One Month Project-Based Visits
From Open Source Ecology
Contents |
Introduction
Dedicated Project Visits are volunteer, one-month long or longer, working visits to Factor e Farm where contributors help to move the Global Village Construction Set forward and get hands on training. Please read Factor e Farm Participation Standards for a broader overview of the expectations.
For an overview of our work, start with a 2 minute video
Global Village Construction Set in 2 Minutes from Open Source Ecology on Vimeo.
and a Marcin's TED Talk:
For further details on Dedicated Project Visits, see corresponding blog post.
The route to meaningful collaboration at Factor e Farm consists of month-long, project-based visits (Dedicated Project Visits, or DPVs). DPVs are a serious commitment to a program involving explicitly-stated goals of creating the world's first, replicable, resilient, post-scarcity community. This stated goal requires a dedicated, strategic effort, since the process involves winnowing and sifting from a large number of choices - to rebuild civilization from the bottom up.
Interested individuals are required to write a proposal, which is then reviewed together with the applicant, prior to the start of the visit. After a proposal is suitable to both sides, the individual then comes for the dedicated project visit. After a month's time, progress is reviewed, and results are published on the Factor e Farm weblog. If the results of the visit are satisfactory on both sides, the visitor may continue by producing another proposal for the next month's goals. This is also our route for accepting new people for long-term stays as part of the Factor e Farm experiment.
Project visits include technical developement of both technology, agroecology, and organizational development topics. A significant portion of the work at present revolves around the development of appropriate technology which facilitates agriculture, construction, energy, and other provision of needs from local resources. There is also significant work to be done in the areas of resource development, technical writing, and marketing. The suitability of proposals depends largely on a candidate's level of skill and experience.
The long-term goals of Factor e Farm is to complete the entire GVCS by year-end 2012, to build a first prototype community by year-end 2014, and to replicate the concept virally worldwide by year-end 2016. We see open source economic development as the next trillion dollar industry.
To orient yourself on our status, scan our Blog - where we report on our latest progress and accomplishments.
Documentation
Documentation is the key to successful open source projects. All visitors to Factor e Farm are required to bring a digital camera with them to document their work. They are also expected to blog about their progress on a regular basis, and contribute to this wiki with relevant content.
Proposal
Proposals include a budget for materials and a procedure for crowd-funding necessary resources. Relevant infrastructure found on-site includes a 600 square foot workshop space and 20 kW of electrical power. Our resource base includes over 20 acres of agricultural land and 4 acres of forest. Participants are required to bring their own safety equipment as relevant, such as work gloves, eye protection, and earplugs.
Accommodations
Basic accomodations include shelter, shower, composting toilets, flush toilets, and kitchen. Participants are expected to follow Factor e Farm's Rules of Conduct, and to cover their own food expenses. No pets are allowed on premises because of our free-range fowl.
Proposal Outline
Proposals should follow standard formats. You may consider Open Source Agroecology, organizational development, or technology development pathways. A technology-related proposal should include, as relevant:
- Abstract - One paragraph description of project and proposed goals.
- Bill of Materials - components and parts needed, number needed, price, total price, and estimated total weight. This includes consumables. This is important for the project budget.
- Procedure - This is the core of the proposal - a detailed description of how the proposed project is to be implemented. Details should be provided to the point that allows meaningful review.
- Tooling and Infrastructure - This is a detailed description of the tools and infrastructure required to complete the project. Please include infrastructure items such as electricity requirements, space requirements, and and other details.
- Contingencies - Brief discussion of 'Plan B' in case of catastrophic blocks on the intented project. This involves possible alternative paths to be pursued at Factor e Farm as part of the visit. This is to account for any unexpected events, such that a solution could be in the form of options such as taking on another project or leaving.
- Blogging of the Proposal - Consistent with principles of open source development, and to foster accountability, participants are required to publish a weblog post regarding their visit and proposal prior to coming to Factor e Farm. This injects a large measure of accountability on both sides, in order to make such a commitment public. For this to be successful, both sides have to take the effort to learn as much as possible about each other - from the point of all details that affect project success. Furthermore, if needed, a crowd-funding button (see example) may be used at this time. Participants are expected to blog updates at least once per week, and especially their overall results prior to leaving Factor e Farm. If crowd funding is not relevant upon the beginning of the project, it may be used later, once some progress has been made on the project.
