[FM Discuss] booki mobile makes its first trip

[helen varley jamieson]

wow adam, that is an amazing mission! well done! :)

stop knocking on the doors that don't open & go through the ones that 
do; who knows what drumbeat's agenda really is (underneath it all 
there's bound to be a profit-motive) - if they're not interested they're 
clearly stupid!

h : )

On 10/11/10 1:23 PM, adam hyde wrote:
> hey all,
>
> so a booki mobile update.
>
> some photos here:
> http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos
>
> well...i have to say this was probably a crazy idea from the start. i
> was motivated largely because a mobile book producing lab is just a
> great idea and partly from frustration because we have been trying to
> work with Drumbeat for some time and it was not going anywhere. i did
> not and do not understand this since all the aims of drumbeat coincide
> with what we do however we have had no support from them. in addition
> there are groups that have not tried to work with drumbeat and have had
> a huge profiling at the Drumbeat events. The Free Knowledge Academy is
> one such example - they got major billing at the event where we were not
> even initially invited.
>
> so apart from loving the idea of the book mobile i was also frustrated.
> i think DB should work with us however there is a blockage somewhere. i
> didnt want to give up so the book mobile was a last trial to convince DB
> they should take us seriously.
>
> there are many reasons why i want DB to come our way and work with us.
> its not just ideological (a shared ideology)  but thats a big part of
> it. it is also because they have the power to profile projects which
> would help us tremendously and they also have the power to fund which is
> also interesting to us. also if i was to write the aims of Drumbeat down
> on paper they would coincide with ours pretty well and it just makes
> sense to me to make alliances when the match looks good. its about
> creating synergies as much as anything.
>
> on top of all this the book mobile (or now called the 'booki mobile') is
> just a good idea. so many times i tell people about booki and they get
> it conceptually but when i give them a book they are amazed. that last
> step is important and now the booki mobile can do just that. take the
> technology to the people so they understand its intent and utility. sure
> its not the optimum way to do things, we also need to improve PR and
> other outreach channels but it is one very inspiring channel for us to
> show what we do. additionally i now have the equipment to make books for
> 1-2 euro to send to reviewers etc to get their attention. previously i
> had been doing this by buying lulu.com copies of our books and shipping
> them without letters etc directly from lulu to the reviewers. this is
> costly as lulu is expensive and it is not good to 'cold call' like this.
> buying lulu books and having them rerouted through my home address,
> adding a letter, and sending on is also just a stupid idea. so now i can
> make books and send them directly and cheaply.
>
> anyways. so with 6 weeks to go until the DB fest i wrote some
> sponsorship proposals for the book mobile. i sent them away expecting
> negative replies and instead got a +ve response from francophonie.org.
> Yay!!! however that meant i needed to get more $ else we had only 1/3 of
> the money required. the total cost of the project on paper was approx
> 10,000 euro but in fact the cost was about 12000 and we got about 8000
> in sponsorship.
>
> so, i wrote to civicrm and they said yes :) and also iCommons and
> Mozilla came in. thats cool. so all that came in with about 2 weeks
> until the fest. i was of course also moving house and i had 2 sprints
> and several presentations about fm before the event. so it wasnt easy
> but i researched the equipment and found it all, purchased it, and threw
> it in the booki mobile (vw t4 van) and drove it 2000 km to barcelona
> (took 3 days).
>
> the equipment consisted of:
> 1x Fastback 15XS binder (second hand from Munich)
> 1x Samsung 2850 duplex lazer printer (black and white) (new)
> 1x Ideal 3915-90 paper cutter (second hand from Berlin)
> 1 x t4 vw van (second hand from berlin)
> 2 x laptops (mine)
> 1 x robocraft cutter (new)
> heaps of paper
> scissors, cutting boards, rulers, power cables etc
>
> we drove the van and all in it to the festival and set up immediately.
> the first day was about setting up the site (the fest was 2 days) and
> the second day was about producing the books. that was in the theory and
> it worked except that it took a lot longer to test everything and refine
> the workflow. essentially all worked (except an inkjet printer that I
> managed to break by trying to set it up too quick) except we had a huge
> problem with the duplex printing. duplex printing means a printer can
> take a page print one side then suck it back and print the other side.
> the big issue here was that the duplex printing did not print the front
> and back pages in the same position. this was frustrating and we spent a
> long time working this out. Janet was there trouble shooting and she
> worked it out. essentially we had to use the printer as a 'normal' (sans
> duplex) printer, print all the even sides take them out flip them over
> and then print the odd sides on the back. this was a stupid way to do
> things but the only way that worked.
>
> we used the Booki User Guide as the example book although we also made a
> few other books for those that came to the booki mobile and wanted to
> make a book :)
>
> so. the feedback was tremendous. although we spent much of the time
> working out the systems i actually spent a lot of my time talking to
> people that were interested in the process, floss manuals, booki, and
> the booki mobile. so much time actually that it slowed down the set up!
> still, it was good to get people excited and involved so that was ok.
>
> in the end we made some books and they looked beautiful.
> http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos/book.png
> http://adam.engagetv.com/bookimobile_photos/interior.png
>
> then we packed up, spent a tired day in barcelona and drove back to
> berlin (it took 28hours + one sleep stop to get back).
>
> so. the booki mobile did what it had to do in terms of actually making
> books and also it inspired alot of people. it will also have a
> tremendous future. those aspects i consider a success. however i dont
> think DB cared and in my own mind i have given up on Drumbeat. its only
> so long that we can knock at the DB door and be ignored before we get
> the idea we are not wanted. i think it is worthwhile trying to win the
> DB open web award for profiling reasons but apart from that i think its
> not interesting anymore to pursue the DB channel.
>
>
> so, the bookimobile lives and its a cool thing :) next i will blog about
> it, send pr, send sponsorship reports and look for funding for running
> costs...
>
> :)
>
> adam
>


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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen at creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
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