Open Source Ecology Documentation

Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that for the last two years has been creating the Global Village Construction Set, an open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform that allows for the easy, DIY fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts. The GVCS lowers the barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing and can be seen as a life-size lego-like set of modular tools that can create entire economies, whether in rural Missouri, where the project was founded, in urban redevelopment, or in the developing world.

• Open Source
• Low-Cost
• Modular
• User-Serviceable
• DIY
• Closed-Loop Manufacturing
• High Performance
• Heirloom Design
• Flexible Fabrication

A modern, comfortable lifestyle relies on a variety of efficient Industrial Machines. If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wood house, you rely on a Sawmill. Each of these machines relies on other machines in order for it to exist. If you distill this complex web of interdependent machines into a reproduceable, simple, closed-loop system, you get these:

As a project working for the common good, we rely on a growing group of crowd-funders called True Fans to keep our mission alive. The True Fans program is a monthly donation with options for $10, $20, $30, $50, and $100 per month for 24 months.

Learn about our True Fans and register your own profile here.

Donations:

You can make a simple donation via PayPal.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact our Resource Developer, Contact Us.

If you would like to sponsor one of the 50 GVCS technologies and have it memorialized after your name or your organization, please contact us to become a Project Sponsor. The cost of sponsoring the development of any specific tool is approximately $50-100k.

If you would like to make an in-kind donation of tools, plant materials, equipment, machinery, computers and office equipment, metal, building marials, or other items to support our work - please contact us.

We are currently ramping up production of GVCS machines to help bootstrap further development. If you are a custom fabricator or if you have workshop experience, please contact Marcin Jakubowski.

We are looking for people to help in design, CAD, prototyping and other technical aspects of the GVCS. See the Subject Matter Expert areas of interest, and contact us if you can help.

On the technical front, we are looking for Project Directors for each of the 50 technologies. On the organizational front, we are looking for development assistance to manage our growth as an organization. Contact the Project Director for more information.

If you are an experienced professional who wants to give back to the community, we are looking for: (1), mentors to guide us in various areas; (2) advisors to serve in a project advisory capacity; and (3) reviewers for carrying out peer review at different stages of technical development. Contact the Project Director if you would like to help.

We are looking for help in developing our web and collaboration infrastructure towards a scalable, open source product development platform. Contact Elifarley Cruz to find out more.

Half of our job at OSE is to share instructional and inspirational content. We are looking for assistance in extended documentation work on-site, and for off-site support in video editing and production. Contact Project Director Marcin Jakubowski if you are interested in helping to document this history-in-the-making.

We need artists and designers to create slideshows, design assets and animations for our instructionals and marketing materials, and to continually re-invent and update the aesthetic presentation of OSE’s work. Contact OSE Media Director Isaiah Saxon to submit portfolios.

We are interested in building a resource development team to help fund OSE development through the nonprofit sector. Contact us if you are interested in joining this effort.

Everyone is welcome to contribute to our wiki. Sign in, check the forums for what’s what, and begin contributing! Easy to use, well-organized instructional content is vital to our core mission.

For general discussion and technical development discussion on the GVCS, join our Forums.

OSE Founder, Marcin Jakubowski, Ph.D., is available for speaking engagements to inform, motivate, and inspire audiences. Please contact Nikolay Georgiev for further details.

Please contact Nikolay Georgiev to make arrangements.

We welcome visits to Factor e Farm, our experimental farm and co-laboratory in the Kansas City area. We have set aside Saturday afternoons for visits. See more information here.

To receive updates about workshops and other hands-on events at Factor e Farm, join the Factor e Farm Google Group.

Sign up to our email list to receive special announcements about collaboration, progress, and events.

Most of practical GVCS development to date has happened on the ground at Factor e Farm. Our residency program provides opportunities for intensive development of the GVCS. Dedicated Project Visitors have a choice to work on the development of:

1. the GVCS tools
2. supporting infrastructure
3. agricultural operations
4. organizational development. We expect applicants to formulate their own proposals based on current GVCS priorities, and to be highly self-motivated. To apply, read more about the program and submit a proposal.