[DIYbio] Re: ECSA stakeholder roundtable

On Friday, 11 November 2016 03:00:33 UTC+1, Egle Marija Ramanauskaite wrote:

Dear all,

Just a note from me. I have had a dream to connect the two communities for a while now, so I see this group as an opportunity to finally open up the communication channels. It is therefore a little unsettling for me that as we go on, there seems to be more of placing the blame, rather than working together to see how the two communities can benefit from each other, and help each other. Although I do recognize many of the points made so far as valid – perhaps we should just approach them more constructively.

As I have already said on my blog, I was very happy to have a chance to participate at the roundtable on Tuesday, and that the DITOs project invited me & flew me in. Frankly, I don't need any other reward than being able to share our work at Technarium & highlight what kind of problems and expectations we have. I am, of course, very disappointed that not more DIY stakeholders were invited/able to attend. However, other than the organizational and financial aspects, we should also realize it is each of our responsibility to invite groups that we know of, to such events – no single event organizer can be expected to know the entire list of people who might be interested. That's why I also reached out to my hacker community at home, which couldn't/wouldn't have wanted to come in person, but had thoughts and ideas to share.

I'd also like to suggest that we consider DIY communities way beyond Berlin and Vilnius – it is our responsibility to reach out to them, and let them have they say, as they might all have very different views. For example, even though at Technarium we are true hackers at heart, who defy any kind of authority, we are more than happy to be part of ECSA and working together to ensure more funding and other opportunities.  We see it as a two-way partnership, not a way to control or exploit us. However flawed *the system* may be (which it is), it's what we have. 

This is just our take on the matter though – and I am sure other communities would have their own. I am really looking to hearing those on this thread.

I also really hope that all members of this group can contribute to finding those diverse DIY communities from all the corners of the world and looping them in, as this is what I think "responsible" is in this context :) In addition to making links in Eastern Europe, I also collaborate closely with the US citizen science community who in turn have started engaging their local DIY groups in the dialogue, which I think should be merged with ours too, and invite your opinions on this.

Back to the original roundtable, I'd like to emphasize that IMO the meeting participants were a lot more receptive than it might seem. Indeed the problems we highlighted were brought up again and again during the day by different people, albeit with some shot-downs. How much of these problems are solved and/or end up in policy (as appropriate) now is entirely in our hands – we should work together to work them out (where "together" is DIY + DITOs + other relevant stakeholders).

Besides, there are also plenty of people within DITOs who appreciate & support the DIY movement, and were/are happy to talk about it. So despite some misunderstandings, and weird buzzword use at times (I personally hate that kind of practice in principle, and "biodesign" in particular gives me the creeps, but whatever; buzzwords also serve their purpose at times), it is not all that bad. Let's make it better through communication?

Make love, not war A :p

Egle