re:publica 17 - Global Innovation Gathering (GIG)

Ex Oriente Make: The future of maker culture is made in China

How is it possible that in just three years, the industrial city of Shenzhen was transformed in the global tech imaginary from a place known for cheap copies and low-quality production to a laboratory of technological futures and a "Silicon Valley of Hardware"? * Silvia Lindtner In this talk, Silvia Lindtner examines how Shenzhen transformed into a laboratory where technological futures are prototyped. She will show how Western elites, more specifically American and European entrepreneurs, makers, artists, and designers turned to Shenzhen as a region that appeared hopeful and promising for their professional futures exactly because it concentrated aspects of manufacturing and informal economic development that constitute the past in the West. Shenzhen, in other words,  is a city that allows Western elites to see the future. Similar to developments in other parts of the world, China has witnessed over the last 7 years a proliferation of ideas around open source hardware, hobbyist tinkering and DIY making. Since 2008, China's open source hardware businesses like Seeed Studio and hackerspaces like XinCheJian have become well-known in international maker circles and are considered exemplars of China's own take on the global maker movement. At the same, China evidences another culture of making: industrial production, repair, and professional craftsmanship in electronics are central pillars of the Chinese economy, with Shenzhen, a city in the South of China, constituting its hotbed. Shenzhen produces more than 90% of end-consumer electronics in usage worldwide. Just a subway ride north of Hong Kong, the city has over the last 3 years attracted a flurry of maker-related technology enthusiasts, who see Shenzhen as providing the social, economic, and cultural tools to prototype a maker approach to industrial development. Prominent western news media outlets have picked up this story of a renewed Shenzhen, as visible in a 2016 Wired documentary that celebrates the city as "Silicon Valley of hardware." Two maker cultures, one driven by international tech elites and the other by a history of industrial production, converge in Shenzhen. It is here where Shenzhen was turned into a laboratory for makers and entrepreneurs to not only prototype and tinker with new technologies, but also with their own professional identity and the future of the tech and creative industries.

India of Things (en)

Developing an Internet of Things ecosystem is what Sreowshi is working on in Bangalore. In this interview she will discuss the journey so far and future in building awareness around the penetration of the Internet to our homes, everyday objects and tool and the importance of having innovators and users work on solutions that will benefit the majority of the population and not just the producers or elite consumers. * Sreowshi Sinha * Maya Indira Ganesh Sreowshi will give insights on the particularities of the IoT market in India. Together with her interview partner from Tactical Technology Collective she will discuss difficulties and opportunities in building a critical consciousness for data protection and ownership of technologies can be developed amongst the Indian consumers.

The politics of natural hair (en)

Whether we like it or not, black African hair is political. Mugethi Gitau, a Kenyan woman who is obsessed with natural hair discusses various aspects of navigating the politics of black African hair. * Mugethi Gitau It is ironic that in the world we live in today, wearing your hair the way it grows as an African person is considered a statement. For generations, majority of urban Africans have been wearing their hair straight, and this has become thet accepted standard for hair. It is not uncommon to hear comments of natural African hair being called unproffessional in the work environment, or untidy in the school environment. Last year, a 13 year old South African girl led a succesful protest against her school, Pretoria High School [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/protests-over-black-girls-hair-rekindle-debate-about-racism-in-south-africa/2016/09/02/27f445da-6ef4-11e6-993f-73c693a89820_story.html]'s racist rule that the black students were required to straighten their hair , while girls of other races could wear their hair natural. This is common in schools all over Africa. Chimamanda Adichie, a bestselling author is quoted as saying [http://www.naturalhairrules.com/chimamanda-adichie-michelle-obama-natural/] that if Michelle Obama had natural hair, Barrack Obama would not have won the presidency. This is perhaps, the ultimate illustration of the politics of natural African hair. In addition, there is little knowledge on how to take care of natural hair by hair stylists, and most products that are readily available, are made for straight hair.In Kenya natural haired women have formed online communities to encourage each other to wear their hair natural despite the stereotypes and perceptions, as well as sharing hair care and styling information and tips.This happens on  Facebook groups like Tricia's Naturals  [https://www.facebook.com/groups/339016709527946/](68,000 members). Hashtags like #teamnatural #naturalhair #nappyhead are used internationally on social media to have discussions on social media, share hairstyles and hair care information with the aim of taking black natural hair mainstream.  Mugethi is on a mission to break cultural stereotypes on hair, change perceptions and encourage people to wear their hair natural. On her Youtube channel, NappyheadsKE [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKPQH7bzUPEuwKp27Xei-wg], she discusses the various issues like perceptions that sorround natural hair.

