So, you want to build a new civilization?
last updated 12.25.2011
Getting Involved
We aim to make this one of the most collaborative projects in the world, and we aim to train movement entrepreneurs dedicated to developing distributive enterprise.
So, You Want to Build a New Civilization?
All right. Please go to the OSE Wiki and sign in. You will see a list of the 50 GVCS technologies, There is plenty of work left on the GVCS 50. Pick one, and start contributing information. There is research and development, where you can contribute conceptual design, analysis of industry standards, diagrams, prior art, background research, and other supporting information. Then comes the design stage – CAD, calculations, simulations, CAE analysis, fabrication drawings, etc. Peer review is useful. Then comes the build – which requires a bill of materials., sourcing, and a facility to build. We encourage you to work remotely and contribute test data. We invite you to write a Proposal Brief, and we can fund your work upon technical merit. Or you can come for a Dedicated Project Visit to Factor e Farm.
The first step you should take when you get involved is to fill out the Team Culturing Survey. This helps to provide transparency and to introduce you to the rest of the global team. The beauty of the project is that collaborative development is beginning to take place 24/7 around the world. We should also develop a better human resources platform – where people are listed by their skills and contributions, promises and delivered products – so it becomes transparent who is doing work and fulfilling on their promises. This applies to volunteers and paid people.
How do you know what are the current priorities? First, see the Wiki, and the basic approach is - “If it is not on the wiki, it doesn't exist.” From this point, you have to analyze the state of development critically. If it is not clearly documented on the wiki, it is probably in development or untested. Click on any device at the 50 GVCS technologies page. Ask yourself: Is there a project leader? What preliminary research has been done? Does full CAD exist? Are full fabrication procedures documented? Does a complete PDF of plans exist that you can take to your local fabricator? Does economic analysis exist so you can start your own enterprise? If not, those are to be completed – and it is a chance for you to get involved.
Current project leaders as of 12/25/11 include:
Yoonseo Kang – CNC Circuit Mill, Inverter component of the Universal Power Supply
Brianna Kufa – Ironworker Machine
Mark Norton – Modern Steam Engine
Larry Dobson – Gasifier Burner and Heat Exchanger
James Slade, Mike Apostol – CEB Press, LifeTrac
Tom Griffing – Power Cube
Marcin Jakubowski – CNC Torch Table, Induction Furnace
Aaron Makaruk – Resource Development
Mike Apostol – OS CAD/CAM solution
Contact these leaders on the latest progress.
The wiki is a huge sandbox, and the magic of it is that over time, even with many random contributions, editors organize content into a more cohesive form. The basic product template for each of the technologies at the GVCS 50 page contains general headings. You can search for information on the wiki, and if you find something relevant to one of the headings, you can edit to put the content at the right place.
Is a technology of your choice not part of the official 50 GVCS list? Then start new pages on the wiki for non-GVCS tools. The wiki is infinitely expandable. The GVCS is only a limited but sufficient set – limited so it remains a tractable project with a clear deliverable. We don't really know if the choices made are the best – but we will reevaluate after the set is done by year-end 2012. We can't tell until we see all the devices work together as a complete set. We just selected the 50 best ones according to OSE Specifications and the Product Selection Metric almost 4 years ago.
If you are a subject matter expert, designer, video editor, CAD draftsman, or other technical contributor in any of the 50 technologies – you are welcome to bid on work. We suggest you submit a Proposal Brief. The key to the project is finding qualified people – and we found that word of mouth and references from trusted sources tend to provide best results. Help us find these people.
We are also looking for full time people to join Factor e Farm – master builder, farmer, fabrication manager, CEO, CTO, and co-founder. With the farmer - we need to continue field testing the equipment while feeding our team. With the builder, we want to continue building out infrastructure, building out our electrical grid. With the fabrication manager, we want to continue production runs as a first-hand test of our economic significance, and to continue building the tools that we use on site. We are looking for startup instigators, not employees – as this type of risk-sharing is part of the responsibility that we seek in our partners.
There are other support roles. We also welcome you to join us in resource development – the OSE Enterprise is an open business plan that you can use. We are working on developing remote video editing capacity, where you can edit remotely after downloading footage from our repository – such as YouTube. Our current plant is to use smartphones for constant uploads of content – indexed by topic. Then, remote editors can take the content to make quality videos from the raw footage. We are also looking for ongoing CAD, fabrication drawing, simulation, and analysis support for prototyping.
