This post documents the birth of my current project. You can read about it here in this grant proposal to USAID.

Last Wednesday I had the privilege of attending a meeting between Arab American business and representatives from the White House, including people from USAID and the U.S. Small Business Administration. It really seems like the current administration appreciates the value that the business community and especially the Arab American business community can provide when it comes to their goals in the Middle East.

The last time I was there it was mentioned that one of their overarching goals of all their programs was to support stable countries. The reasoning behind which is that they will be less prone to violence and a better economic partner. Also, the tactic of supporting the countries economically makes sense as a way towards these goals. Thus, the Arab American Business Council took place to investigate ways the government can support these business people in developing the MENA (Middle East and Africa) region.

Thinking hard about what I had to offer this august crowd I considered my perspectives on the middle east. Remembering the fear in my cousins eyes in Syria, the lack of hope and self determination. Contrasting that with the attitudes I found around the country with my project The Two Hands Project, a documentary tour of maker spaces throughout North America. Those people were proactive, concerned about their community, building these spaces of empowerment for themselves and others. They were sharing tools, collaborating on projects, and changing their world by building it. It seemed strange to me that of all places in the world MENA was lacking maker spaces when they have the right ingredients. Watching the twitter feed of passionate egyptians setting up a physical space at Tahrir Square within which they organize, support the movement I was inspired.

Recalling Nick Farr’s project Hackers on a Plane trip and the massive impact it had on the hacker space / maker space community in the United States I started to plan in that inspirational route. When he left in 2007 there were a handfull of spaces, but that first crew of three interested people going to see with their own eyes the spaces in Europe inspired the group which included, Mitch Altman of Noisebridge, Bre Pettis of NYC Resistor, and Nick Farr of HacDC to start their respective spaces.

Noisebridge hacker space in San Francisco

Knowing that these spaces existed for more than 30 years in Europe before having a sudden growth in popularity in the US makes really shows the power of a few inspired individuals and the open sourced manner in which how they started the spaces were published. You can see an early manual here: Hacker Space Design Patterns. This manual helped propel the growth of hacker spaces to over 50 when I decided to tour them in 2009 (two years later we’re over 500). We used this guide for the space we started in Ann Arbor MI called All Hands Active.

The last piece of the puzzel for this project fell into place when I called Willow Burgh a Seattle based organizer of the non profit organization The School Factory. The School Factory’s program The Space Federation’s mission is “to provide financial and organizational support to open communities in shared physical spaces who use innovative methods and technology in hands-on education.” And to this end they are hosting a Space Camp summit in Milwaukee. The objective of Space Camp is to distill the knowledge gained from 4 years of rapid growth of these collaborative community building spaces and to share it with those doing the same. This will be an unprecedented gathering of organizers of maker spaces and would be the perfect introduction to an inspiring movement.

Maker Faire Africa 2011

I thought about Maker Faire Africa happening in Cairo in October 2011 and all the makers that would be there. Knowing that the only hackerspace in Cairo on the Hackerspaces.org list is virtual I thought that it would be ideal to go to Maker Faire Africa, survey Cairo and Alexandria for interested people, compile a twitter list of interesting hackers in the area and  if possible bring them to see what is possible by touring maker spaces in the US, starting with Space Camp in early 2012.

That my friends is how I started my USAID grant proposal. Please read it here and give me comments on this shared doc. While I was in the Eisenhower Building I was introduced to two USAID representatives who were interested in my concept. I’ve submitted my pre-proposal (they normally don’t take unsolicited proposals) and am currently waiting for a response. Judging from the US Department of State’s Global Entrepreneurship Program I think that this is a project that would certianly be of interest to the United States and their current policies of encouraging entrepreneurhsip.

The Arab American White House Delegation

If you are interested in this project I’m looking for help in any way you can think of. Let me know how you can help us bring the empowering maker space concept to Cairo first, then the rest of MENA.

Wrecklab / Makelab is project which is an effort to create more awareness about how the products we use every day work, to inspire creativity, and to have fun taking stuff apart! During Wrecklab we take things apart with any tool available and investigate the core of the gadgets of yesteryear. Makelab is the opposite, during this session participants are encouraged is to put the destroyed objects back together again in a novel way. The idea is to empower people with the knowledge of everyday objects they may mistake for magic. Cell phone: magic. Refrigerators… magic. Printers: sorcery!! Having the knowledge of the inner workings of their thingsgives people more ownership over the stuff they buy. If your watch breaks, you’re not out all the parts, you can use that stuff! Also there’s the potential for fixing it yourself.

I hope that more happens, that through this destructive and constructive play people find themselves inspired to experiment, to realize that science is done by people solving their own problems. That a playful experimenting mind is a fun thing to cultivate, and who knows what fun hacks we’ll develop along the way!

MakeZine Visits All Hands Active

Events are hosted by members who are excited about what they know love to share! Here’s a knitting class held by Katie and Alex:

Sexify Your Life I: Yarning from Matt Mayers on Vimeo.

But what is AHA really about? Maybe this stick can help clear things up:

Spring 2010 Collection description at annarbor.com at The Gallery Project

From the release:

The 27 local, regional and national artists have created their own collection line or individual pieces specifically for the exhibition, and have made work that will be modeled on the catwalk show during the opening reception. Artists explore the myriad influences and contexts of fashion, investigating issues such as identity and values, innovation and retrogression, trends and fads, materialism and consumption, high and low fashion, globalism and regionalism, thrift, reusing, recycling and reclaiming.

We participated in the runway showcasing our new UV fluorescing inks and in Basement6 doing live silkscreening. It was really cool to be able to finally present my own home town with the stuff we’ve been pitching all over the country. If you want to come hang out, we’ll be printing live every Saturday till Jan 11 from 6-9 if you want to get something made, bring by your clothing, we’ll print on it for free!

With Punch.
Yours.

The Alibi full to the brim

The Alibi was a privately owned space for music performances, film screenings, and art gallery showings. We started it as a way to try to gather creative people together in a creative space with the methods for production, performance and sales all located in the same building. The concept was to help sponsor creative people by creating a small local economy centered around making, sharing and selling. The space was allowed free room to grow and evolve and overtime we had people curating events of all sorts including a group which began a community garden in our backyard.

Jeffery Lewis came last April and performed at the Alibi.

Jeffery Lewis and The Alibi Crew at the Fleetwood

Facebook Group
Videos of some shows
Pictures of shows
Map and pictures of location

The Alibi was a fun experiment in sustainable creative economies but after a year in operation my company (http://modati.com) was offered a education oriented relationship with the Neutral Zone teaching teenagers screen printing while promoting entrepreneurship and the main source of income for the Alibi moved. The Alibi is gone, but it’s successors are awesome! Yellow Barn in Ann Arbor

Alibi Alumni:
Actual Birds
Alan Patrick Schuerman
Allan Fullerton
Annie Palmer
Belikos
Charlene Kaye
Cojum Dip
Cut to Scene
Diane Cluck
Fatter Than Albert
The Fire Flies
Fred Thomas
Gary Lutz
Gunday Monday
Hullabaloo
Jae Stevens Live
Jeffrey Lewis
Legendz of the Fall
Looking For Mammoths
Lord of the Yum Yum
Mahoney
Matt Wixson
Mick Bassett and the Marthas
Old Big Bear
Stuck Lucky
The Ruined Frame
Tipton Lea & The Victorian Army
We Are The Union
Wesley West