Aude on the spot

Pattern & Texture profiles Aude Maïmouna of Aude on the spot:

Aude is a designer and an inventor who likes to experiment, to empower people and improve lifes. Her work was brought to my attention by Bibi Seck. And we both appreciated her project on “Avenues Africaines”, a series of websites, which are free spaces of expression to showcase people’s everyday life on the continent. Inspired by the countries’ phone codes. The websites are also training platforms for publishing and multimedia productions. For instance Avenue225 is designed for Ivory Coast Avenue223 for Mali, Avenue221 for Senegal and other countries will follow.

Another interesting project is “Dakar Live” which was the result of a collaboration between Aude and the “Centre de Calcul” of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. Dakar Live, launched in 2009, is a mobile application that allows the reading and the editing of dynamic geo localized information on Dakar’s activities.

More here

Images courtesy of Aude on the spot

Kourage Athletics

CNN reports:

A group of young entrepreneurs have launched what they say is the nation's first running brand and they have high hopes of one day transforming Nairobi into the running apparel capital of the world.

"There are a lot of Kenyan athletes and you always see them wearing Nike and Adidas and not something from their own country," said Hussein Kurji, who designs the clothing and heads up the Kenyan operation of Kourage Athletics.

"We do have quite a good track record when it comes to running, so why not match that with an equally big clothing brand," he added. Kourage says it creates running apparel that's 'designed, manufactured and managed in Kenya by Kenyans.'

Images courtesy of Kourage Atheletics

Malenb

Maleneb manufacturer of custom handmade carpets speaks about her work

My unique carpets, inspired by my international travels, boldly interpret cultural icons, landscapes and rituals in an entirely fresh and personal way. My passion for all things cultural stems from my world travels to places like Dakar, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur, as well as my African-Caribbean heritage. I personally design each carpet to fit perfectly into your residential, commercial or hospitality environment.

ice-Ethiopia

The hubs come to Ethiopia:

iceethiopia is a self-sufficient business incubation and innovation community center aimed at supporting Ethiopia’s economic growth by tightening the constructive interaction between researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, creative workers and customers and by promoting local technological solutions and solution providers to the public.

Manufacturing the Tools of Music-African Musical Instruments

VOA reports on manufacturer, African Musical Instruments:

AMI employee Mark Komsana works with kiat wood to make kalimbas  Image by Darren Taylor

“My main input into the firm has been to encourage (it) to make traditional African instruments because they’re very scarce in Africa now,” said South African musicologist Andrew Tracey. “Very few people are making them.” His father, pioneer ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, spent about 50 years recording music throughout sub-Saharan Africa before his death in 1977. Hugh Tracey started the business African Musical Instruments (AMI) in 1954, as a further way to preserve the continent’s musical heritage.

More here

Mitch Altman’s Hacker Trip to Egypt

Mitch Altman on hacking together at Maker Faire Africa:

Marwan printing a whistle on the Thing-O-Matic, donated by MakerBot Industries

Before Maker Faire Africa, there were many people making things happen in Egypt. There was at least one co-working space in Cairo, at least one startup incubator in Alexandria, and at least one hackerspace starting in Cairo. There was also a Startup Weekend in Alexandria and in Cairo. But people didn’t all know about each other. But they do now!

We organized four Hackerspace Meetups, two in Cairo, one in Alexandria, and one in El Minya. All it took was a spark to get folks together, and they are off and running. People are psyched about starting and joining hackerspaces and finding ways of making a living beyond the predetermined paths that seem to be laid out for them by society. There are now hackerspaces starting in four cities in Egypt, and perhaps more co-working spaces and incubators. And the first Open Source Day was put together during our stay. As people find ways of making a living through these support networks, local economy will continue to grow, and many people will benefit.

More here

A Ghanaian Nut cluster

In the Economist:

A mountain of bulging jute bags hides the far wall of a vast shed. A deafening rattle comes from the machine by the open door, a green contraption of conveyors and rotating metal drums that sorts cashews by size and drops them into sacks. Amid the din, an engineer (Italian, like the machine) explains how it works.

