 00:16:08,717 --> 00:16:14,144 article now published, which is a literature review on the openness 149 00:16:14,144 --> 00:16:23,751 practices and which is like, very directed for researchers, of course. But we're also 150 00:16:23,751 --> 00:16:31,861 starting to make, yeah, like talks like this about what was found out by our 151 00:16:31,861 --> 00:16:38,970 colleagues, who were doing the literature review. So in the next slide, you see a 152 00:16:38,970 --> 00:16:45,600 little bit more accessible. What they found is that openness, as probably all of 153 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:52,300 you also know, it's one of the core values of global makeup movements. But as you 154 00:16:52,300 --> 00:16:59,197 probably also all know, there are lots and lots of different interpretations and ways 155 00:16:59,197 --> 00:17:05,400 of practicing this. So we can speak about open hardware, which is probably one of 156 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:11,750 the most obvious for many of the people just watching this, because it's also 157 00:17:11,750 --> 00:17:19,936 something we speak at Chaos Congress all the time. So like sharing what you're 158 00:17:19,936 --> 00:17:28,996 making and like open repositories, for example, creating very easy tech like 159 00:17:28,996 --> 00:17:37,888 frugal tech, customizing things. So that's all integral part of open hardware. I 160 00:17:37,888 --> 00:17:45,765 would say from then found other aspects that are strong in the literature as well, 161 00:17:45,765 --> 00:17:52,229 like openness can also be understood as inclusion and empowerment of, for example, 162 00:17:52,229 --> 00:17:59,320 of people with disabilities, but also generally consumers or ethnic minorities. 163 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:09,258 So all different kinds of inclusions that one could think of. It's probably like one 164 00:18:09,258 --> 00:18:16,370 of the things, I think also a slick hacker. Ethics is concerned, but. That is 165 00:18:16,370 --> 00:18:24,631 maybe not always in our minds and then also very important economic growth, 166 00:18:24,631 --> 00:18:32,920 especially if we look at the global scale of the maker movement. So that we have 167 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:42,411 open business models, for example, and high innovation activities and. And the 168 00:18:42,411 --> 00:18:52,869 field. And so this already shows also lots of tension, so I would like to go to the 169 00:18:52,869 --> 00:18:58,936 next slide, where you see the tensions identified in the scientific literature. 170 00:18:58,936 --> 00:19:04,510 So there's lots of tension between different economic stances like people who 171 00:19:04,510 --> 00:19:10,689 want to have their make up practice, mostly for leisure purposes, mostly for 172 00:19:10,689 --> 00:19:20,240 also capitalistic or anti capitalistic purposes. So this is quite an important 173 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:27,813 tension to identify and also to to work around. Then tensions arising from 174 00:19:27,813 --> 00:19:34,993 different imagined areas of the future role of making like, do you use it in a 175 00:19:34,993 --> 00:19:42,520 revolutionary sense or in the sense that contributes to the current status of the 176 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:50,355 capitalist system, for example? And then also, of course, always that's maybe the 177 00:19:50,355 --> 00:19:58,363 least important finding between individual and collective orientations, where you 178 00:19:58,363 --> 00:20:07,148 often have, like, What do I do? And what is good for society is. Something that's 179 00:20:07,148 --> 00:20:15,905 always important to to go forward with us as a discussion. Yeah. So these are the 180 00:20:15,905 --> 00:20:26,480 scientific findings from this article. Not not all of them, of course. Please read 181 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:35,775 the article also has more in it. And do you want to add something, Saad? You will 182 00:20:35,775 --> 00:20:40,640 bring more examples of these different tensions, I guess. 183 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:47,238 Saad: Yeah, I mean, I have my perspective is always the sort of hands on learning by 184 00:20:47,238 --> 00:20:53,009 example kind of approach. For the more academic perspective, I turn to Regina and 185 00:20:53,009 --> 00:20:58,480 people who are with the academic community. So I won't I can't really speak 186 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:05,320 to that perspective. But, to add to what you've already said, I think the the 187 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:13,210 nature of the work, at least from my perspective, being all hands on does meet 188 00:21:13,210 --> 00:21:20,861 a lot of resistance with these restrictions, you the whole pandemic 189 00:21:20,861 --> 00:21:29,273 situation. So I'm hoping that we are going to see more examples of people coming 190 00:21:29,273 --> 00:21:35,641 forward with a more constructive mindset and the ability to share. Because we've 191 00:21:35,641 --> 00:21:42,202 seen examples of this in response to the pandemic, and some of that is now starting 192 00:21:42,202 --> 00:21:49,092 to show up in people's mindset. And when people who are normally not so engaged 193 00:21:49,092 --> 00:21:55,738 with engineering, good, where I volunteer, is depends entirely on volunteers. And 194 00:21:55,738 --> 00:22:01,748 sometimes people show up like once a week, once one weekend a month to volunteer, and 195 00:22:01,748 --> 00:22:07,264 then they go back into their day to day lives and we see them every now and again, 196 00:22:07,264 --> 00:22:12,492 when they have the time. But in the last few in the recent past, we've seen a 197 00:22:12,492 --> 00:22:18,640 different kind of volunteer, a different kind of mindset that they bring to their 198 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:24,915 work. And it seems a little bit more motivated, I feel. And so the work, that 199 00:22:24,915 --> 00:22:31,960 we've been doing in the past, this idea of being open and to share and to be able to 200 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:38,835 look into other people's work and try and replicate it, that aspect is starting to 201 00:22:38,835 --> 00:22:44,103 get to be more welcomed by these volunteers. It's not seen as an alien 202 00:22:44,103 --> 00:22:48,450 idea. It's not like you have to sort of like workshop it and get people 203 00:22:48,450 --> 00:22:55,532 comfortable with this idea. And in Asian cultures, that more of that is necessary, 204 00:22:55,532 --> 00:23:02,603 I feel. But the remarkable difference, I think. I don't know if this is just me, 205 00:23:02,603 --> 00:23:08,306 but from what I've seen, the mindset has shifted and people are more open to trying 206 00:23:08,306 --> 00:23:12,920 new things and also sharing what they've tried, rather than waiting until they get 207 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:17,684 to a point, that something works and then they share it. So the process of that 208 00:23:17,684 --> 00:23:22,354 they're going through is something that you don't, at least with Asian 209 00:23:22,354 --> 00:23:27,320 sensibilities, you tend not to share it. You would think that it's not good enough 210 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,945 or it's not fully formed yet. So you tend to keep it to yourself or just a few 211 00:23:31,945 --> 00:23:36,520 people that you're working with and it never gets documented. It never gets 212 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,223 shared. But I'm starting to see more examples of that. 213 00:23:40,223 --> 00:23:46,979 aprica: Yeah, I think that's not only Asian. Asian problem *laughs*, but we have 214 00:23:46,979 --> 00:23:54,617 it like everywhere that you have so many projects or left foot products that people 215 00:23:54,617 --> 00:24:00,570 create, that are like prototypes to a certain stage and then you either don't 216 00:24:00,570 --> 00:24:06,714 have time for it anymore or you just feel like you can't finish it and it never gets 217 00:24:06,714 --> 00:24:14,360 documented. So that's also one of the issues. We found another identified when 218 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:23,280 we met in 2019 in Kenya and the crew. This the global innovation gathering in the 219 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:30,000 like Work Workshop kind of conference, and we came up with what is shared on the next 220 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:35,454 slide. The principles of sustainable making and sustainable is not only 221 00:24:35,454 --> 00:24:41,962 environmentally, but also, what you would call maybe responsible or with purpose. So 222 00:24:41,962 --> 00:24:45,937 do you want to share a little bit more about that? 223 00:24:45,937 --> 00:24:51,967 Saad: With the process behind? This was mind boggling to me. The sort of energy 224 00:24:51,967 --> 00:25:00,247 that was in the room at the time, when we were discussing this was sort of, for me, 225 00:25:00,247 --> 00:25:06,880 at least very hard to keep up with. And the challenge was to try and encapsulate 226 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,954 what that sort of very diverse perspectives that were coming in all at 227 00:25:11,954 --> 00:25:17,141 the same time, because with the global innovation gathering and many other groups 228 00:25:17,141 --> 00:25:23,219 of that sort. There's a lot of diversity and the nature of the people who are 229 00:25:23,219 --> 00:25:29,846 working on maker spaces and co-working spaces are sort of enterprise type of 230 00:25:29,846 --> 00:25:35,692 ecosystems or hackerspaces. They're very socially engaged and it tends to be in 231 00:25:35,692 --> 00:25:42,039 response to the local environment in which they exist. So the learnings and the sort 232 00:25:42,039 --> 00:25:49,265 of mindset that they have and they bring to this, this particular topic, that we're 233 00:25:49,265 --> 00:25:56,316 talking about unlocked a whole world of opinions and perspectives. And all of that 234 00:25:56,316 --> 00:26:01,425 was flooding in and to this room after having gone through the sort of ice 235 00:26:01,425 --> 00:26:07,082 breaking thing, it was all just pouring in and it was very difficult to sort of sort 236 00:26:07,082 --> 00:26:13,398 out what was happening. So the process was a mess. And if you look at the image now, 237 00:26:13,398 --> 00:26:20,772 it's very neat and clean and tidy. But I feel every single aspect of what's being 238 00:26:20,772 --> 00:26:27,967 portrayed here is a representation of this diversity in an international on a global 239 00:26:27,967 --> 00:26:34,303 scale, and all of this was just before the pandemic and the idea of this of this 240 00:26:34,303 --> 00:26:41,646 global perspective, bringing it through times of crisis, I think is phenomenal. I 241 00:26:41,646 --> 00:26:51,110 mean, I could go on and on and Typekit, but that's just what I think at the point. 242 00:26:51,110 --> 00:26:59,422 aprica: Thank you, and yeah, I also feel it's phenomenal, and we try to replicate 243 00:26:59,422 --> 00:27:07,280 this kind of. Yeah. Sessions and workshops online and to have big whiteboards 244 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:14,880 together. But yeah, I'm very happy that we also got to build this still in person. 245 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:21,120 And so we came up with these five principles of integrate local knowledge of 246 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:26,880 make things that make sense, of share how you make like that's one of the openness 247 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:33,120 factors, of course, build for continuity and also include ecosystem services. So 248 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:38,960 look around you and look what's already there and also contribute back to what's 249 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:45,600 around you. And based on these and what we already talked about in particular making. 250 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:54,880 We built this project. And while I was away for three months and didn't look at 251 00:27:54,880 --> 00:28:03,840 any email and recharged this year, the project team also updated this for our 252 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:14,000 project, so that we now look at being local and connected. Have like a social 253 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:23,200 background and what you're doing at the criticality. So be reflexive, have an 254 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:29,280 impact and change structures and adding to it the joyful and meaningful. But we 255 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:34,320 didn't found and our principles PAC Man, which is we of course, always think that's 256 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:42,160 part of it, hopefully.*laughes* So adding some glitter is always necessary. So this 257 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:50,080 from that slide is, what we're now working with and the critical making principles, 258 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:57,680 basically, and we are also building upon it in the next steps of the project. So I 259 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:03,920 would like to share, what we're now working on in the next few months, which 260 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:10,960 is on the next slide. The Critical Making Mentoring program, which is to be starting 261 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:21,280 to have an open call in January or early February. And then we'll go through four 262 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:26,480 will go on for the whole year. So on the next slide, you see, why are we doing 263 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:36,160 this? We did like a small survey within our own circles and again found, that 264 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:42,720 openness also for everybody in the global innovation gathering community is very 265 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:49,040 important value, which we knew, but it's nice to see it again. And then also the 266 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:55,375 economic opportunities of making all very important. So we're thinking about lower 267 00:29:55,375 --> 00:30:00,400 income countries sometimes. But also if you look at high income countries, there's 268 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:07,280 so many volunteer projects like projects are doing in your free time that in the 269 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:13,920 end you would