At best, as the team grows at Factor e Farm, remote support functions would include:
video editing support – ongoing instructionals
CAD support – converting videos with measurements into CAD files;
Fabrication drawings support – converting CAD files into fabrication drawings that one can take to a local fabricator
CAE support – converting CAD files into CAE analysis for structural, thermal and other properties;
modeling support – animations modeling the function of machines, as part of explanatory material
blogging support – keeping track of a project with the project lead to provide regular blog updates on a given project – such as checking in ½ hour each week by phone and writing a blog post. Strong journalism/reporting/creative writing skills are required to provide context and to pique the reader's interest. This is critical as we have a regular backlog of reporting from Factor e Farm and other locations.
collaboration support – dedicated searching for allied efforts, collaborators, peer reviewers, funding support, bidders, subject matter experts, and any other support that
media and music repository support – keeping a repository of high resolution media, graphics, diagrams, and other materials for use in press releases, reports, and other publications; open source soundtrack repository for videos
nonprofit fundraising – join Aaron Makaruk in raising funds for OSE. See his sample contract.
OSE Branches and Allied Efforts
There are 3 main forms of OSE-related operations: independent OSE efforts, chartered OSE organizations, and certified OSE/GVCS Producers
Independent OSE Efforts
OSE is a movement to create an open source economy by developing and using economically significant, open source information (open product and process design and techniques of production). OSE refers to more than just an open source economy. The distinction is that OSE produces not only open design, but also produces distributive enterprise as the means to affect the economic process. On top of this, it connects to environmental regeneration and social justice as discussed at the OSE Paradigm section.
We encourage that the OSE message be spread far and wide as the third economic paradigm. To this end, we do not restrict anybody from using the OSE name as long as they are following the OSE Paradigm. Others are welcome to use the official OSE name or official logo in branding their work or group as an independent OSE effort, without explicit permission, if they are an individual, group, or organization. Independent OSE Efforts are intended to promote that work of OSE, while not demanding that any resources on the part of OSE International.
To be an independent OSE effort in good standing – the effort may be one or more of the following:
A user of GVCS technologies
Doing outreach about the OSE Paradigm
Developer or prototyper of GVCS technologies
Engaging in the development of any other, non-GVCS technologies while publishing designs and open business models. We believe in open everything, and the wiki is infinitely expandable. We recommend that you publish on the OSE Wiki for recognition
While others are allowed to use the GVCS designs for profit - they are not allowed to use the official OSE logo to brand their products. They are welcome to sell products under their own label. If one wants to sell products under the official OSE/GVCS label, then one is required to become a certified OSE/GVCS producer, as discussed below.
If you are using the OSE identity to run some form of operation or effort, please let the greater community know as a matter of courtesy, by posting your organization's name, date formed, contact details, and activities at Independent OSE Groups on the wiki.
Chartered OSE Organizations – OSE Development Facilities
OSE has a good chance to change the world. To maintain and enhance a strong identity as a world-changing organization that produces transformation of economies, we are setting high standards for new facilities. New facilities, if chartered as an official part of the core development work of OSE, must comply with the distributive economic goals of the OSE Paradigm. Moreover, if the OSE Paradigm is indeed effective – then the new organization should have a significant and visible effect on the economy – not only in terms of achieving a post-scarcity economy on its own soil – but also in instigating the same in surrounding communities. Visible economic and political transformation should occur on sub-decade timescales in these communities. A network of thousands of communities as such is expected to arise within about 3 years of GVCS completion of year-end 2012. This is a seed for thorough global transition to the open source economy, and to Open Source Ecology.
To achieve this, a Chartered OSE Organization must be:
A land-based facility, where the land is placed in a trust as a site of permanent human heritage. This is intended to guarantee continuity and significance to any new effort of this nature.
A beacon of light for its local community, which demonstrates in itself a functional community operating under the conditions of material post-scarcity.
A development and education center and a place of lifelong learning, with the ideal of creating the next generation of responsible stewards of their communities and of the greater world in the context of the open source economy.
A productive facility and a product development center capable of producing all of its essential needs from local resources.
A change agent for surrounding communities, the success of which is measured by the adoption of open source economic and OSE practices in the surrounding communities
Populated by full-time individuals who live a post-scarcity economy lifestyle – where a high standard of living is achieved from local productivity.
The enabling technology base for such a community is the complete set of 50 GVCS tools, or a related infrastructure package that provides for all of the community's material and energy resources.
The above is not an easy task, and we are looking for initial discussions with small core groups of movement entrepreneurs interested in starting such new facilities. These core groups must have demonstrated the practical, tactical, and people skills to organize rapid learning and development efforts required for the successful startup of such communities.
The benefit of OSE-chartered status is the publicity, funding, and access that comes from that relationship. We are willing to consider other types of chartered organizations under specific terms. Otherwise, another route is operating as an independent OSE effort as in the previous section.
Certified OSE Producers
OSE International is currently developing training programs and infrastructures for producer training. Typically, a producer is a skilled craftsman who picks up additional skills during a build of one or more complete machines as part of their training. Another route to producer training is for independent producers to submit finished copies of devices for quality control approval by members of the OSE International certification committee.
