[Open Design + Hardware] China local WG?

Wed Feb 19 22:25:59 UTC 2014

Interesting topic.  I recently read this comment on Chinese Maker culture:

> the china' "makers mouvement" is little bite more bizness vision than europeen (even if enterprises are investing in the Fablabs, specially in France) .The prob in Xinjexin is that i have no found yet people for working on fun things - make projects, but everytime is bizness... it's boring. I'm not against bizness but i think it's important to do projects before thinking money. I try to find others contacts more interested by making things….

if that is indeed the case we have a lot to discuss and exchange!

On 19 Feb 2014, at 15:58 , FENG GAO <gaofeng860918 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, Massimo and all
> 
> I'm Feng, OKF's ambassador for China. I asked the possibility to set up a local WG in China two weeks ago and got Massimo's reply, which is quite thought provoking. But I'd like to bring this conversation to the discussion list to seek more advices. So I'd like to invite you all to give your comments on what benefits do Chinese local maker communities get if they take the initiative to set up the local group? and what can they contribute back to this working group?
> 
> I'm asking because I'm aware that there are many active maker communities and hackerspaces in China and they already organized many hacking and making events. I'd like to understand better about this WG so I can go to convince them they should join and connect with this group. Next weekend, I'll have a chance to talk to some members of a local Fablab so I'd appreciate if you can reply me before that time.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Feng
> 
> 
> On Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 10:10 PM, Massimo Menichinelli <massimo.menichinelli at aalto.fi> wrote:
> Dear Feng,
> thank you for your e-mail! Yes, I've heard a bit about what's happening in China and I'm very curious about it!
> 
> I think that a local group could be useful in two directions: promoting the ideas and discussions locally (and in the local language and not in English), and joing the global community by bringing ideas and news from China. I think that is also important to understand how the topics of the group are understood and adapted in the local culture. In 2009 I gave an Open Design workshop in Seoul, and there were also some Chinese students, and we found a lot of differences also in our approach to the Open Design concepts. So this is definitely a very interesting topic to explore!
> 
> At the moment there is an Open Design local group in Finland, though it is still at the beginning (the discussion is within a Facebook group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/459644744107587/
> 
> The correct address of the Open Design and Hardware working group mailing list is opendesign at lists.okfn.org
> Would you like to bring this discussion on the list too?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Massimo
> 
> Il 06/02/14 11:30, FENG GAO ha scritto:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm Feng, one of OKF's ambassador for China
> 
> I'm writing to discuss the possibility of setting up a local working
> group in China. As you may know, China now has a quite strong Maker
> community and we have a lot of hacker spaces in cities like Shanghai,
> Beijing, and Shenzhen. And even public bodies (such as Shanghai Library
> and several local neighborhoods) start creating such spaces to engage
> kids and young people in making stuff. We also has Fablab in China such
> as Fablab Shanghai hosted by Tongji University. The data visualization
> is also popular in China now and there is even an online MOOC on gephi
> (https://www.udemy.com/gephi/) offered by local expert LIU yong. Given
> all those activities, I think  it can be an interesting idea to set up a
> local WG in China.
> 
> However, what I'm not so sure is what kinds of benefits or opportunities
> those hacker space or fablab might have if they set up the local group
> and join the community. I can imagine the local group can be good start
> for international communication in the field of open design but exactly
> what is the reason that they should think about joining this community?
> And what does the design WG expect from them? what kind of things you
> think they can contribute?
> 
> I'd appreciate if you can give me hints on above questions therefore I
> can start reaching out those people and start planning the local WG.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> (P.S. please check the email link on the page
> http://design.okfn.org/members/. the email link now is wrongly set as
> "mailto:opendesign.org <mailto:opendesign.org>")
> 
> Feng
> --
> Feng GAO <http://about.me/feng_gao> | @okfncnfenggao
> <http://twitter.com/okfncnfenggao> | skype: fenggaosh
> Ambassador at China, Open Knowledge Foundation
> 
> OKF China Local Group (开放知识基金会中国) <http://cn.okfn.org>
> Weibo: @开放知识基金会中国 <http://weibo.com/okfncn> |Twitter: @okfncn
> <http://twitter.com/okfncn>
> 
> Join Discussion on the maillist
> <http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-cn> or Google+ Community
> <https://plus.google.com/communities/107913594667636511717>
> 
> 
> -- 
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Massimo Menichinelli
> mobile: (ITA) +39 3402971655
> Skype: openp2pdesign.org
> http://it.linkedin.com/in/massimomenichinelli
> openp2pdesign.org
> Metadesign for Open Systems, Processes, Projects
> http://www.openp2pdesign.org/
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Feng GAO | @okfncnfenggao | skype: fenggaosh
> mobile: 0086-13764007565 | wechat: fenggaosh
> Ambassador for China, Open Knowledge Foundation
> 
> 
> OKF China Local Group (开放知识基金会中国)
> Weibo: @开放知识基金会中国 |Twitter: @okfncn
> Join Discussion on the maillist or Google+ Community
> 
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