FKI to present in India “Open, Digital DIY manufacturing across countries and cultures”

Swatantra’17 is an international conference on Free Software and Free Knowledge that will take place on 20-21 December 2017 in Trivandrum, India. The Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) is happy to contribute to this important event by presenting the main findings of the EU research project DiDIY (Digital DIY), how FKI is continuing the same activities, and how they may be co-developed worldwide.

FKI looks forward to Swatantra’17 also as a great opportunity to meet directly, before or after the conference, everybody in India, or any other country of course, who is interested in FKI’s mission and founding principles. If you are in Trivandrum during that week, and would like to know more about the topics below, or other FKI activities, and discuss how we may collaborate on those or similar projects.. please do contact us!

FKI Talk at Swatantra’17: “Free as in Freedom products and communities: the role of Open Digital DIY manufacturing across countries and cultures”

ABSTRACT: this talk presents the main findings of the EU research project DiDIY (Digital DIY), how FKI is continuing the same activities within Comunificadora and other projects, and how they may be further reused, and co-developed worldwide.

DiDIY, that is personal or community-level digital manufacturing of all sorts of objects may have long lasting, beneficial effects… but only if based on Free Software, Open Hardware, Open Standards and truly worldwide, inter-cultural collaboration.

The Maker Movement and all other forms of DiDIY already bring formidable challenges and opportunities to production, cooperation and business models in western Countries. However, DiDIY practiced only with individualistic, consumeristic or western-centric perspectives may widen socioeconomic divides, create new forms of colonialism, or even damage some sectors of emerging economies.

DiDIY built and promoted around truly Free and Open standards and technologies, however, is highly reusable, extremely modular and greatly compatible with every culture: everybody can take only the parts they really want, and adapt them as they please, to suit their actual needs, at the smallest possible cost. In this way, DiDIY can give both to individuals, and whole communities worldwide, many more ways to be more creative, pollute less and increase their economic self-sufficiency.

In order for this to happen, however, it is necessary that western-style DiDIY learns from other cultures; and that DiDIY stakeholders worldwide discuss together how to co-develop and share efforts to on common parts that are needed everywhere (e.g reach critical mass to open standards and open hardware components) while leaving maximum space to all local developments.