Comments on: Too little, too late?

By: marcin

marcin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:27:08 +0000

Paul Herzog is right. Let's collaborate. Please view a summary of our work: http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=Open_Source_Fab_Lab Those of you who want to help are invited to build the world's first open source village, here at Factor e Farm. Open Source Fab Lab is one of the main pieces. Email me at opensourceecology at gmail dot com if you are in a position to come here. We are building housing on demand. We aim to collect the development team within 6-12 months, and I'm working on the open source torch table now. Marcin

By: Carnival of The Green | Lighter Footstep

Carnival of The Green | Lighter Footstep — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:42:39 +0000

[...] has kicked-up the debate over Open Source Appropriate Technology in an article called Too Little, Too Late? So what is OSAT? Essentially, it’s a patent-free and community driven model for [...]

By: P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » Debate: How to scale open source appropriate technology (OSAT)?

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:07:39 +0000

[...] to the original article to contribute your [...]

By: Paul B. Hartzog

Paul B. Hartzog — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:51:11 +0000

This work by Kathi Vian, Clay Shirky, and myself done for the Institute for the Future discusses the when/how/why of what we then called "Open Scale." In a nutshell, non-open is only dominant when cooperation is low. In the long run, open collaboration ALWAYS wins. I'm not worried. Open Scale http://www.panarchy.com/Members/PaulBHartzog/Papers/TYF_06%20econ%20openScale.pdf -p

By: Agroblogger » Blog Archive » OSAT Emerging…

Agroblogger » Blog Archive » OSAT Emerging… — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:01:30 +0000

[...] November 2005 « Too little, too late? [...]

By: Too little, too late? | Appropedia Blog

Too little, too late? | Appropedia Blog — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:38:04 +0000

[...] the conversation in the comments on the original post. Tags: open design, open design appropriate [...]

By: LucasG

LucasG — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:18:35 +0000

It's not just scalability, but also speed. "What three things will move OSAT forward at the pace that economic collapse requires?" is a valid question. One thing will come from outside: a sense of need. Sudden hunger. Collapse itself. But I guess the question is "what 3 things CAN WE DO that will move OSAT forward FAST". Is it more of the same, or do we need to do something different? What are we doing? We're wikifying, doing video, building stuff, making links with other people. Could we do something differently? More of the same? Do WE scale? Or do we need some other component cos there's no way we can possibly scale? We might open the same conversation in other sites. Global Swadeshi comes to mind, but there must be other places, many of them. Tough, important question. 3 things ...

By: Chriswaterguy

Chriswaterguy — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:54:50 +0000

Thanks, Frank. How can we convince the world of the value of this model? Firstly by continuing to create something of value to point people to. Also, by doing what we're already doing to support and promote open appropriate technology, but do it in a more high profile way. A couple of things we're working on at Appropedia to this end are: * A Appropedia:Memorandum of Understanding with OLPC for managing content. We have this understanding already with OLPC, but this will MoU will help us get cooperation with other people and groups that have content, to get collaboration happening, building the knowledge resources to support these efforts. And having a better resource and more partners brings more people together, through word of mouth and search engines. * Finding content to put on Appropedia. Lots of work, but it can be done a little at a time, and will be very beneficial. We talk about this stuff all the time - I'm always telling people. But we need to make a site that's increasingly "sticky," that draws people in, excites them, and gives them an easy way to start contributing. Our resources are extremely limited at Appropedia, and that affects the speed, but we're making progress nonetheless on some big developments, and as more people help out, we can move faster. I know that's an Appropedia-centric viewpoint - I've been eating and breathing Appropedia lately. I look forward to hearing other perspectives.

By: Patrick O'Connor

Patrick O'Connor — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:53:14 +0000

Evo Morales seems to be advocating for something resembling OSAT. What do you think the likelihood of public funding for OSAT in Bolivia is . "Technology transfer to developing countries 13) Innovation and technology related to climate changes must be within the public domain, not under any private monopolistic patent regime that obstructs and makes technology transfer more expensive to developing countries. 14) Products that are the fruit of public financing for technology innovation and development of have to be placed within the public domain and not under a private regime of patents[7], so that they can be freely accessed by developing countries. 15) Encourage and improve the system of voluntary and compulsory licenses so that all countries can access products already patented quickly and free of cost. Developed countries cannot treat patents and intellectual property rights as something “sacred” that has to be preserved at any cost. The regime of flexibilities available for the intellectual property rights in the cases of serious problems for public health has to be adapted and substantially enlarged to heal Mother Earth. 16) Recover and promote indigenous peoples' practices in harmony with nature which have proven to be sustainable through centuries."

By: Vinay Gupta

Vinay Gupta — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:23:29 +0000

Another way of thinking about this: "Can Linux Scale?" Answer: it is not, and never will be, Windows. But if Windows stops being available, or Linux is simply better than windows for your given application, you'll take it and use it. How pleasant that experience is depends on how good the Free alternative is. Cuba has **fascinating** reports from the forefront of relocalized agriculture, and it seems to be a pretty good experience relative to conventional mechanized agriculture... I think there are many success stories like that which are potentially scalable. Remember most of the world lives in conditions we think are unthinkable. That's a useful point of reference for this debate.