Rebecca Rojer
From Open Source Ecology
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[edit] Team Culturing Information
last updated: 20. August, 2011
[edit] WHO are you?
- Name - Rebecca Rojer
- Location (city, country) - Brooklyn, NY
- Contact Information (email, phone, Skype) -
email: rebecca (at) rrrojer (dot) net
skype: rrrojer
- Introductory Video
- Resume/CV -
http://rrrojer.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/rebecca_rojer-resume-2011-07.pdf
Not included on resume, but relevant: I worked as a cook at a summer camp in New Mexico for 2 summers, feeding 30-70 people 3 meals/day, with some of the food harvested morning-of from the camp's garden. I also lived for 4 years in student co-op's (in Berkeley, CA & Cambridge, MA) where I frequently cooked for 30-60, and also served as bulk food buyer, kitchen manager, and co-president. So I have experience feeding groups, taking inventory, staying on budget, & protecting food from vermin. Also how to be effective and low-drama in a democratic/consensus-based group setting. Few things make me happier than a well-run semi-industrial residential kitchen.
- Hobbies and Pastimes -
Drawing, painting & illustration.
Reading books.
Reading the Internet.
Feeding people (mostly vegetarian food, due to high cost of non-industrial meat in the city and too many vegan friends, but eager to improve my animal-cooking skills).
Baking bread & more recently, rooftop/backyard gardening.
Dancing, hiking, letter-writing.
[edit] WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?
- Do you endorse open source culture?
Yes, though with fluctuating degrees of ambivalence. In high school and the beginning of college I was very ideological and actively committed to open-source. I used Linux exclusively; wrote term papers on copyright law; helped to found a chapter of a Free Culture student group at my college and eventually interned and then worked at Creative Commons as a Business Development Assistant.
However, as an artist & filmmaker such purity became increasingly difficult. Art & code are not directly analogous, and even when it comes to code my allegiances are split between Gimp & Illustrator, for example. I think there is room in the world for both and I believe in compensating creators for quality work, be it through the marketplace or through donations. Mostly, I fear the "free culture" movement inadvertently provided a moral justification for a system where original content becomes little more than bait to capture eyeballs for advertisers. I have a blog post where I go into detail about that - http://bit.ly/ogUPGK
OSE feels like a return to the original values that made me passionate about opensource/free culture: empowering individuals and communities; enriching the commons; working towards an economic system that is more resilient, equitable, and free; and transforming our society from consumption to production. This spirit of open source culture I fully endorse.
- Why are you interested in collaborating with us?
I want to see this project thrive; we need this. To quote Wendell Berry: "Men are free precisely to the extent that they are equal to their own needs. The most able are the most free."
- Are you interested in teaching about the GVCS?
Yes, pending further study.
- Are you interested in economic relocalization possibilities arising from the GVCS?
Yes, very much so.
- Do you want to use the GVCS technologies yourself? Do you want to build them yourself?
Yes, particularly in the context of a small farm. But I do not currently have the skills for building or use.
- Are you interested in starting up enterprise using the GVCS technologies?
Maybe in the future, or assisting someone more qualified for such a venture.
- Are you interested in having the GVCS technologies fabricated by your local custom fabricator?
- Are you interested in applying the GVCS to third world development? To redevelopment of crisis areas? To development of derelict areas in the developed world?
- Are you interested in starting up Industry 2.0 flexible fabrication enterprises for your local community, by drawing from a global repository of freely down-loadable designs and fabricating using open source fabrication equipment?
- Are you interested in the potential of the GVCS for developing local food systems?
Yes!
- Are you interested in doing academic studies/papers, publishing books, or doing other analysis of our efforts?
- Are you interested in financial investment opportunities arising from our work?
- Are you interested in the distributive economic aspects of our work, and if so, how do you see this playing out?
Yes, very much so. I believe small-scale farming and manufacturing are the future. This will create dignified work for the unemployed, strengthen communities, restore soil fertility, reduce waste, improve our health, make us more free ... we simply cannot keep living as we are now. The question is how much suffering it will take to get us somewhere more harmonious and disciplined.
- Are you interested in building renewable energy production facilities based on open hardware (solar concentrator electric, wind, biomass power)?
- Are you interested in building resilient communities based on access to the GVCS?
Yes, definitely.
- Are you interested in creating a bug-out hut using GVCS technologies?
- How do you think that the GVCS can help alleviate the instabilities of global monetary systems?
It is simply unacceptable that when Wall St. gets bored of sub-prime mortgages and decides to gamble with corn futures the result is world-wide hunger & food riots. Local food production and manufacturing is more resilient from both and economic and ecological perspective. We need to take agricultural out of the hands of big business and into the care of responsible stewards. If your food is grown locally, you will still eat even if markets collapse or oil become prohibitively expensive.
- How do you think that the GVCS can address issues related to resource conflicts?
Resources (clean water, fertile land, oil, etc.) are growing ever scarcer, and are controlled by an increasingly smaller sliver of the population. I doubt GVCS will resolve resource conflicts, but it will enable disenfranchised communities to live more robustly with what resources are available (solar in lieu of oil, for example), and be less dependent on the corporate overlords.
- How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of overpopulation?
I suspect distribution of resources is a greater issue than overpopulation, but do not feel qualified to comment on the subject.
- How do you think that the GVCS can address issues of resource depletion and environmental degradation?
By empowering people to become stewards of the land and live in communities that create less waste.
- Do you have any other comments that you'd like to make?
- What should happen so that you become more involved with the project?
I suppose I need to make more contact, and figure out where my skills would be most valuable. I am not an engineer but think I could contribute to documentation or messaging efforts - I am a competent writer, illustrator, video editor, and web designer. I also have a less-tangible skill set related to organizing groups of people to get things done (on a schedule) - mostly garnered from the film production world, but a bit of activism too.
I would also love to work on the farm itself and learn how to build & use the GVCS. I have moderate experience cooking & managing a kitchen for a group of around 30, along with 4 years practice of happy & functional communal living. I'm willing to relocate and could probably support myself on the food front, but do not have a car.
- What are you missing in the project?
So far the bases seem pretty covered, but I'm sure as I learn more I'll have a better answer.
- What are your suggestions for improvement of the project?
I need to do more homework before answering this one.
[edit] WHAT
- What have you already contributed to the OSE project? (technical contributions, blogging about us, financial support, organizing events, translations, interviews, video editing, publications, publicity work, behind-the-scenes work, CAD work, wiki contributions, computer support, etc)
Nothing yet - perhaps I am premature in filling out this survey.
Communications
- Skills: Blogging, webdesign, graphic design/desktop publishing, illustration, story telling, writing, illustration. I am a filmmaker, and much of my experience in graphic/web design and writing press releases has grown out of hustling my own work. So I'm not super expert in any one field of communications, but I've got a little bit of experience all around.My primary focus is storytelling, on creating an engaging and cohesive narrative. My films have won some awards but I'm very much a beginner. I've also done some comics.
My portfolio/blog: http://rrrojer.net
My most recent film (for which I also designed the site & promo materials): http://ashley-amber.com/
A comic I wrote and co-illustrated to explain Creative Commons: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Sharing_Creative_Works
Organizational
- I've worked as an assistant to a filmmaker (as well as director on my own shorts) and as a Business Development Assistant. I'm young & inexperienced, but also competent and organized; good at working with people and juggling multiple variables. I probably couldn't take on something myself but I could be a lot of help to someone.
I also did a lot of activism-related event organizing when I was younger.
Computer Support
- I used Linux growing up (geek Dad), but recently have been primarily on a Mac. I've got basic command line skills but would need to brush up on regexp and shell scripts. I design webpages - pretty solid with HTML/CSS, know enough PHP to theme drupal and wordpress. I am not much of a coder but thanks to my upbringing I understand tech stuff pretty well, am a pretty big nerd myself, and am good at communicating between the tech savvy and the non-tech savvy.
Finances
- Nope. I've kept budgets for short film projects and food for a student co-op, that's about it.
Sociology
- Yes.
Home Economics
- Yes. I've cooked for groups of 30-60 while living in student co-ops and working at a summer camp. I grow herbs & tomatoes on my rooftop but am really eager to learn how to farm, as well as to learn canning, brewing, etc.
Design
- n/a
Building
- I wish!!
Electronics and Magnetics
- n/a
Automation
- n/a
Metallurgy
- n/a
Engineering
- n/a
[edit] HOW can you help?
- How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?
I would love to contribute to documenting and publicizing the project. I would also love to work on the farm or work as a cook.
- Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?
Yes. My work situation varies widely depending on whether or not I am working on a film. I could volunteer a couple hours a week, but there would be 6 week stretches where I am unavailable. I could work full time in exchange for room and board.
- Are you interested in working with us for pay? If so, what services can you offer, and what is your hourly or per-project rate?
I would rather serve as an apprentice or assistant, working in exchange for training and potentially room/board.But for design work, I charge $30-$50/hr.
- Are you interested in Dedicated Project Visit?
Yes. Here is my application.
- Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?
- Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?
- Are you a True Fan? If not, why not?
Yes.
- Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?
Definitely interested in the possibility.
- Are you interested in being part of the world's first, open source, resilient community? The GVCS is the preparatory step for the OSE Village Experiment - a 2 year, immersion experiment (2013-2014) for testing whether a real, thriving, modern-day prototype community of 200 people can be built on 200 acres using local resources and open access to information? We are looking for approximately 200 people to fill a diverse array of roles, according to the Social Contract that is being developed. This may be the boldest social experiment on earth - a pioneering community whose goal is to extend the index of possibilities regarding harmonious existence of humans, ecology, and technology - as a beacon of light to benefit of all people on Earth.
Yes.