like to find somehow a way to further work on them. And what is 270 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:22,400 possible without any like economic background to add to it? And then also 271 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:30,480 inclusion was recognized as an important topic like including, for example, people 272 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:37,520 with lower technical skills and also, for example, having making more accessible for 273 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:44,480 people with disabilities. So we're looking at that. And on the next slide, you see, 274 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:50,000 I'm trying to live up to the value of sharing early, like one of those online 275 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:58,400 mind boards of like forts of seeing, what we want to be doing in the year in this 276 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:06,480 project. where we're having mentoring workshops throughout the summer and we 277 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:13,680 will hopefully in the end have an amazing demo week or demo day, where we also give 278 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:21,985 a reward for people who participate in it. And we're still in this last phase of co- 279 00:31:21,985 --> 00:31:32,159 designing that program to prepare the open call. So I'm inviting you for watching now 280 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:42,160 already to watch our space, to maybe apply for the program or share it also with 281 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:49,520 others who could be interested in it. And last but not least, I would like to share 282 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:56,400 a few tools and. Resources, whereas currently assembling. So one of the things 283 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:04,960 we're preparing for the next two months, I think, is toolkits for researchers and 284 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:12,720 filmmakers. And you see on the next slide one example of a tool for makers, to learn 285 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:19,760 about open hardware, and I hope you all know this already. But if not, check out 286 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:28,640 this open hardware makers program. It's an amazing resource to learn like the basics 287 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:37,120 of open hardware. We collected, you see on the next slide, lots and lots of different 288 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:44,400 resources for people to look at. And this is just the first page of a long list, 289 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:52,160 that we want to publish in the next weeks for people to look at and to add to. And 290 00:32:52,160 --> 00:33:01,120 then the last bit I want to be sharing is the self-reflection as a slider tool. And 291 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:10,560 this is what you find on the slider tool page, where we also look at the different 292 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:21,840 categories of the principles and where we use this tool once we start with the 293 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,680 mentoring program for people to just reflect back on their own making on their 294 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:35,440 own projects and where we have the idea that this would be like a like a game and 295 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:41,760 Saad, you created that idea together with a few other people also in Singapore to 296 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:48,080 just have like a needle to spin. And then you don't always answer it and the same 297 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,400 like one after the other question, but you can really make it also a little bit more 298 00:33:54,400 --> 00:34:02,560 fun. So on the next page, you see how this was created, also from masi slides back 299 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:12,800 back, when we were meeting in person. So how it evolved and on the next slide, you 300 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:20,160 see some guiding cards, that should help you to actually think about what to ask 301 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:27,360 yourself like. How do you think about what makes sense or how do you think about 302 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:33,040 being self-sustainable and to to share a few questions around this? So you have 303 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:38,160 like a card game that you can have and you maker space and you can make a workshop 304 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:45,758 around it and work with other people in the maker space to speak about that. So, 305 00:34:45,758 --> 00:34:56,280 and then on the last page, you see how to follow the project and how to contribute 306 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:03,814 to it also in the wiki factory community and where we will also be launching the 307 00:35:03,814 --> 00:35:13,822 calls on these platforms very soon in the next year, which is basically tomorrow. 