Upon arriving at Factor e Farm, we will produce a video and post it on the blog. This will be a short video (up to 5 minutes) in which the participant introduces themselves, their role in the project, and their intented results. This is, once more, along the lines of open source accountability and transparency.
Preliminary Application
Lat Updated July 31, 2011
Note that the goal of a Dedicated Project Visit is to produce tangible, significant results that contribute to the creation of the GVCS. We are a development laboratory for producing results that can be applied to the world. We are pioneers in our work, and take our work seriously because of the profound implications that the GVCS can have on the rest of the world. We are looking for independently-driven individuals capable of initiative, competent in their proposed program, and with a demonstrated track record of delivering on their promises. If you are not ready for this type of challenge or do not have the commitment to take on the development of important and globally-relevant work, please do not apply.
- Name, age, gender, location, contact info (phone, email, Skype).
- Please include a photo of yourself.
- Please list schools you have attended, degrees and/or major areas of study or training, and independent studies that you have done.
- Please attach a resume or provide a list of work experience, both paid and volunteer.
- Please provide 3 References with email and phone number - 2 work references, 1 personal reference
- How did you hear about the program? Why are you applying for a Dedicated Project Visit? Why are you interested in our work?
- Describe practical skills you may have - from agriculture, workshop, industry, organizing, hands-on, CAD, manufacturing, computer skills, etc.
- Have you designed and built or produced anything for your own use?
- Which of your skills are particularly relevant towards creating the GVCS? Please view the TED Talk and recent update for the latest on our approach and on-the-ground work.
- Do you have any organizational skills and experience?
- Can you cook? Can you cover your food expenses?
- Do you have resources to support yourself while volunteering with us?
- Do you have any medical, physical, or psychological conditions or disabilities which may affect your ability to do physical work?
- Do you have any emotional, psychological, or mental conditions which may affect your ability to act with composure and good judgment?
- Are you easy to get along with and can you get along with other people?
- Do you have strong ideological views (political, religious, elitist, feminist, etc.)?
- Are you a team player - or someone who understands that the work we do at Factor e Farm is for a much greater purpose than for our own self-gratification, indulgence, or agenda? This implies a level of maturity in the participant which allows one to remain not only aligned with the vision, but also to remain motivated in this work.
- Do you smoke?
- Do you have any dietary restrictions? Will you eat meat raised at our farm?
- Do you have transportation? Will you be arriving by car and leaving the car on-site?
- Documentation is key to moving our work forward. Are you familiar with using a Wiki?
- Please produce a 1-3 minute video introduction to yourself and upload it to a video-sharing site of your choice for our review. See sample video from WilliamCleaver from a former application.
- Can you work well as a pioneer under rough conditions, by taking the responsibility to create your own environment?
- When would you be available for a Dedicated Project Visit?
- If you are accepted and things don't work out, do you have other options to pursue after the month?
- List your goals and deliverables for your Dedicated Project Visit, breaking it up by each of the four weeks. Please write a one-page proposal brief summarizing what you would like to do, how you would accomplish it, and what resources you would need to do so. Include a budget as necessary. We are willing to pay for prototyping materials.
- Are you willing to publish all the results of your work openly, and to make any of your contributions open source, consistent with our goal of creating Distributive Enterprise?
- How does your proposed work contribute to the creation of the GVCS?
- What are the metrics by which you could assess the success of your work? (prototypes built, documentation produced, resources or funding raised, infrastructure built, food provided, contribution to the community provided, True Fans recruited, etc.) Note that we are looking more for tangible and explicit proposals and results as opposed to 'I will help with whatever is needed' or other generalizations - unless we agree otherwise.
- What do you expect personally to get out of your Dedicated Project Visit?
- Can you visit us prior to your Dedicated Project Visit?
- Please share three interesting things about yourself.
- Please share three things you think people should know about living with you.
- Can you bring a digital camera or phone camera for documenting your work?
- Any other concerns or considerations?
- Please fill out the Team Culturing short survey if you haven't done so already.
- Please post your complete survey on this wiki by starting a page - titled 'Your Name Dedicated Project Visit Application'. Please embed your picture and video. See the wiki editing Instructions if you have any questions.
You may email the reponses to us at opensourceecology at gmail dot com, or start a wiki page and post your applications there with your picture. You can
Sample Dedicated Project Visit Reports
William Cleaver
William's second month Dedicated Project Visit report vlog (see corresponding blog post):
