The Power of Do-it-Yourself

I'm a HUGE fan of DIY (do it yourself) sites. And there's a ton of them out there. One of the biggest things missing for the poor is the lack of access to information. Its not only that they aren't educated, but they can't read, and there is no place to fix it - no libraries, no schools for adults, no videos to learn from. They are stymied on several levels.

I often feel like Encyclopedia Brittanica when I'm "in the field." Frankly I should carry a set of them into the field (I would if I didn't have a ton of other things to take!). People assume that because I know a little bit about something, that I know everything. Sometimes I get the randomest questions ("why is the moon white?" or "why do Asians have slanty eyes??"). I honestly tell them that I don't know. But that's never a good enough answer. When I was a kid and people told me that, I'd keep asking the same question over and over until I got smacked or my question was answered. (I still do, only I get smacked around in a different way) So even now, I try to look their questions up and find an answer...if I can.

There are a range of new DIY sites out that can easily fix this problem. Want to learn to make a plough?? Here... OR Want to make biodiesel?? Here... And the best part is that you don't need to know how to read. You can listen and understand and watch and learn. Nothing like trying something out yourself and learning.

Forbes recently did a piece on the new DIY generation. It profiles all the names behind the best DIY sites out.

Make magazine and Instructables are my favorites. You oughta check them out. Here's an example of "Make Biodiesel." Pretty cool stuff.

TechShop should expand to the developing world

TechShop in Menlo Park (source: Make Magazine)

Today Boing Boing (one of my favorite blogs) highlighted a really cool company called TechShop. It provides lab space with every kind of machine that a D-I-Yer can dream about. For a low monthly membership, anyone can access the shop's large workspace and machinery, and get a community of other people to bounce ideas off (on the video below, you'll get an idea of what a space like this can do...including teach you to build a car!).

I really really think that a TechShop concept is desperately needed in developing countries, particularly the India's, China's, and Kenya's of the world where ideas and entrepreneurship abound, but people lack the workspace, knowledge, community (especially), or finances to get equipment of their own.

For the concept to work though, there are some things that need to be taken into consideration. I've worked out a way to combat some of these issues:

1. The problems with lack of electricity, can be combated by starting out small and basic; by having (biodiesel, diesel or biogas) generators, or even using the workshop as a training space to build generators (so that the farmers can build their own). Lighting is easy, particularly if efficient lanterns (LED, solar charged CFLs, or such) are provided or can be rented. Most of India, for example, is connected to a power grid of some sort. The problem is that the grid is extremely unreliable and power comes on during the day when no one can use it...so the point is to charge the batteries when the power is flowing and use them in the night.

2. Lack of basic knowledge. This is probably the most critical issue as quite often, people have no concept of building their own stuff, or what tools are capable of, or even how to go about building something they envision in their heads. This can be combated by hiring trained local artisans to man the workshop at different times and providing advice as necessary; developing pictoral user guides for the tools; and doing promotion workshops in the villages to get people started (eg. how to build a plough out of a piece of wood, how to build a thatched roof, etc). I know for a fact that a lot of men end up using their evening time either drinking or doing other pointless activities, and would gladly switch that for something as curiously engaging as this.

3. Better financing options: Since the poor live by the day, financing options need to run by the hour or quarter of an hour.

However in bigger cities, where there is better electricity, education, higher willingness to pay, and in general wealthier people, this could be run similar to the U.S and will do extremely well...

See Boing Boing TV (BBTV)'s visit to TechShop: