STEVEN BILES

Team Culturing Information

WHO are you?

• Name – Steven Biles
• Location (city, country) – Denver, Colorado, USA
• Contact Information (email, skype, phone) – steven DOT r DOT biles AT gmail
• Picture -
• Introductory Video -
• Resume/CV -

WHY are you motivated to support/develop this work?

• Do you endorse open source culture?

Yes

• Why are you interested in collaborating with us?

I want to help promote sustainable development and a post-scarcity lifestyle. I believe that technology can better serve humanity when it is designed for use rather than profit.

I also would like to diversify my engineering experience into areas like machine design and renewable energy.

• How do you think that the GVCS can address pressing world issues?

-Enable better work-life balance by empowering people to start their own micro-scale business.

-Make people less dependent on a highly complex global economy for their basic needs.

-Ameliorate the problems of large-scale agriculture by enabling people to grow their own food economically. The current food system is energy intensive, pollutes air and water, and favors foods that produce the highest profit rather than the best health for consumers. I already provide a large chunk of my family's food by gardening in my typical suburban backyard, and I would like to achieve complete food independence when I have more land.

-Fight climate change by reducing the energy required to run the economy.

• What should happen so that you become more involved with the project?

I think my main limitation will be the amount of time available.

• What is missing in the project?

Glass is an essential component of buildings, greenhouses, solar reflectors, cars and trucks. I think a glassmaking process would fit nicely with the GVCS.

• What are your suggestions for improvement of the project?

-Organize -Engage large numbers of people in appropriate tasks. -Encourage people to make short visits to Factor e Farm. This will help build social ties to keep smaller contributors engaged. -Develop a vision for next steps that can occur beyond development of the GVCS 50 and implement the things that can occur in parallel. -Clarify the values and mission of the project. -Make the wiki an encyclopedia of the project. Currently it acts as part notepad, part workflow organizer, part project documentation, part discussion forum. The project needs all of those things, but when they are all in one it is confusing.

WHAT are your skills?

• List all of your skills in these areas:

Communications – I am a decent writer and commonly write or review technical reports, procedures, management plans, and technical articles. Organizational – I managed about $400k of projects last year Computer Support – I have built a number of small databases and other custom applications for gas transmission operators in support of their integrity management programs. Finances - NA Design - NA Natural Building - NA Electronics – Took some circuits classes in school. Automation - NA Metallurgy – NA Engineering – MS Mechanical Engineering/BS Engineering Physics/5 years experience working as an engineering consultant to the gas transmission industry. Fabrication - NA Agriculture – My wife and I are avid gardeners. About 75% of our backyard is garden and we have two small greenhouses. No experience with large scale agriculture. Energy – I have done some work in support of nuclear and coal fired power plants. My professional focus is gas pipeline work. Architecture - NA Video/Graphics/Art - NA PR/Marketing – As a consultant my marketing is primarily building a relationship with clients. This should be a big part of the marketing strategy of OSE. Education – I was a teaching assistant and tutor while in college/grad school. Construction - NA Industry – see Energy CNC - NA Chemistry - NA Product Design - NA

• How have you already contributed to the project?

Just getting started

HOW can you help?

• How are you interested in contributing to the work of GVCS development?

In no particular order: Engineering design and calculations project management organizational development volunteer outreach programming documentation/technical writing promotional materials

• Can you volunteer to work with us, and if so, how many hours per week?

I can volunteer about 10-20 hours per week.

• 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?

No.

• Are you interested in a Dedicated Project Visit?

I couldn't take a month off of work. A week, maybe.

• Are you interested in purchasing equipment from us to help bootstrap development?

No

• Are you interested in bidding for consulting/design/prototyping work?

Yes, but I'm also willing to donate what time I have available.

• Are you a True Fan? If not, why not?

Not yet.

• Would you like to see yourself working with us on a full-time basis?

Not in the near future. In a couple of years I will be in a better position financially to do something like that.

• 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.

Yes.