Fair HardWare global redistribution - Tech for local integration at resourcesless bioregions

[juanse]

The lack of technological resources in many societies, mainly by the most affected ones by the global exploitation system, brings up a challenge to overcome by the global social change movement.

New technologies are helping us building solid cooperative networks of transregional reach, but for many (maybe for too many) is unaccessible, or at least too far yet. This prevents in many countries (if we keep this wording) whole communities to access the benefits of the ecosystem and the solidary networks.

This proposal aims to overcome this barriers by both, redistributing tech goods and (in coordination with education SA) the usage learning/appliance facilitation.

on this pad there are three global actions proposals to be boosted from CE Area and put in practice at local nodes level:

http://board.net/p/fairhardware_global_redistribution_proposal

[Petros]

Nice humanitarian project. The limitations of which are, as usual:
-- continuity
-- maintenance
-- vulnerability to appropriation.

And my reservation again -- more and more often this alarm rings recently for me -- is that it is very colonialist approach.
Do we have actual requests from actual communities for such help? Why not start from listening to them? And how about trying to work with one or two, to see how it works?

[juanse]

we certainly do have requests... in LatAm, we're facing this already... people doesn't even have a phone in many cases

the challenges you mention i see not hard to overcome and care for..

• continuity: is a natural process.. anyone can have a secondhand device and bring t to a LN for redistribution (either local or internodal), unil a concrete recovery campaign is started

• mainteinance would be local

• appropiation? do you mean that this doesn't reach the needed ones and goes offtrack in the middle? is smthn to care about just as any other resources redistribution..

I agree this can start at small scale rather than waiting for a huge campaign.. mainly point 1 at the pad's proposal, and i don't see is colonialist as this is not seeking the profit of a few from the communities reached , but a movemnt that is here to enrich this communities instead...and this tools are almost a sine qua non for the people to join

[Petros]

1. This idea is perpetuating the division between "givers" and "takers". Instills learned helplessness and reductionist understanding of "enriching" communities as "giving people more gadgets (one's electronic trash being another one's new shiny gadget).

2. It also reduces the role of FairCoop nodes (and people in them) to distributors of goods, coming from the capitalist world. FairCoop becomes an outlet for capitalist industry dropouts and recipients of this unFair Hardware are pushed deeper into the position of trash-eaters. All for the good cause, of course.

3. Going further, it perpetuates already over-represented within FC ecosystem idea that own currency + goods exchange (trade) system make economy. This is deeply wrong and anchored in toxic political economy of capitalism, incarnated in the formula of GDP. Under this paradigm, if I sell you a pencil for 49$ and then buy it back for 51$, we just created 100$ in Gross Domestic Product.

4. Nope. The (re)distribution of goods neither creates value, nor enriches anybody. Except, of course, manufacturers. First world do-gooders will have another reason to buy novelty tablet or phone, so they can send perfectly usable last year's model "for poor people". Is that what FairCoop was invented for?

5. On technical level:
   5.1. Continuity means long-term commitment and taking care of the whole process. It means paying for long distance delivery. Doing cleaning and minor refurbishment before shipping. Screening donated equipment for damages. Replacing worn-out batteries. Doing at least factory reset, if you do not care about installing open source firmware. And keeping people doing this again and again, even if the most enthusiastic members (who are usually the most busy ones) drop out of the project.
   5.2. Maintenance means providing parts, consumables and accessories, delivered to the community in question, for random mix of hardware, following no particular standard. And that only in a lucky case if you have (in a community that could not afford smartphones, mind it!) someone skilled enough to do minor repairs and replacements.
   5.3. Appropriation means that if you try to solve the problems listed above, your logical move will be to get into a partnership with one of the manufacturers (probably directly in China, for cost efficiency reasons). That turns the whole project into a charity (analyse OLPC case -- one of the most successful, and at the same time deeply capitalist and colonial in spirit) and makes FairCoop an outlet for ready-made proprietary products, totally dependent on one or few capitalist manufacturers. With all consequences described above.

Now, let us try to be constructive for a moment:

1. Goals of the project:
   -- Provide local communities with inexpensive devices to access internet and FairCoop/FairCoin ecosystem.
   (from Faircoop values)
   -- Promote open source hardware an software.
   -- Minimize feeding to capitalist entities
   -- Decentralize activity.
   -- Empower local communities.

2. Solution.
   7.1. Review, test and select one of the open source projects for DIY smartphones or tablets (examples follow):
   -- https://hackaday.io/project/19035-zerophone-a-raspberry-pi-smartphone
   -- https://www.open-electronics.org/raspberry-pi-turns-into-a-tablet/
   -- http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/a-compact-home-made-raspberry-pi-tablet.html
   -- http://libresmartphone.com/open-hardware-smartphone/
   more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones#List
   7.2. Manufacture (in a designated prototyping entity, like our cooperative for example) a test series, based upon requests from few most interested nodes. Ship 2-3 units to each node for testing and feedback.
   7.3. Manufacture new version, improved based on the feedback from end users and start the subscription action to distribute pilot series.
   7.4. If the feedback for second version is positive, elaborate thrid version, this time as kits, for local people to assemble. Publish all documentation in languages of the users and make extensive tutorials & online support system to enable local tech people take the production over.
   7.5. Create option for local manufacturing teams to use the prototyping entity as a logistic hub for components (large scale orders).
   7.6. Create communication channels between local manufacturers so they can support each other, share skills and perhaps conceive new projects themselves.

This is how the problem can be solved according to the values FairCoin claims to adhere to.

If anybody decides to go this way, I declare all support I can from technology angle.

[kapis]

really nice proposal. I am just worried about support and maintenance.

Related:

Anybody up for introducing FairCoop to the Fairphone Community (August, AMS)?

Hi, I'm coming over from the Fairphone Community and the Fairphone Forum. We are currently planning and organizing the 3rd annual community trip to the Fairphone Office in Amsterdam (#efct18). Like the past few years we will organize workshops and talks at the Fairphone office. I think it would be a great idea if someone from FairCoop could introduce the project to us there. Last year we had talks by members of FairBnB and ECrowd, which I believe are both organizations that would be interestin…