Factor e Farm Convergence 2011

=Invitation Letter=

        

    Friends,<BR>I would like to chime in by saying that we'll be holding our first major Factor e Farm Convergence (Kansas City Area) on September 1-30 to make major strides on the ground with respect to the Global Vilage Construction Set (GVCS) development. This will be like <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Camp">Foo Camp</A>, except longer, and focused towards on-the-ground prototyping, development, and documentation of the GVCS, by invitation only. It will be an Apollo Program for the GVCS.<BR><BR>Contact me if you're interested in the development - building, prototyping, documentation, and other work. You will be expected to lead the development of your proposed project during the Convergence. Our goal is to prototype at least 10 of the <A HREF="http://opensourceecology.org.nyud.net/gvcs.php">50 GVCS machines</A>, including supporting hardware such as modern steam engines, stepper motors, hydraulic motors, and electrical generators. We expect at least a $100k budget available for this, via Kickstarter and other crowd funding initiatives in development. So come to see the tractors rumble, torch tables fire, and solar collectors electrify. <BR><BR>This will be an unprecedented sociotechnological phenomenon, dedicated to pushing the open source movement forward and to developing a solid platform for <A HREF="http://openfarmtech.org/wiki/Distributive_Enterprise">Distributive Enterprise</A>. We are looking for everyone from CAD, design, fabrication, prototyping, videography, natural building, energy, transportation, technical writing, graphics and design, media, systems egineering, and other subject matter experts - all the infrastrcture that takes our prototypes to Full Product Release. Read our <A HREF="http://openfarmtech.org/wiki/Crash_Course">Crash Course</A>

and <A HREF="http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/">Blog</A> to see our present status. We are expecting about 100 people to converge, and we expect a merry and productive time with participants from all over the globe.<BR><BR>See my related <A HREF="http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski.html">TED Talk</A>, and print our new <A HREF="http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/2011/04/ose-trifold-brochure/">Brochure</A> to give to your friends. Tweet and spread this message. Join us if you're interested in creating history.<BR><BR>Thanks for your time. I posted this message here - <BR><BR>Marcin</P> </BODY> </HTML>

=Participants=

Here's a list of people who expressed interest in attending:
 * 1) Blair Evans - Detroit Fab Lab
 * 2) Isaiah Saxon
 * 3) Meara O'Reilly
 * 4) Yoonseo Kang - Industrial Robot build