1.13.21 - que sera sera
An eventful Wednesday, and the second half of the week shall be more eventful than the first. The game changes almost weekly (sometimes daily) but projects of substance remain. This entry features more updates in 3D Printing, a discussion of the internet’s evolution, and a creative piece.
AMPEL January Update
AMPEL, the Additive Manufacturing Prototyping and Experimentation Laboratory, has become a “back-burner” project over the last month. This remains a field of investment and study but other needs are pressing and call my attention. However, several noteworthy things happened in these operations which deserve recognition.
Material independency was declared of ABS for the time being, as the material is not recommended to be used in a small space. PLA continues to be our material of choice with one addition this month: Ninjaflex, as documented in The Blog. This material, flexible and shock-absorbent, opens the door to integration to various projects in development and on the way.
Design and print capability have come a long way, to the point where designing/printing geared, levered, and energy conservative models runs common. The last quarter saw significant time investment studying design software capabilities and more detailed integration of print preparation software.
Next on the list to incorporate is the Ninjatek Eel conductive filament to design models with built-in electronics and wiring systems. This will require R&D in these areas: design (for electronics), print preparation (to switch between shell and conductive material), and print operations (integration of the new material with current printer machinery).
Media Product Strategy
As discussed in this piece On Operational Media, media provides a dual function to the organization. First to display production and share “what we’ve been cooking up in the lab”. Second, as a way of opening a feedback loop to the audience. Though the democratization of production equipment continues to distribute the capability through skill, geographic, and economic levels, I believe that intentional media focused on the edge of technology and interest will capture attention and have relative success.
The task now becomes the undertaking of converting my research and passions into sharable, informative content. No easy task, this will be tackled through the tool of crowdsourcing to organize talent and contribution. Crowdsourcing utilizes the vast connectivity of the internet, the client sharing a goal or project segment to the public who then submit competing bids to win the project. As an artist, I’m excited to use this tactic to maximize option diversity. As an entrepreneur, I’m excited to be organizing productivity.
In Bold (2015), Diamandis and Kotler discuss crowdsourcing tactics, growth areas, and the reasoning behind its value. Aside from the size of the crowd online, the success of a crowdsourcing project is also dependent on the audience’s attention, abilities, and motivation. In general, though, these attributes seem to take care of themselves as the size of the crowd grows: competition breeds skill.
Three converging factors provide significant motivation to explore crowdsourcing as a value-add function: the trend that crowd online is growing, communication techniques are improving, and valuable productivity resources are more available than ever to the crowd.
From 2015 to 2025, the internet is expected to more than double its number of users. This flood of participants will grow linearly, but will provide value to the online community exponentially. These users will join from all skills level across a variety of countries/cultures, indicating valuable growth in perspective diversity.
Next, we understand the power of the communications infrastructure to grow exponentially as well. Data transfer latency, processing power, and immersive collaboration will cause our productivity to bloom. For some industries it may be marginal and for others explosive, but this growth of communications network only greatens the shared abilities of the online crowd.
Finally, this universal access to exponential technologies and vast information is not necessarily limited to a certain group. Certainly demographics, geography, etc., play a role, but the important part is that anyone with access to the internet essentially has access to an equal set of tools. Coupled with growing user base and more succinct communication, we can further expect these tools to evolve and grow themselves.
With these components understood, I believe it to be within good consideration to pursue crowdsourcing and variations thereof to utilize the expanse of the internet in developing projects, particularly media projects and CAD projects. I expect to see a significant bloom in my personal professional network and I also expect to gain significant allies in this period of productivity.
Que sera sera
A delightful record of the piece they’re about to play this evening.
Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen!
Your attention please.
And now the moment we’ve been waiting for is here.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
I believe in the future. I don’t believe in miracles. Can it be true?! It must be, no doubt.
Life is going on as boringly as ever. Something seems to have happened! Everybody staring in one direction. People fighting, terrified! I want everyone to understand.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
we don’t understand.
we need answers from you.
what did you expect to find?
what is our future?
It’s your responsibility to do something about it
Well… I have the key, all I need to find is a lock. Now, listen to me all of you!
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not.