The new factory at Techiman in western Ghana belongs to Rajkumar Impex, an Indian company which processes more cashews than anyone else: 8-10% of the global crop and 20% of Africa’s. Venkatesan Rajkumar, its founder and boss, says that by 2014 he intends to have 18% of the global total. When the Techiman factory is fully open, which it is due to be in November, it will be one of Africa’s few fully mechanised processing plants, drying, roasting shelling and grading some 50 tonnes of raw nuts a day. African farmers grow about 40% of the world’s cashews, but only around 10% of the crop (less in the west, more in the east) is processed in Africa, according to the African Cashew Alliance, an industry group. Most African nuts go to India or to Vietnam, which grows and prepares more cashews than any other country. The Alliance wants the continent to process 35% of its own raw nuts by 2020.

Mr Rajkumar too believes that “west African nations should develop their own processing capacity” and sees an opportunity for his firm. He is investing $9m in the Techiman factory, expecting to save the cost of transporting bulky material by sea all the way to India. He intends to open factories in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, and maybe another in Ghana. He is also expanding in southern and east Africa, buying a factory in Mozambique and hoping to build one in Tanzania.

More here

How Open Source Hardware is Kick-Starting Kickstarter!

Phillip Torrone writing in MAKE:

Imagine waking up and seeing your design for a circuit being used in a product by someone who never contacted you to ask if it was okay. You will not get any payment for their usage of your design, they’ve raised over $31,000 dollars, and they’re selling something you worked really hard on. You have no control over what someone does with something you made. Is this a nightmare? Perhaps for some, but this is actually a dream come true for others. And it’s what this week’s Soapbox is about: Open-source hardware kick-starting Kickstarters!

As the maker movement marches forward, we’ve hit a lot of milestones: a place to share what you make (MAKE magazine/MAKE blog/Maker Faire, Make: Projects, Instructables), places to meet up and build things (hackerspaces, TechShops, meetups/DorkBots), tools to create (Inkscape, MakerBots, laser cutters, gEDA, kiCAD), places to sell what you make (Etsy, kit businesses, Maker Shed, direct), and now ways to fund your projects (Kickstarter). It really is true: if you can dream it, you can make it, and now you can probably get funding for it. And if you use open source hardware, you have an advantage and a way to give back value at the same time. That’s what’s so exciting to me right now, and I hope we see more open source hardware fueling great Kickstarter projects.

After the jump an example of the flourishing OSHW phenomenon on Kickstarter-A open source inkjet shield for Arduino More here via Adafruit

Power of Making

From the Victoria and Albert Museum:

What do words like "craft" and "skill" mean in 2011? That is one of the questions that the exhibition ‘Power of Making’ seeks to answer. This film delves into the working lives of four makers: shoe designer Marloes ten Bhömer, crochetdermist Shauna Richardson, artist, curator and glass designer Matt Durran and flute-maker Stephen Wessel. It uncovers processes of thought and making that are as fascinating, complex and contemporary as the exhibition itself.
Power of Making from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

Learn Embedded Systems at Fasmicro

In the Tekedia blog:

Fasmicro, a leader in embedded systems and embedded mobile apps development, received a $20,000 grant from a U.S. company with interest in developing Nigeria’s embedded systems sector. Fasmicro will organize a workshop, codenamed FASMICRO OPEN, targeted to government agencies (federal, state, LGA, etc) and educational institutions (students, staff, etc). With the support, we will run this program 100% free to all applicants we select. We expect the selection process to be very rigorous and transparent as we work hard to build the embedded systems sector in Nigeria. We hope to use this platform to train more than 100 people in embedded systems in Nigeria.

More here

The Siyazama Beadwork Project

From Editions in Craft:

Bead craft is an important part of Zulu tradition, not only as a means of expression, but also of communication and telling stories. In the past, patterns and colors were woven into beadwork, symbolizing feelings and ideas to lovers and friends, in a way similar to written language.

With the Story Vases, Front combines its conceptual approach to design, material and narrative to explore new ways of working with bead craft, as well as to provide an opportunity for the woman of the Siyazama Project to have their stories heard.

More here
Images courtesy of Editions in Craft

Tsamma Melons

More melons from the Worldwatch folks:

Photo credit: Nigel Dennis

Tsamma melons include several varieties that range in flavor and texture. Botanically, they are the same species as watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and are widely believed to be ancestors of commercial varieties grown across the world today. The name Tsamma also refers to a species of gourd, Citrullus ecirrhosus, which grows in Namibia and is bitter in flavor.

