API for the World is a sensor and web application that turns anything with a power cord into a networked object. At the flip of a switch you can send a message to twitter, facebook, foursquare, or any other service you define. We did this to fill the gap between old technology and the “smart” devices we see today.

Imagine if your grandmother could use her bedside lamp to communicate with loved ones. When she goes to bed, she flip off her bedside lamp and we get a message to twitter, and can be rest-assured that she’s alright.

We’ve included the ability to define new devices, behaviors, and message through an online dashboard. You can also add new servi
ces with which the application can communicate.

The application uses a current sensor (to tell if the device is drawing power) to send a wireless message to the application, which then pushes a message according to the scenario you’ve defined. For you geeks out there, the sensor measure induction and sends a POST request to a Rails app via an XBee module. The web app then uses the Twitter API to post a message.

We can imagine this app going in a bunch of different directions. You could use it to check into Foursquare or update facebook that you had toast for breakfast. In the scenario with grandma’s lamp, perhaps the lamp could order itself lightbulbs according to when the lightbulb is projected to fail.

We’re working on sensor documentation of the project and an instructable, as well as open sourcing the code. Thanks to TechCrunch and the ITP team for an awesome hack day.

The Team:

• Karla Calderon
• Cameron Cundiff
• Michael Zick Doherty
• Chika Iijima
• Rune Madsen
• Sofy Yuditskaya
• Shahar Zaks

From the beginning, I’ve tried to keep the application simple, not just for the end users, but also for administrators. I’ve done this by using third party API’s to offload data storage and administration to those sites. It means that if you or a customer hasn’t already added your business to Yelp or Yahoo! Local, you can add yourself and show up in Bridge into Beacon.

This approach leverages high connectivity and remote resources to ease the burden on administrators, which increases the initial viability of the application. However, it seems antithetical to the idea of resilience and sustainability. I wonder, in using third party APIs to promote resilience, is Bridge into Beacon past the threshold between local production and global services? What are the tradeoffs, and are they worth it? It seems to me these are some of the same issues facing resilient community advocates. Hope some of you will weight in.

With these points in mind, I plan to make the home screen a list and simple map with markers showing all locations, with three filter tabs: Food, Arts, and Shops. Each tab will narrow the map markers and the list to that category. If the user taps a marker or list item, they will see a details page with the location name, subcategory (i.e “cafe” or “gallery”), address and phone number, and directions from their current location in list form. Preview to come.

Fallout 3, a favorite video game of mine

My new approach is to take the principals of resilient communities, specifically the self-sustaining qualities, and augment them with the resources that global and national infrastructures offer. I’m calling this approach “Hybrid Communities”. There is a clear analogy here with hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius, which operates on battery power when it can, but fires up the engine when it needs to.

Some communities are leaning towards a hybrid model already, at least in production. In Brooklyn for example, I can get locally grown produce at my local CSA, buy a handmade knitted cap down the street. These are pretty standard features of resilient communities. It gets really interesting when I can build a kitchen lamp with a MakerBot at NYC Resistor, or sell that knitted cap on Etsy (also in Brooklyn). These latter examples facilitate local production by leveraging global goods and services.

What this means for my work is that I will assume existing infrastructure (power, transportation, education, communications) and use use that to leverage the effects of local efforts.

Some parting thoughts:

• Could I sell the kitchen lamp on Etsy?
• Is the term “Agile Communities” a better way to describe what I’m talking about?
• see Wired Magazine’s recent article for more details on desktop manufacturing.

The plug computer is a mini linux server, meaning it can host website, databases, and applications. The open-mesh routers can then extend a mesh wifi network, making the shared applications available to the community.

Perhaps most intriguing aspects of this solution are the low cost and high portability/configurability. The hardware infrastructure can accomplished at under $200, depending on the desired network range (server is $100 and the routers are $30 each), and they could come already setup with the required (open-source) software, including pre-configured applications. Because the software is not proprietary or hardware specific, it could be easily distributed and modified. The hardware itself is componentized with a small form factor, so it too would be highly portable and configurable.

Lowering the technical barrier to setup would be critical to adoption, so I’m exploring what software and applications to include in a default package, how much documentation to include, and what pre-configured options to use in order to mitigate the time and cognitive overhead required to get a community network up and running.

WordPress has the advantage of a standalone installation and very strong developer documentation. A standalone package is attractive because it does not rely on third party hosting, and could operate on a local mesh network without internet connection. Ning, on the other hand, is a hosted solution and the documentation is less comprehensive. However, setup is a cinch.