Certified producers may sell under the OSE brand. OSE can provide marketing assistance. In return for certification, OSE Certified Producers are required to pay 5% of their net. This funding goes to support the development of the GVCS and the replication of OSE Development Facilities. Non-certified producers do not have to pay a license fee if they sell under their own label.
Chartered OSE Organizations
Becoming a chartered OSE Organization is not a task to be taken lightly, as the goal of OSE as a movement is to produce disruptive change. Starting a branch means creating the substance of the next economy. Our goal is to create a strong identity for OSE as a clear and positive change agent who delivers tangible results. Anything short of this is diluting the message, and does not help the movement as a whole.
If you would like to be endorsed as an official OSE facility, the first thing is a charter – defining your goals clearly. This includes the resources you aim to secure, distributive enterprises that you aim to develop – and the team that will help you get there.
We
are interested in assisting startup facilities in the full
capitalization and infrastructure to create powerful development and
productive facilities – starting with land. To facilitate this –
we suggest that the timing for this would occur after the 50 GVCS
tools are developed, or after Dec. 21, 2012. The reason for this is
that once the 50 tools are available, startup costs will be decreased
significantly – perhaps from $1M for a new facility to $100k.
We aim to provide startup assistance in the form of immersion training and capitalization assistance. We suggest that a core team of 2-4 people come to Factor e Farm for 6 months of immersion training. The core team would pick up a wide range of practical village construction skills – from digital fabrication, integrated agriculture, renewable energy, housing construction, and others. This training may be funded by grants or production earnings.
Capitalization Assistance Model
During the immersion training, trainees will have a chance to build real products that can be sold. With the economic power of the GVCS and social capital of OSE, marketing is not expected to be a barrier to successful fundraising by production. We expect that a single trainee should be able to generate $5k of value per month, assuming ½ time participation in production at 50% capacity compared to a professional fabricator. We have initial evidence that with proper guidance and sound ergonomic design of the workshop – this is a realistic proposition. For a 6 month duration, that is $30k value generated per person. This is sufficient to generate significant capital for startup. If the cost of training is $10k per person, then a core team of 4 trainees can leave their 6 month immersion training with: (1), a highly integrated, practical skill set covering all sectors of the productive economy (agriculture, construction, energy, technology); (2), connection to a network of change agents around the globe; and (3), $80k of startup capital for their own facility.
This is the type of commitment that we expect from startup instigators in other locations around the world – if the expectation is full endorsement and support from OSE headquarters.
Note On Strategy
In 2013, we will be expanding to other goods and services, but for now, we are focusing on the GVCS 50 as the strategic core. Once developed, this will provide the track record, process, and economic power to diversify into other products and to facilitate the creation of communities, enterprises, and new countries. Remember that this is an Apollo Program for the GVCS – and we expect to finish the 50 beta product releases by December 21, 2012. If things continue as they are now, we may be done ahead of schedule. Completion of the GVCS provides everyone with a much larger index of possibilities for 2013.
Strategically, OSE International is putting all its effort into securing and allocating the $5.5M that it will take to develop the GVCS 50 by year-end 2012. This is a monumental organizational task, and it requires our full attention. Anything not related to this plan is a distraction to the core effort. We ask the rest of the community to help out in the GVCS 50, and in particular, in the Factor e Farm experiment. This focus has to happen for only 1 year. Access to all the 50 technologies will mean about a 10x reduction in startup cost of any new OSE-related effort. The GVCS 50 is key to viral replication. Therefore, it is better for the whole movement that all effort is spent on the GVCS 50 – and get it done even ahead of schedule. Then, the possibility of viral replication will be real.
If you are considering replication right now – you have to consider that we have only 4 beta product releases – which does not address fuel, power, or fabrication aspects of a robust community. Yes, new facilities can be built right now – but at high startup costs. My personal frustration is that everyone thinks that we have all the technology already. We don't – we are in development – and moreover, these products need to go through the thousands of hours necessary for general adoption by the rest of the world. As such I ask this Christmas day that we all work together to get there, and magic will follow.
I know that many people are itching to get involved – this was exactly my state about 6 years ago. I found out that access to the enabling tools crushed my whole initial plan. That is a condition that anyone will still face today – until many more of the GVCS 50 tools are done. We have too few of the tools developed as of yet to make replication a painless process. Even with all the tools available – there are enough things that can go wrong – that my best advice to anyone is not to do this until all the tools are available. It will simply be easier for everybody involved.
We would like to continue making this one of the most collaborative projects in the world: open engineering, open economic development, and distributive enterprise for the common good. Let's work together to make this happen.
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