<div dir="ltr"><div>Hi Catarina!<br><br>Almost a year ago I started to become familiar with
the concept of the Open Hardware. Personally I have been an advocate for
Open Source Software since I started using Linux more than 10 years
ago.<br><br>Here in my country (El Salvador) we were the most
industrialized country on central americas at the end of 60s and
begining of 70s, but political issues and a bloody civil war put a stop
to the industries and now we are lagged behind.<br><br>However we still
have several technical high-schools were people can learn electronics,
mechanics, mechatronics and even architecture. I graduated myself from
one of this schools. Also, all Universities teach engineering on several
fields but few people have the real opportunity to develop solutions
using their skills, most of them become marketeers of existing solutions
or technical support people in the best of the cases.<br><br>From the
begining of the last year I started to write in my blog about small
open-hardware projects and via mailing lists and social networks I
started to communicate with many people that works in the same.<br><br>So
in the last year I have found a lot of people working around the
country in projects based on Open Hardware solutions, from individuals
to schools and universities. At one point, we thought that could be a
great idea to conform the Open Hardware Community in El Salvador to
share experiences and promote this kind of "philosophy of sharing to
create".<br><br>What we found after that was a lot of people working
everywhere in the country telling us: "We tought that we were alone on
this", but you see the spark on their eyes when you tell them that they
are not alone but part of a community that can help them to materialize
their ideas.<br><br>For me, the Open Source Hardware it's an incredible
oportunity to show the world that this country still has a lot of
potential and has people capable of create, invent and develop solutions
to the problems, this empowers the feeling on the people that we are
not just a consumist country with a lot of social problems but a place
were we can create and solve problems by ourselfs.<br><br>The next step
is to tell the people that they need to merchandise their ideas (in a
good way). There is a lot of incredible projects on the schools and
universities collecting dust that could became live if the people uses
Internet to collaborate and show to the world what they are capable of.<br><br>From
CNCs and 3D-Printers built from recycled parts to automatization
systems for the industry you'll be surprised of all the things that the
people is doing here.<br><br>As a community our main idea is to give the
people the tools so they can share and colaborate with OSHW projecs
around the world. Now we are just starting with this but we hope that if
we acomplish this, there is going to be a complete change of mentality
of being a "consumist" country and become real "producers".<br><br></div><div>As
Emilio Said in another reply we would be happy to share the experiences
of the people here. Emilio can act as a translator jajajaja :)<br>
</div><div><br>Regards,<br>Mario.<br></div>(Member of the OpenHardware Community in El Salvador)<br><br>P.D.: Sorry for my bad english If something needs clarification please tell me.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:07 PM, Emilio Velis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:contacto@emiliovelis.com" target="_blank">contacto@emiliovelis.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p dir="ltr">This is just an idea, and you're free to dismiss it, but it would be nice to have a space with people's (or group's) profiles and their testimonial. From our side (as an emerging group of Open Hardware from El Salvador) sharing testimonials from people that don't speak English and would've never thought to be connected globally in this mindset would be a very nice experience.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">El nov 5, 2013 2:59 p.m., "Catarina Mota" <<a href="mailto:catarina@openmaterials.org" target="_blank">catarina@openmaterials.org</a>> escribió:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Absolutely, whatever people prefer! There can even be multiple ways to contribute (to the list, to me, on a google doc, etherpad, etc.) - as long as I know what all the channels are, I can pull the information into an OSHWA page.<div>
<br></div><div>Here's a google doc for those who prefer it:</div><div><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K0JyOKWbldWtXXpqhAOTsGQ23NmEtQit6bDlLLTbFhs/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K0JyOKWbldWtXXpqhAOTsGQ23NmEtQit6bDlLLTbFhs/edit?usp=sharing</a><br>
</div><div><br></div><div>But I do think that it's good to keep them as individual testimonials to capture more diversity of perspectives. If, at one point, anyone wants to take a stab at summarizing it all that would be awesome too.</div>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:42 PM, Emilio Velis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:contacto@emiliovelis.com" target="_blank">contacto@emiliovelis.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">We could work an Etherpad or Google Docs document to make it collaborative. </p>
<div class="gmail_quote">El nov 5, 2013 2:20 p.m., "Catarina Mota" <<a href="mailto:catarina@openmaterials.org" target="_blank">catarina@openmaterials.org</a>> escribió:<div><div class="h5"><div><div><br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Awesome!<div><br></div><div>Michael: you can either just post your testimonial on this thread, or email it directly to me if you prefer.</div><div><br></div><div>Gabby: that's a great idea! Same thing: either send to the list or to me and I'll start a page on <a href="http://oshwa.org" target="_blank">oshwa.org</a> (if no one has objections to that).</div>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:14 PM, gabriella levine <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gabriella.levine@gmail.com" target="_blank">gabriella.levine@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">I know also there have been a number of amazing and inspirational talks about the importance of OSHW, none of which are archived in one spot - would this be such a place for this , also? <div>
<br></div><div>
Yes I agree that this could be cool and I'm definitely interested. I can get you a few lines of text, video, and photos if that would work.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div>
On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:08 PM, Catarina Mota <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:catarinamfmota@gmail.com" target="_blank">catarinamfmota@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div><div dir="ltr">Hi all,<div><br></div><div>I've been thinking about the real significance of open source hardware. We spend a lot time discussing how to do OSHW right. We usually explain its advantages by saying that it allows people to copy, modify, and transform hardware, which leads to faster development and better technologies. But I think there is more to it than that. In some recent conversations, a few people mentioned the sense of empowerment and liberation that comes from creating and modifying technologies, which makes me think that there are deeper cultural implications here.</div>
<div><br></div><div>So I was thinking that it would be nice to compile a series of testimonials about what people perceive as the personal, practical, political, cultural, social or economic advantages and disadvantages of open source hardware.</div>
<div><br></div><div>If OSHWA agrees, we can create a page for these testimonials/opinions on <a href="http://oshwa.org" target="_blank">oshwa.org</a>. Or, if for any reason, that is problematic, I can find another place to publish them. I just think that it's important to put a more human face on our outreach efforts (rather than just publishing technical and legal information).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Does anyone want to contribute? There's no structure, just whatever you want to say about this topic. If you post your opinions on this list I can collect, compile and publish them (on <a href="http://oshwa.org" target="_blank">oshwa.org</a> or somewhere else). Hopefully this can also trigger an interesting discussion :)</div>
<div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Catarina</div></div>
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