My inclination right now is to prototype a solution in Ning, then create a standalone WordPress package that can be installed on any server. I will probably end up creating custom plugins, especially for wordpress.

This conceptual model creates a set of new services that allow the smallest viable subset of social systems, the community (however you define it), to enjoy the fruits of globalization without being completely vulnerable to its excesses.

Robb believes that resilient communities are both a buffer and a preventative measure against massive destabilization at global and national levels, such as we’ve observed with the continuing economic crisis, and that we could see through cascade failures of vital infrastructural networks (like the power grid) through systems disruptions, i.e. sabotage. We can mitigate our vulnerability by circumventing our reliance on sprawling, highly interdependent networks through self-sufficient, localized nodes, aka resilient communities.

His argument is compelling, rooted in political, economic, and social theory, as well as real world examples. It is both frightening and engaging. This scope of the topic is mind boggling, and its implications are extreme. On the one hand we keep chugging along until catastrophe stikes; on the other, we drastically change the way we live. Either way, Robb is talking about a major paradigm shift, away from our current way of life. On the surface, it seems a romantic notion, but perversely so. The idea of reconnecting with your local community and the environment has the sort of pastoral appeal of a Wordsworth poem. However, the reality of it is more grim. As a result my feeling of commitment to local movements has taken on an urgent tone, and I feel compelled to take action.

That is where my thesis begins. I am struggling with nailing down a specific project, but the focus will decidedly be community building in Brooklyn, probably around DIY groups (urban gardeners, hardware hackers, craftspeople, etc). My expertise in web development along with the short timeframe is leading me in the direction of a website/mashup. I’ve considered creating a site to host listings of events(classes, farmer’s markets), locations (storefronts, hackerspaces, studios), and projects (documentation and schematics). Discussion would be a theme throughout, but maybe not explicitly defined in a forum style application.

I will update further as I continue to research, design, build, and test.

Working with communities is a strong interest of mine. I want to encourage sustainable, resilient networks in my communities and to create a “curriculum” that can guide other communities to do the same.

Some of the groups I’ve been thinking about:

• Oracle, AZ artists collectives
• Carroll Gardens CSA
• Carroll Gardens small businesses

Oracle, which I discussed in a separate post, is interesting because I have a personal connection to the artistic pursuits of the community, based on my experience as a painter and working with Etsy. Furthermore, Oracle represents what John Robb calls a “resilient community“, as far as I can tell. There is creativity not just in the arts, but also in lifestyle, with residents whoa operate by sustainable principles and sometimes even “off the grid”. One challenge I’ve identified is that the group has many fractured sub-groups which all have fuzzy boundaries. I would need to hone in on a smaller, more specific group to take action. Also, there is the obvious challenge of distance. Almost all of my participation would be remote. This could be an interesting issue to examine in itself, how to teach technology using technology, remotely. However, this aspect is less interesting to me.

Carroll Gardens CSA has some of the same qualities as Oracle, though membership is much more clear cut and it is hyper-local to my environment. It has a focus on sustainability and represents the qualities of resilient communities. I am also a member, which gives me more credibility and access to group leaders. I feel the CSA may be a better approach due to proximity and discrete membership. In addition, the CSA coordinator recently made an email appeal for volunteers, so the time is right.

Carroll Gardens small businesses are also hyper local with a clearer membership that the Oracle artists’ community, but the intentions of each business are not necessarily aligned with one another. While I know several business owners pretty well, the overhead of organizing communication across business owners could be high enough to supersede other efforts.

Right now the goal is to narrow the scope of my ideas into something I can accomplish over the next few months. Not a lot of time!

I just returned from visiting family in Oracle, AZ. I’ve been there before, but this visit was particularly inspiring. I observed the richness of the community and landscape, and the pervasive creative spirit.

Light Festival at Triangle L Ranch in Oracle, AZ

The town’s small size (population 3500), low visibility, high concentration of artists and creative people, and low saturation of technology tools make it the ideal testing ground for new approaches to social tech and tools to enrich community and connectedness. The town has a website and many of the artists there have some web presence. However, social tech goes much further than having a website. It leverages a variety of online and offline services, some customized, some 3rd-party. Furthermore, it’s important to democratize the technologies so that everyone in the community may use them.

I’m in the process of deciding how I might contribute to building a technology foundation for the community, while giving them the tools they need to continue building. Beyond specific technologies, training and education would be in order. Finding a few community leaders that can be proponents of the initiative, as well as some volunteers to take on and share technical training would be the main goals. Maybe a collaboration in Oracle can serve as a model for other small communities to spring-board into a more connected space. If you know of similar initiatives, please leave your comments.