308 00:35:13,822 --> 00:35:20,712 *both are laughing* And if you're watching this in January, it's maybe already there 309 00:35:20,712 --> 00:35:29,840 in February. So now I would say call can come back. 310 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:35,680 Herald: Yes. Thank you very much for the talk. And before now, we have a few more 311 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:41,280 minutes for a quick Q&A session. And before we start that, I want to remind the 312 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:47,040 viewers and listeners that you can ask questions for this talk using Twitter and 313 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:56,400 Mastodon using the hashtag ac3xhain. That's rc3xhain. And you can also ask 314 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:04,320 questions on IRC on Hekint and using the Channel RC3-XHain. And we already got a 315 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:10,320 few questions in, and many of them are asking, where they can find more 316 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:15,600 information. So you already showed the link just now is everything you talked 317 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:20,243 about can be found on there, I think? aprica: Not everything is published yet. 318 00:36:20,243 --> 00:36:29,600 Many of the things I just showed are also still a work in progress. And if somebody 319 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:36,322 is like, eager to have it immediately, we can of course share like our internal 320 00:36:36,322 --> 00:36:44,139 boards with people, but otherwise we always like continuously publish things on 321 00:36:44,139 --> 00:36:49,440 the website to to find. Yeah. Herald: OK. So the people just have to 322 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:54,800 follow you on Twitter and look at your website and reach out directly to you. And 323 00:36:54,800 --> 00:37:00,316 then the next question I got here was What is frugal tech, exactly? 324 00:37:00,316 --> 00:37:05,330 aprica: Saad, do you want to answer that? *both are laughing* 325 00:37:05,330 --> 00:37:10,807 Saad: It's an interesting question. I mean, if depending on who you ask, it'll 326 00:37:10,807 --> 00:37:16,113 probably get co-opted as a new buzzword or a hashtag, especially if you talk to the 327 00:37:16,113 --> 00:37:21,504 voice of venture capital and sort of world. But the way I see it is sort of 328 00:37:21,504 --> 00:37:27,977 like borrowing from the disruptive mindset where you look at what is available in the 329 00:37:27,977 --> 00:37:32,200 marketplace and find a lower cost alternative for it. And when you look at 330 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:36,129 the assistive tech marketplace, when you work with persons with disabilities and 331 00:37:36,129 --> 00:37:40,838 you look at the devices that are available, they suffer from high prices 332 00:37:40,838 --> 00:37:47,493 because of supply and demand. And you have a fairly small, relatively small market 333 00:37:47,493 --> 00:37:52,571 and the cost of production of a specialized device is quite high. So the 334 00:37:52,571 --> 00:37:56,993 products that you find in the assistive tech marketplace tend to be very 335 00:37:56,993 --> 00:38:02,035 expensive. And when you look at it, it could be as simple as just like a button, 336 00:38:02,035 --> 00:38:07,234 which you just press the button and something happens and the button itself 337 00:38:07,234 --> 00:38:12,692 costs like sixty five dollars. And it doesn't quite make sense to me that this 338 00:38:12,692 --> 00:38:17,652 is a good thing, but that is what you will find in the marketplace. So to answer the 339 00:38:17,652 --> 00:38:23,526 question. I think frugal tech or frugal innovation is to sort of think outside the 340 00:38:23,526 --> 00:38:30,783 box of the normal, or at least the established workflow of making a product 341 00:38:30,783 --> 00:38:37,716 that is this expensive to take the end price or the user perspective as the 342 00:38:37,716 --> 00:38:43,680 starting point and then figure out the value chain from behind it are the cost of 343 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:48,492 production from from that point on with an inner makerspace that happens all the 344 00:38:48,492 --> 00:38:52,450 time. You are working with things that you're not entirely sure of. So instead of 345 00:38:52,450 --> 00:38:56,293 starting with something really, really expensive, you start with something that 346 00:38:56,293 --> 00:39:00,504 is cheap and cheerful, something that you can have lots of. If you break one, that's 347 00:39:00,504 --> 00:39:04,223 OK, you can always try it on another one. And then when you're confident with that, 348 00:39:04,223 --> 00:39:09,330 you translate what you've learned into something that's a little bit expensive. 