Like cacti in the deserts of North America, Tsamma melons can store large amounts of water. Traditionally, they have been an important resource for indigenous people of the Kalahari, who store the melons in large numbers as a standby source of water. Some Kalahari people even say that it used to be impossible to travel the desert during any time but melon season.

Tsamma melons, which can be stored for several weeks, have also been an important source of food for many generations. Sweet varieties are eaten raw like watermelons, while the more bitter, tougher varieties are cooked over coals to soften the flesh

More here

Bògòlanfini

In Pattern & Texture:

Bògòlanfini or mud-dye resist cloth has become an international Malian trademark. It is originally a Bamana cloth design tradition using local leaves’ plants to create deep colors and shape geometric patterns. According to John Gillow, It was first made commercially for an international film festival in Bamako in the 1970s. As Gillow stated, bògòlanfini is part of a large export market for those concerned with “black consciousness” Bògòlanfini is a traditional clothing worn by hunters, pregnant women, women giving births, excised women to protect them from the evil spirits that could cause death. Its changing use has evolved over time and has also crossed cultures and space...[continue reading]

'Fixers' and why they are Important

In the Atlantic Kyle Wiens, founder of iFixit, on the 'the community of electronics technicians who fix and remake the world's discarded electronics':

Image courtesy of the Atlantic

There are superheroes in our midst, and they’re not wearing capes or costumes. They live in unassuming places, performing miracles with the most humble of tools. They bring ancient machinery rumbling back to life, fabricate new radiators from metal scraps, and repair minuscule circuitry with simple hand tools. They are brilliant hackers, tinkerers, mechanics and repair technicians, transforming our unwanted junk into coveted treasures — genius “fixers” with a preternatural ability to rip apart a piece of hardware and give it a new soul. Fixers are doing more than repairing things. They are the solution to an environmental problem poisoning our planet.

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Manufacturing our Future

Hash writes:

courtesy of Development Blogs

...what would happen if we had our own jua kali industry working on higher tech products, like their Shanzhai counterparts in China. What types of innovative technology (hardware and software) would come from Africa that differs for the local context? I won’t go into a great amount of detail, on what I’ve written before around the idea of “Hardware Hacking Garages: hardware and accessories innovation” in Africa. I think we need it, as it could help kickstart this next phase of localized R&D, prototyping and ultimately small-scale manufacturing that we need on the continent.

More here

Open Sourcing the Integrated Circuit

A talk given at the OSHW 2011 summit by "John Sarik and Haig Norian describes how they are working on open sourcing the development of integrated circuits. They talked about printable circuit elements using organic conductors and also about re-usable design elements in FPGA’s."-OSE

Download the full presentation here. From machines to chips Open Source Hardware is truly coming into its own.

Future of Personal Manufacturing

At World Maker Faire NY, Hod Lipson introduces us to the world of 'Fab@Home and the Future of Personal Manufacturing':

Africa Needs a Kickstarter

We are delighted at the success of Kickstarter seeded projects highlighted here recently.A recent NYTimes article outlines how Kickstarter is upending the whole concept-to-business model for designers:

Dario Antonioni, who runs Orange22, a design consultancy in Los Angeles, said he decided to try Kickstarter after seeing Mr. Wilson’s success, which sent “shock waves” through the design community, empowering designers.
Mr. Antonioni, 38, turned to Kickstarter in July to finance the Botanist Minimal bench, a bentwood seat he designed. In the past, he said, his firm would have risked its own money, hired a manufacturer and hoped for enough retailer and consumer interest to turn a profit, or at least break even.
“The beauty of Kickstarter is it does away with that whole model,” he said.
The appeal for backers, particularly those who finance design projects, is what they get in return: a gift like a T-shirt for smaller contributions, and for larger ones, a well-designed product at a substantial savings. Mr. Antonioni’s backers, for example, could get the Botanist bench by pledging $299; it will eventually retail for around $800, he said.
Mr. Antonioni has raised more than $36,000 on Kickstarter, exceeding his $20,000 goal and enabling him to place an order with an Asian manufacturer. And in the process, he said, he received valuable feedback from “a global audience” without doing costly market research or renting a booth at a trade show. “We don’t need a business plan,” he said. “We don’t even have to leave our studio.”

More here

Needless to say we look forward to the launch of Kickstarter itself in Africa and or Kickstarter-like platforms.

