I wanted to share this here and see if you had any ideas that can support the hackerspace? know someone who runs a Fablab? had any experience in one before?
Also maybe we can send out an enquiry @anon82932460? If yes it is good if you can add two paragraphs about the space and the story behind it with some photos @Yosser ?
Yosser,
Brooks is visiting me in Barcelona, and we were just talking about you and wondering what you were up to.
Happy to hear of your success and plans for the future!
Liam
You go girl!!
We are hoping to visit valldaura.net near Barcelona soon, courtesy of @william_coact who has just joined edgeryders. Check it out, and see if you see some opportunities. Happy to help out and maybe report back for you⊠If we end up visiting which I really hope we will!
Yosser is back here, with bright new ideas as always
Just looked at the Ibtakiroo association, and it really seems made for exactly what you want in OurGhema:
âThe association works in particular [âŠ] associating a shared work place âCoWorkingâ and a fabrication laboratory âFabLabâ in a unique place.â (from here)
Now they seem to be associated with the âofficialâ FabLab movement (they link to fabfoundation.org and fablabfestival.fr). And I think thatâs the first strategic decision youâll have to make: do you aim for being an official, recognized FabLab or a free makerspace / hackerspace? As far as I know, an official FabLab needs a certain set of machines etc. . To me, that label would not be worth the effort. Also it could be argued that FabLabs are a particular perspective on âmaking stuffâ, namely academic and focused on highly industrialized countries. And that youâll have to find your own perspective here, esp. given that hackerspaces in rural Tunisia are so rare.
For inspiration and exchange, here are some random pointers:
I know that @islem has a very similar idea for Kebili, also wanting to combine co-working with a hackerspace, to form an innovation lab and business incubator for the local economy. We discussed several possible variants when we met in Morocco last year. It seems you two should meet and talk
Communitere is a network of four independent hackerspaces focused on appropriate technology and low-infrastructure locations. At least their space in Nepal combines the hackerspace with a co-working space. I know one person there and could try to connect you if you think it can help you with your planning.
Since you have so many women coming to your space, there are many women who could come to your hackerspace as well. Assuming that Tunisia is no different than the rest of the world then on average women will be a bit reluctant to enter this environment (âfull of tools and guys who claim to be better than the next guy using the same toolâ). In Nepal, one woman made good experiences with a ladies-only program in a local hackerspace there. You can read about it and about all the different events they organized on makerkt.com (âmaker ketiâ = maker girl in Nepali).
The Repair Cafe network is another inspiration for what a hackerspace can be good for, and one that is very useful for the âmore averageâ person who does not come with a pet project or invention to work on in the hackerspace. There are 1900 repair cafes worldwide and 0 in Tunisia, yet.
A hackerspace can be started on very little money or very much money or anything in between. If you want to start with very little, you can bootstrap: start with some collected old hand tools and with their help, make better tools, repair broken tools that you get for free or cheap, harvest parts from all kinds of broken devices and household appliances, and in any other way make it a better hackerspace. In my experience, all tools have value (even the rusty old semi-broken ones ⊠because such tools are ok to âsacrificeâ / adapt for the odd job that calls for a tool that does not exist anywhere). Building your own tools can be continued quite far, including building your own 3D printers from parts. Have a look at reprap.org for that purpose.
Is there any 3D printer in Medenine already? If not, you may want to get one directly at the start of opening the hackerspace. Itâs a fascinating machine and practically useful, also to earn money. There are some good and very moderately priced (~250 EUR) Chinese clones of the original Prusa i3 3D printer (which is, I think, is currently the best open source 3D printer on the market, and a result of the RepRap project I linked to above). Forgot the manufacturer name, but I can find it again âŠ
Aw <3 You know that I am still waiting for you to visit us again and see the space
Yup I would loveto speak to them
As I mentioned that Ibtakiroo is supporting this Fablab, they donated to the space a 3D printer and robotic tools (which I have no idea how they work do you know any open source documents that can help learn about how to work with them?
Ok, I just sent you and Bahar from Nepal Communitere an e-mail with an introduction. Iâm sure you can get valuable tips from them.
So you have the 3D printer and robotics stuff already, thatâs amazing!
Here are some free documents and resources for getting started with 3D printing. I even found free e-books!
Mastering 3D Printing. A free 207-page book about the filament based type of 3D printer that you probably have.
3D Printing: Build Your Own 3D Printer and Print Your Own 3D Objects. Another free e-book about 3D printing with more than 200 pages. Ignore the part about building the printer â the parts about 3D modeling are relevant and nice though, as they are really made as an introduction starting from the basics.
Tinkercad. In the book just above, this is the 3D modeling tool they recommend for beginners. It is indeed an easy to use tool â and can be used right in the browser, at no cost. (Unfortunately it is not open source software, but that difference is not much of a topic in Tunisia anyway so far, as per my experience.)
How to design for 3D printing. A short 20-page e-book for what to take care of when drawing the 3D shapes to be printed on a filament based 3D printer (thatâs the type youâll have, in all probability). (Youâll have to fill a short survey before they send you the book, but I think itâs worth it. Itâs hard to find all these tips in one place elsewhere.)
Thingiverse. This is by far the largest collection of free 3D printable designs online. In the beginning, printing stuff from there will be the simplest useful thing to do with your 3D printer, until you learn how to make your own designs.
Around 4000 designs on Thingiverse can be customized online by entering parameters, such as the desired size. No 3D CAD needed to print these in a customized version! You find most of these things with this and this search. (One of these customizable things is designed by me )
3D Printing Stack Exchange. A Q&A site where you can find the solution to most 3D printing problems, and can ask a question otherwise.
For the robotics tools, let me know what exactly you have (manufacturer and model numbers) and I can add links about these, too.
also when launching ourghema I took a loan from the bank and I am happy to say that despite all the difficulties next month I will finsh the first year (from ten years) payback of the loan 
do you know any open source documents that can help learn about how to work with them?