349 00:39:09,330 --> 00:39:15,595 So that I think Approach speaks to, I think, what people are calling now frugal 350 00:39:15,595 --> 00:39:20,114 tech or frugal innovation. aprica: Oh, my very short answer would 351 00:39:20,114 --> 00:39:27,200 have been that just low cost, because that's the easiest I would be able to come 352 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:32,980 up with, but that's way more colorful now. I hope for everybody. *laugh* 353 00:39:32,980 --> 00:39:40,707 Herald: Yes, and thank you for the great explanation. The next question we have is 354 00:39:40,707 --> 00:39:47,101 how does this movement or how do you include people who are not that interested 355 00:39:47,101 --> 00:39:52,169 in politics or the political side of making and just want to build cool stuff? 356 00:39:52,169 --> 00:39:56,089 *both laughing* aprica: How do you do that in Singapore? 357 00:39:56,089 --> 00:40:01,794 Well, it's very easy because, you know, the political scene in Singapore is quite, 358 00:40:01,794 --> 00:40:06,543 how shall we put this? Not very exciting. And I don't really care much for politics 359 00:40:06,543 --> 00:40:11,413 either. Whether it be like, you know, at the government level, our internal 360 00:40:11,413 --> 00:40:16,912 politics within large companies, I just I just don't have the mental capacity for 361 00:40:16,912 --> 00:40:24,440 wrap my head around that. So I really like to just do things. And I find that with a 362 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:30,584 physical thing, it's easier to talk about something. It sort of crystallizes what 363 00:40:30,584 --> 00:40:37,332 your your ideas are, even if the thing is made out of Post-it notes or cardboard or, 364 00:40:37,332 --> 00:40:46,440 you know, cable ties and duct tape. It just having that little physical, tangible 365 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:55,055 prototype helps focus the attention on the thing that you're trying to solve. So the 366 00:40:55,055 --> 00:41:01,738 conversation I find becomes solution oriented rather than ideological process 367 00:41:01,738 --> 00:41:08,040 or about manufacturing principles or design ideologies or even good ones. So I 368 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:14,362 find that it's not I mean, it didn't work all the time, but having something 369 00:41:14,362 --> 00:41:19,583 tangible really helps to sort of bring that point back to the solution that 370 00:41:19,583 --> 00:41:23,835 you're talking about. aprica: Yeah, yeah. And adding to that, 371 00:41:23,835 --> 00:41:29,085 there's always like so many different levels of politics. So maybe you're not 372 00:41:29,085 --> 00:41:33,846 interested in global or national or whatever politics, but you're still 373 00:41:33,846 --> 00:41:40,040 interested to help your own community around you. So if you look at, I don't 374 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:47,748 know, sensors for airquality or if you look at providing free public Wi-Fi for 375 00:41:47,748 --> 00:41:53,871 people or all these things are very political in one way and very much not 376 00:41:53,871 --> 00:42:00,040 very political in another way, like depending on how you want to look at them. 377 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:06,246 So. So I think there will be like areas to contribute for anyone, like whether it's 378 00:42:06,246 --> 00:42:13,176 for their own grandma or whether it's for like a whole school class. In the end, 379 00:42:13,176 --> 00:42:20,225 that's not so important. Herald: OK. Very interesting. So I think 380 00:42:20,225 --> 00:42:27,137 now our time for Q&A is almost over. So I want to thank both of you again for having 381 00:42:27,137 --> 00:42:33,378 this really interesting talk here at our X-Hain stage. And I want to thank all of 382 00:42:33,378 --> 00:42:40,652 you us for watching. And our next talk will happen in a bit more than an hour at 383 00:42:40,652 --> 00:42:46,960 16:00. It's the car's audio. It's 407 reverse engineering kochen, nähen break 384 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:51,126 points, and I hope we'll see you all there. 385 00:42:51,126 --> 00:42:58,474 aprica: And maybe I'm sorry, Tony commercial if you're still there. Go to 386 00:42:58,474 --> 00:43:06,652 the open hardware. Happy hour and also go to on the last day to the prototype and 387 00:43:06,652 --> 00:43:11,285 hardware announcements. So don't miss that. 388 00:43:11,285 --> 00:43:23,142 *RC3 postroll music* 389 00:43:23,142 --> 00:43:30,401 Subtitles created by many many volunteers and the c3subtitles.de team. Join us, and help us!