'Meet the Makers' at Maker Faire Africa,Cairo

In the Atlantic Alex Ortiz highlights makers from Maker Faire Africa 2011 :

DoIP stands for “Drive over Internet Protocol” and it does just that. This Egyptian team from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University decided they “didn’t want to make anything traditional” for their final project. Instead, Omar, Ahmed, Ahmed, and Mazen figured out how to drive a car using a 3G data connection, some software of their own design, and a bit of creative mechanical rigging inside vehicle.

The DoIP system – which runs at 3,500 Egyptian pounds (about $585) per unit – can be installed on any car with automatic transmission and is built using only local components.

For the slideshow of other MFA11 makers click here
Images courtesy of Alex Ortiz and the Atlantic

PicoCricket at FabLab Nairobi

From the Fablab Nairobi Blog:

Picocricket image courtesy of Fablab Nairobi

The PicoCricket kit was designed at MIT Media Lab to encourage practical learning by tapping into the creativity of children and help them gain a deeper understanding of the process of design and invention. This would help break down complex machinery and technology to simple devices, thus creating an enjoyable environment for learning.
We use a computer which is used along with the Pico Cricket kit for the Robotics High School Outreach Programme. The aim of this programme is to introduce robotics and concepts of engineering to students while they are still in high school, making education enjoyable and interesting. This will help inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. At the same time, the programme will help students to understand and apply concepts taught in the classroom to real life situations as well as create room for one’s imagination...[continue reading]

Niebe flour, a self raising business

The IITA reports:

courtesy of the IITA

Rokhaya LÓ is a mother and a family breadwinner in, thanks to a job milling niebe, the common name for cowpea in Senegal."I clean, dehusk, sort out, and weigh the niebe before it is milled into flour," LÓ explains during a visit to Kumba Enterprises, a small milliing business founded by Mme Aissatou Diagne Deme in Dakar. The cowpea flour sold Kumba Enterprises has made it household name around Dakar. It’s an important ingredient for traditional meals and a rich source of protein for children, the elderly and expecting mothers.LÓ has been working at Kumba Enterprises since 2003 and has supported her child and family members with her earnings...[continue reading]

.

Rych Entertainment

Richard Sowah founded Rych Entertainment:

...an entertainment company operating in a broad range of areas, including recording, music publishing, artist management, television & film production, marketing, advertising, concert promotions, and more. With an ever growing employee base within Africa and around the world,

Zege Technologies

Zege Technologies product:

MPAYER manages Mobile payments where transactions are processed on demand as opposed to scheduled processing. It manages corporate collection accounts(MPESA-Pay Bill and ZAP-Nickname). This results in increased transaction speeds and enhanced accuracy due to direct system integration with organisations financial systems.

West Africa's Flavor Principles

In Gherkins and Tomatoes:

courtesy of Gherkins & Tomatoes

As Fran Osseo-Asare points out in various locations – Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Greenwood Press, 2005) and “ ‘We Eat First with Our Eye’: On Ghanaian Cuisine” (Gastronomica, Winter 2002), in Ghana (and elsewhere in West Africa, indeed across much of Africa), the “holy trinity” of tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers, usually Scotch bonnets, predominates. Grouping these ingredients resembles a similar technique – “sofrito” used in the Caribbean, “sofritto” in Italy, and even France with its mire-poix. (Not a new concept, the term “holy trinity” in cuisine also refers to the onions, green peppers, and celery of Louisiana’s Cajun cuisine and to the beans, corn, and squashes of Mesoamerican cuisine, though some observers call it the “three sisters” (las tres hermanas) . Thanks to Gary Allen for clarifying this!)

More here

Cairo Hackerspace at Maker Faire Africa

In the Noisebridge Blog Mitch Altman writes:

The 3-day hackerspace at Maker Faire Africa was incredible!  The main idea of setting this up was to show people how incredibly cool it is to be part of a supportive community where people explore and do what they love.  And the energy was high.  I taught about 300 people to solder (on my own) at an ongoing, 3-day-long workshop, with kits and soldering irons bought with money donated through our Kickstarter campaign.  The brand new Cairo Hackerspace put together the MakerBot, donated by MakerBot Industries, and also put together the Egg-Bot, donated by Evil Mad Scientist — and they gave 3-D printing workshops.  Minal gave fabric painting workshops.  Bilal gave several Arduino workshops with Arduinos donated by a new local electronics store named Future-Electronics.  Lots of fun for all!  I gave away lots of Noisebridge keys to people who will be visiting us someday in San Francisco.  And Cairo Hackerspace now has a large number of enthusiastic people who will help contribute to Egypt’s first hackerspace.

