Thursday, July 11, 2019

Open Source Campus

In Refugee Science, we tend to say "campus" rather than "camp".  The former connotes "schooling" while the latter connotes "soldiering".  Not that soldiers can't use schooling, or that schools can't be militant.  There's maybe a spectrum, or a phase space.

Open source designs show what's possible.  What are the neighborhoods?  Where are the guilds?  Do the bead makers live near the kiln?  Where are the costumes kept?  What are the podcasts like?  Is this close to a freeway?  How do the trucks come and go?  Do electronic currencies play a role?

Those seeking asylum, that have nothing, get to come here.  What does the campus have for them, to get them back on their feet?  "Education" is a good answer but is in no way detailed enough.  A lot of them need to watch videos.  The kids need cartoons.  Cultural literacy is a goal, and not just for the asylum seekers.

We don't want any campus where no one would be there voluntarily given a choice.  We need to see people choosing to move there.  People already functioning at a high level in their current context.  Like me for example.  The mark of a well-engineered campus is the engineers will be willing to "eat their own dog food" as we say.

We know of the Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto, but what about the campus facilities?  Refugee Science is looking to flagship engineering firms (not necessarily architectural firms, but those too) to give us some blueprints.

I'll be at OSCON next week.  Lets see if any of the booths feature entire "cities from scratch" beyond the Toronto project, geared more towards the needs of Americans in distress.  SOS Cities.  Asylum Cities.  We're hungry to see those on TV, but so far the screenwriters are just giving us more people in cages.