Building a living, collaborative Atlas of innovation spaces worldwide

Building a living, collaborative Atlas of innovation spaces worldwide

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Thanks to a GIG meeting during re:publica 2016, Chinmayi SK and I met some folks from giz who funded the development of our Atlas of Innovation Spaces. With some mapping help from Bilal Ghalib, Lukonga Lindunda, Martín Restrepo, and Gabi Agustini, and beautiful graphics by Joséphine Lesaffre, we’re building a living, collaborative Atlas of all the community innovation spaces worldwide. We're finishing up development and plan to launch the platform officially in June. Our data is rather out-of-date, so we're currently recruiting regional moderators if you'd like to volunteer... Thanks! >> Contact Anna on LinkedIn or Twitter >> Link to the Atlas of Innovation Spaces...
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#ThinkB4UClick to #defyhatenow on social media

#ThinkB4UClick to #defyhatenow on social media

By Zen EditorNo Comments
#ThinkB4UClick (Think Before You Click) is an awareness campaign that aims at pointing out the dangers of misinformation, fake news and hate speech with a focus on South Sudan. Over a period of one month, we aim to discuss with the public the consequences of hate speech and how it can be mitigated through individual actions that aim at creating safe spaces online and offline for citizens to interact with each other and discuss matters in a fruitful and informed manner. As an integral part of the campaign we released an educational music video by Ugandan R&B artists Freeboy Adams the African Boy & Sherry Zania as well as a series of sound clips on the topic of hate speech mitigation and responsible use of social media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMz6s_m0q_I     >> Read the whole press release at defyhatenow.net/[…]...
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Co-creating urban water information systems

Co-creating urban water information systems

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Digitologias Belo Jardim A 3-months conference (Oct 27 - Dec 19, 2017) in Belo Jardim, Northeast Brazil had the aim to collect and manage water and sanitation data on the city of Belo Jardim together with different actors. The city is located in Brazil’s hills of the north-east semi-arid region. It was once “The city of the waters”, but climate changes are making Belo Jardim pass long periods of years with no rain and restrict access to water. This oasis has on its 20-year-old established industries the main responsible for the 4th GPD on Pernambuco state but at the same time extremely dependent on water resources. As consequence, the vast majority of the population have no local knowledge about water springs, water quality, it’s access, treatment, and levels of pollutants. The project was a cooperation between students, teachers, citizens, NGO, industrial sector and the municipality. A web platform is responsible to co-collect and analyses the data: saneamentomunicipal.org - a small startup on sanitation from Brazil. As an educational project,...
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Human-Centered Design in Nepal

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Nepal Communitere held a 2 day Human-Centered Design masterclass for our new I-Cube business incubation program cohort of young Nepali entrepreneurs on Dec. 19th & 20th. The launch and HCD workshop was developed by DSIL Global based in Bangkok, Thailand. SAVE the DATE: Nepal Communitere will be hosting the next Kathmandu Mini Makerfaire showcasing Humanitarian Makers to take place in Sep. 2018 - either the 22 & 23 or the 29 & 30. Let us know if you plan to be there and which dates you prefer. If you have leads on international sponsors/funders to help cover travel for global makers to share their work, let Bahar know....
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GIG at ifa Design Exhibition “Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded!”

GIG at ifa Design Exhibition “Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded!”

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
Samer Shawar and Marios Mouratidis did a Junk Drawbots Workshop and Victoria Wenzelmann gave an introductory talk on GIG at the Design Exhibition Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded! The exhibition was opened in Hamburg in November 2017 and will travel the world for the next ten years. Pure Gold is a project by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) that explores the subject of rubbish and presents approaches to using existing trash to create valuable products. It consists of two complementary parts: the physical and material exhibition and the virtual platform as a space for dialogue, discussion and the storage of knowledge.    Working with seven curators from Europe, Latin America, North Africa and the Near East, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, ifa has brought together 76 exhibits and a total of 53 designers for the exhibition, where they present added value and appreciation within many diverse contexts. The workshops that take place at the international touring exhibition venues with local designer and...
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I-Cube presents Human-Centered Design in Nepal