More here
via Adafruit

Bottle Building Construction

Energy Refuge on building with plastic bottles:

The plastic bottles were filled with earth and mud and the builders say the three-room structure is so sturdy it could stand for thousands of years.What’s better, the bottle house will run on solar power, features a fuel-efficient clean stove, urine filtration fertilization systems and water purification tanks, which makes it pretty much a self-sufficient building.

More here

via African Architecture

Images courtesy of Katrin Macmillan

Maker Faire Africa, Cairo

From Maker Faire Africa Cairo:

via Mitch Altman flickr feed.

Busayo Fashion

The Busayo line

...hopes to brighten the contemporary American woman's wardrobe with the vivid colors and geometric patterns of traditional African fabric. This line celebrates the vibrant spirit and energy of my culture.

Historically, the fabrics I use in my clothing were imported to various African colonies from Europe for their unique design and durable, lightweight-cotton material and then sewn into garments. I seek to continue this tradition by fusing classic, Western cuts with African prints--wax print ankara and batik adire. All of my fabrics are sourced from Southwestern Nigeria and tailored by professionals local to the region. Each piece comes with its own character and is made in limited quantity to ensure the originality of your garment.

Beauty for Ashes Pottery & Making

Christine Gitau a ceramicist founded Beauty for Ashes Pottery, she speaks to the importance of 'maker' professions:

Society according to the founder of Beauty for Ashes, should stop highlighting white-collar jobs as the only way of earning respect in today's modern world. Blue collar, jobs though seemingly 'untidy', do have a lot to offer, and can rid society of the many youth who are unemployed

via Creatives Academy

Open-Source “Do-It-Yourself” Potentiostat

Continuing on the Open Source Hardware laboratory equipment theme .Citizen Science Quarterly reports:

courtesy if Citizen Science Quarterly

A potentiostat is a wonderfully useful tool in the study of electrochemistry. However, their widespread adoption is limited primarily by their price, with research setups often costing up to $10,000 and barebone potentiostats still upwards of $1,000 (i.e. Dagan Chem-Clamp). A group out of UC Santa Barbara have developed both the hardware and software necessary to build your own potentiostat for only $80. Placing it well in the range of undergrad and developing world lab budgets.

To test it’s capabilities they also ran it through a few sample projects listed below.

• Measurements of Ascorbic Acid in Orange Juice   

• Monitoring Redox of Ferricyanide Using Cyclic Voltammetry 

•  Analysis of Acetaminophen Content in Over-the-Counter Pain Medication Using Linear Sweep Voltammetry 

•  Construction of a Simple E-DNA Biosensor and its Interrogation Using Square Wave Voltammetry

More here

Egusi, the Miracle Melon

In Worldwatch west African 'soup' ingredient favorite with health benefits:

courtesy of Worldwatch

Egusi, a wild member of the gourd family, has the potential to spread its popularity on the global market nearly as quickly as it grows. Native to parts of Western Africa, this peculiar looking plant can grow just about anywhere, from humid gullies, to dry savannahs, to tropical highlands –making it possible source of food for farmers in even the worst conditions.

Regarding its versatility:

While the seeds are often shelled and eaten individually as a snack, many processed forms of the seeds have made their way into common cooking practices. After soaking, fermenting, or boiling, the seeds take on different flavors and are frequently added to thicken soups and stews. On their own, the seeds can also be roasted and ground into a spread like peanut butter. With further preparation, egusi-seed meal can be pressed into patties to be used like a meat substitute, and its oil can be used for cooking.

More here

Laurence Airline Collection

In Cote d' Voire:

For the SS 12 season LAURENCEAIRLINE launches its first menswear collection "ABIDJAN” focusing on shirts and underwear. Laurence’s shirts tell the story of a stylish journey, the underpants being the intimate version of this same story. Fabrics are elegantly mixed together: poplin, chambray, and wax cotton. Along with graphical details the shirts’ soft and precise cuts make for a new kind of dynamism, fitting a modern tribal pop man.


ABIDJAN: LAURENCEAIRLINE SS/12 from Under/Current magazine on Vimeo.

The launch of this menswear shirt collection will help generate employment in Laurence’s hometown of Abidjan. In a country where education is still unaffordable for most, LAURENCEAIRLINE’s goal is to make learning a stimulating and creative trade possible.