Nourishing Our Communities – Rural and Urban Platforms for Food Innovation (en)

New forms of bottom-up agriculture networks based on ucd methods and ict tools bringing urban drivers in dialogue with rural practitioners in order to collaboratively develop more sustainable technological solutions to small-scale farming around the world. Get a bigger picture of diverse contexts by insiders and activists! In this one hour session we want to showcase four different initiatives by our partners. It's about indigenous culture and rural techies in Indonesia, community supported agriculture in Germany, the Yeesal Agrihub in Senegal and the Honey or Money initiative in Ethiopia. * Awa Caba * Gustaff Harriman Iskandar * Ivan Sawyer Garcia * Peter Volz * Yemesrach Tadesse New forms of bottom-up agriculture networks based on ucd methods and ict tools bringing urban drivers in dialogue with rural practitioners in order to collaboratively develop more sustainable technological solutions to small-scale farming around the world. Get a bigger picture of diverse contexts by insiders and activists! In this one hour session we want to showcase different initiatives by our partners in Indonesia, Germany, Senegal and Ethiopia: Indigenous Culture and Rural Techies. Common Room Networks Foundation in Indonesia has over longer times developed a deep relation to the mountain village of Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, based on mutual understanding and respect. This unique ethnic community of West Java maintains self-sufficiency through a complex system of cultural practices inherited through generations. Together with Common Room they now experiment and prototype how to best adapt modern technologies to preserve local cultural knowledge while also improving income. A basic infrastructure of opensource data center powered by autonomous small scale renewable energy solutions enables the community to collaboratively and objectively map their geographic territory. Community Supported Agriculture in Europe and appropriate technologies for alternative strategies. A wide variety of popular movements and activist groups including urban farming, community supported agriculture, permaculture, transition town, etc. have sprung out in recent years to develop alternative forms of agriculture in opposition to the prevailing industrial paradigm. A current research initiative is focused on supporting these groups find and self-create their own open source technologies to make their small scale farming initiatives in Germany both economically competitive and longterm sustainable. Yeesal Agrihub is a new organization created by 22 young Senegalese activists from different professional background to establish a platform of collaboration around agribusiness and organic food production. To bridge the urban/rural gap, Yeesal is based both in capital Dakar and the rural environment of Thies. They partner with local Universities, NGOs and fablabs to provide a permaculture experimental garden, co-working/ event space and prototyping labs.The general aim is to awaken local youth to the great emergent business and employment opportunities within the agricultural sector through the use of modern digital technologies Honey or Money! Techhub iceaddis has partnered with agricultural experts in southern Ethiopia to explore the potentials of improving the beekeeping and honey production sector by applying a design thinking multidisciplinary methodology in close cooperation with the actual small scale farming community of the region. The result was an active broad stakeholder network including government, academic, NGO and private sector partners and an impending start-up business idea involving a locally accessible crowd-investment platform for Ethiopian organic honey.   The featured projects were initially supported by the GIZ Innovation Factory programme in 2015 and 2016. A main aim of the of the programme in the field of rural development and agriculture is the creation of innovative concepts of how technology can benefit small hold farmers in the local context.This initiative is commissioned by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and development (BMZ). The showcases will be presented by the initiatives and moderated by icebauhaus.

Pull Request: Restructuring the Global Power Paradigm through Open Source

The key knowledge needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals is locked in proprietary systems. Governments and civil society around the world need to push for a shift to Open Source systems and technologies if we want to overcome the global division of rich and poor, of south and north and those who have power, and those who don’t. * Nnenna Nwakanma * Manuela Yamada * Carolyn Florey * Christoph Beier How do we need to change our systems in order to eradicate poverty and enable the world’s population to meet basic demands of all people? What do governments and development organizations need to change in order to create real change and impact? Two speakers will present their views before engaging in a fire-side chat on open access to for information and technology for development. Nnenna Nwakanma is the voice behind the chant “All the Internet, all the people, all the time”. She is one of the key advocates for open data, open government and the open Web across Africa, for instance by driving forward the Africa Open Data movement and the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms. She represents the Web Foundation in the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. Manuela Yamanda is one of Brazils young change makers advocating a systemic change in politics and business toward a sustainable, open society. She is doing so by heading the Ouishare Brazil Chapter and by running MateriaBrasil, a free open source platform that works as a library for social-environmentally responsible materials, products and services available in Brazil. Together they will present and discuss their change agenda for governments, development organizations and civil society on how to restructure the Global Power Paradigm through Open Source. Concrete suggestions for the apation and implementation of digital development principles will be made.