I-Cube presents Human-Centered Design in Nepal

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Nepal Communitere held a 2 day Human-Centered Design masterclass for our new I-Cube business incubation program cohort of young Nepali entrepreneurs on Dec. 19th & 20th, 2017. The launch and HCD workshop was developed by DSIL Global, based in Bangkok, Thailand. SAVE the DATE: Nepal Communitere will be hosting the next Kathmandu Mini Makerfaire showcasing Humanitarian Makers to take place in Sep. 2018 - either the 22 & 23 or the 29 & 30. Let us know if you plan to be there and which dates you prefer. If you have leads on international sponsors/funders to help cover travel for global makers to share their work, let Bahar know....
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ColaborAmerica 2017

ColaborAmerica 2017

By Zen EditorNo Comments
We finished 2017 with the first GIG meeting in Latin America. The gathering happened at ColaborAmerica, one of the biggest festivals in new economies in the continent, that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from November 23th to 25th, and was co-organized by Olabi, one of our GIG associates in Brazil. More than 2.500 innovators, makers, entrepreneurs and change makers attended the 3-days event, that had a makerspace organized by GIG and Olabi. Giggers from Rwanda, Kenya, USA, Germany, and other parts of Brazil was there leading activities. The next Colaboramerica edition is already being created and GIG continues as an institutional and content partner. For more impressions check flic.kr/olabi-makerspace/albums...
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Nave à Vela, Brazil

Nave à Vela, Brazil

By Zen EditorNo Comments
In 2014, in order to find a sustainable business model for their Innovation Center in the favela Vila Nova Esperança, Caos Focado started a course to teach Social Innovation with a part of the revenues going towards keeping the center running. After the adoption of some schools with this Course, we realized a huge demand to foster innovation at Brazilian schools using maker-spaces. So, we created an institution called Nave à Vela which developed a curriculum to elementary and high schools that engages social emotional learning (soft skills) using engineering, design and entrepreneurship tools inside of makerspaces in the schools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTohev8NJtg Currently, we have provided our services to more than 20 schools impacting more than 3 thousand students in 2017. Our goal for 2018 is to achieve 15.000 students....
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Meet the new headquarters of LABxS (Lab Santista)

Meet the new headquarters of LABxS (Lab Santista)

By Zen EditorNo Comments
  [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6StowipH1g[/embedyt] Procomum Institute, one of our GIG associates in Brazil, present the headquarters of LABxS, Lab Santista, the citizen laboratory that is being implemented by them and that articulates a network of people, initiatives and infrastructures to promote the commons in the Baixada Santista region, southeast of Brazil. We are calling  to come together to build this story, so send us ideas for interventions, projects, opinions, money, mistakes and lessons, or even if you just want to talk: - if you are an architect or urban planner or would just like to send intervention ideas so that the space ethically and aesthetically translates the spirit of a cultural center focused on the commons; - if you are an artist, a doer, a curious mind and want to think of some project in here; if you would like to financially support the lab or some specific project; - if you are just a meddler and would like to send your opinions; - if you are part of a...
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GIG@re:connecting Europe 2017

GIG@re:connecting Europe 2017

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
In 2017 the re:publica team came up with an ambitious project to take the idea of re:publica further: Activists, scientists, hackers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, journalists, social media and marketing experts gathered in Dublin and Thessaloniki to debate the future of the information society in Europe. With re:connecting EUROPE, we aim to promote the development of a Europe-wide network of creative industries and push the exchange between the various digital scenes along our North-South axis. The conferences in Dublin and Thessaloniki gave us valuable insights and new perspectives on our interconnected world, which we discussed in-depth with our speakers and visitors. The events also created spaces for a cultural exchange of ideas across our European borders and allowed us to learn more about the issues concerning people on the ground at the re:publica locations. As a global network whose aim is to connect grassroots innovators we were huge fans of the re:connecting events. With the Labmobile already being used as a Mobile Ressource Center by Greece Communitere, GIG was excited to...
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