The plan of action is in the near future to help in the construction of a learning space where young people will be given the chance to learn fashion skills like sewing and knitting.

Maker Faire Africa 2011 Workshops

Maker Faire Africa debuts in Cairo this week, for a taste of what's on offer take a peek at some of the workshops:

Sacred Drum

Bambadjan Bamba is the co-founder of the Sacred Drum company which:

...is committed to doing original works using the creative power of collaboration trough our JAM SESSIONS. We do our best to make sure our works are a wholly amalgam of consciousness, commentary and most of all, offer further progression to the craft of storytelling.

On their work:

We embrace our responsibility to entertain the hearts and minds of all who are generous with their attention to our material so we can have a mutual and enjoyable imagined experience. Therefore, we lend our tales to all genres from comedy to drama. From full-length plays to short plays with a concentration on the African experience.

Kamau Gachigi – Maker & Fablab Director

In Generation Kenya:

Dr. Kamau Gachigi by Daudi Were

Kamau Gachigi’s desk is littered with little objects that light up, bounce away or chirp loudly when you touch them, but rather than a scene from Animal Planet this is the Nairobi FabLab base on the ground floor of the University of Nairobi’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Gachigi is the Chairman and Coordinator of the University of Nairobi’s Science and Technology Park. Since 1999 he has been a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Nairobi, where he teaches Materials Science, an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering, to both mechanical and electrical engineering students

On Fablabs:

FabLabs are a global network of local labs. The Nairobi FabLab serves as a rapid prototyping centre within the Science and Technology Park. A FabLab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop with an array of flexible computer controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim to make ‘almost anything’. After ‘almost anything’ has been made, the FabLab provides the tools and skills to ‘make the machines that make almost anything’. Dr. Gachigi hopes that the Nairobi FabLab will serve as “an infrastructure of high-tech business incubators can provide localized manufacturing capacity. . . (with) the potential to release technology-based economic growth for any developing nation or region.”

Africa's Small Factories

The debut or rather the discovery of Africa's manufacturer's in the WSJ:

Across Africa, scores of tiny manufacturers have been going where most multinationals fear to tread. They not only make chocolate in Madagascar, but also leather shoes in Nigeria and hot sauce in South Africa. They're testing whether a continent with the highest share of unexploited resources in the world, and the lowest per-capita income, can be fertile terrain for industry..."For decades, Africans have produced what they do not consume and consumed what they do not produce," says Andrew Rugasira, a Ugandan entrepreneur. Two years ago, his company, Good African Coffee, broke ranks with local bean exporters to open the country's first instant-coffee plant.

More here

Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art contd

We Make Money Not Art profiles Hackteria:

KresseKunst

Ever wondered how to turn a simple webcam into a microscope, safely cultivate GFP bacteria, hack DVD burners to make your own nano and bio experiments, or how to use other cheap, easy to come by material in order to build an hydrometer (instrument to measure the relative density of a liquid), an incubator or even a bat detector? Then you should check out the DIY pages on Hackteria's wiki or enroll into one of their workshops...[continue reading]

continuing in conversation with co-founder Andy Gracie:

DIY Micro Dispensing and Bio Printing - First approaches during HackteriaLab 2011

How was hackteria born? And why did you and the other founders of hackteria feel that there is a need for this hands-on approach to bioelectronix?


Hackteria was born when Marc Dusseiller, Yashas Shetty and myself met up at the Garage Science Interactivos? being run at Medialab-Prado in Madrid in 2009. The three of us all began to talk about an availability gap in information about real DIY alternatives to lab protocols and equipment. Marc and Yashas already had quite a bit of experience from their work Zurich and Bangalore so there was quite a bit of expertise already. Originally though, it was Yashas's idea to create Hackteria as an online resource - none of us really thought or planned that we would do so many workshops and meetings. In the end though, the workshops as a kind of 'roadshow' back up to the practical information available on the website seemed to be a good model for getting the ideas and information across.


Hackteria in Medellin, Colombia

It wasn't so much that we'd identified a need for a hands-on approach to bioelectronix (the 'x', by the way' differentiates our approach from the multi-million dollar industry of 'real' bioelectronics - the lab on a chip, etc etc), but a hands-on approach to simple, affordable and do-able biological techniques and protocols in general.



More here