During this MakerNet phase two, one of the areas we’ve been exploring is a collaborative platform(s) for sharing (and finding) designs of useful items, enabling people anywhere to make them. This includes sharing digital design files, instructions, and all the other information that might be needed to reproduce an item, as well as the ability to adapt and improve designs (version control), and for some authorized groups to tag or certify certain items (for instance, that they meet specific requirements or standards, which is important for safety). We have referred to this concept as “Makepedia”. In this exploration, we identified Docubricks as a tool that may provide a useful way to document

During this MakerNet phase two, one of the areas we’ve been exploring is a collaborative platform(s) for sharing (and finding) designs of useful items, enabling people anywhere to make them. This includes sharing digital design files, instructions, and all the other information that might be needed to reproduce an item, as well as the ability to adapt and improve designs (version control), and for some authorized groups to tag or certify certain items (for instance, that they meet specific requirements or standards, which is important for safety). We have referred to this concept as “Makepedia”. In this exploration, we identified Wevolver as a platform that may provide a useful way to docume

In our last blog post, we talked about the interviews we are doing with aid agencies to understand what systems could support them to procure more of their needs from small-scale manufacturers local to the communities where they operate. This post will focus on one of those systems, contract distribution, and talk about some work on it that MakerNet member Field Ready is doing in Nepal. As part of the DFID-funded Frontier Technologies Livestreaming program, Field Ready has been exploring distributing contracts for 3D-printed parts. The customer is an NGO that trains masons and engineers in earthquake-resistant house building techniques, so they can build back with safer structures than those