reallybigroadtrip | A geek, a bus, many guests & a huge country to explore.

The first Nomadic Fab Lab went really well & personally proved to me that reallybigroadtrip is A Good Idea! I’m a bit late with this, but wanted to share some of the output plus the next round (which are, um, already underway, oops).

(I’m going to do this the wrong way round so you get to see the upcoming events first… yeah I know, a bit odd but there are quite a few photos to share from the first one!)

Part two – schedule

The dates/times for the second round of FREE “Fab Lab Show & Tell” sessions are as follows:
11am Mon 13th May – Naracoorte Library.
11am Tues 14th May – Mount Gambier Library.
2pm Weds 15th May – Millicent Library.
11am Thurs 16th May – Robe Library.
11am Fri 17th May – Bordertown Library.

Part one – summary

Alison Kershaw from DFEEST (who funded the Fab Lab Adelaide pilot) and I travelled to Gawler, Clare, Berri, Burra and Murray Bridge. We met 125 people who were all very excited to either see a 3D printer in the ‘flesh’ or extremely delighted to see that there were others within their own community who were enjoying playing with the process in addition to themselves.

Here’s a few images from our journey (all photos by me unless otherwise stated):

special reserved parking outside Gawler Town Hall

Our first session at Gawler Library [photo by @AdelsAlison]

Nomadic Fab Lab love from Clare Library

ABC Riverland interviewed us at River Lands Gallery

@sayraphim’s knitted bus on ABC Riverland

more Library love in Berri

Daniel Schmidt from ABC OPEN SA came to interview us

Murray Bridge Library provided yummy things

and then it was time for Alison & I to leave Murray Bridge – #nomadicfablab part1 complete!

We were on ABC Riverland radio and met one of the ABC OPEN Producers and were in a whole bunch of local newspaper articles including Northern Argus “Clare Library staff like the look of the 3D printing system” and “3D Printing is just Fab“.

It was FUN, we met some LOVELY people & hopefully this will be the first of many partnership trips between reallybigroadtrip & Fab Lab Adelaide. Now to just find a sustainable business model…

Nikola Tesla was a fricken genius. Completely bonkers, but a fricken genius nonetheless. The more I learn about geekery the more I wish I’d known this man so I could hug him in thanks.

I was pretty happy when The Oatmeal published “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived” (I’d even buy the poster if I had an, um, wall to put it on!). I was even more thrilled when Matthew Inman became the figurehead for a massive crowdfunding campaign to help save Tesla’s old laboratory, Wardenclyffe Tower. The campaign was a huge success (they raised nearly 1.5 million – and HELL YEAH I contributed!) and a quiet little notice went out on social media last week:

Now this might seem unrelated, but last night I went to see They Might Be Giants, a band I’ve loved since I was a teenager but never seen live before. It’s been a crazy hectic time of late and I almost bailed on going, but my word I’m glad I did. It was already an awesome gig, and then they played a track in honour of Tesla from their new album Nanobots. It’s everything you’d expect from these guys, full of facts and love… but here, listen yourself:

Then this morning I saw a new poster from Mister Oatmeal updating the world about the project’s progress; go check it out. I especially love this bit, I guess because I can relate, crowdfunding-wise:

This campaign wasn’t about crowd-funding a video game or financing a startup or creating a fancy new gadget. It was about righting a wrong. It was a way for everyone to collectively say:

“Mr. Tesla:

we’re sorry humanity forgot about you for a little while.

We still love you lots.

Here’s a Goddamn Museum.”

The post also explains that renovating the building & grounds will take even more time and money (obviously). But check this out:

Furthermore, there are believed to be tunnels underneath the property that were built by Tesla and may still house some of his equipment … There are rumors of a huge underground resonance chamber…

TUNNELS! WITH TESLA TOYS IN THEM! AND A RESONANCE CHAMBER! HOLY SHIT!!

So I have an idea that’s so bloody obvious I’m hoping they already have plans underway: TMBG should play a gig at Wardenclyffe Tower to support its continued restoration/excavation. Hell I’d probably even fly to the States to be there for it. So I’m going to suggest it. If you agree, suggest it too. Hell, let’s use a hashtag – #TESLAGIG.

Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower contacts:
http://twitter.com/teslascience
http://www.facebook.com/TeslaScienceCenter
Email: info@teslasciencecenter.org

Matthew Inman / The Oatmeal contacts:
http://twitter.com/oatmeal
http://www.facebook.com/theoatmeal
Email his publicist: filter@theoatmeal.com

They Might Be Giants contacts:
http://twitter.com/tmbg
http://www.facebook.com/pages/They-Might-Be-Giants/10655752394?ref=s
Email: fanclub@theymightbegiants.com

And while I’m here, HUGE thanks to all those people who genuinely share the love in crowdfunding and supporting projects like these. Pre-sales is good too but it means a lot when people just want to see you make your dreams come true. I can’t hug Tesla, but one day I’ll go to Wardenclyffe & I’ll hug it, just like people hug homeJames when they meet her <3.

I wrote some time ago about our plans to bring reallybigroadtrip and Fab Lab Adelaide together in one big joyous Nomadic Fab Lab… *drumroll*… well, we’re about to set off!

look out for the Nomadic Fab Lab poster in TAFEs and Libraries

The trip is happening in two sections, one going North between Gawler and the Riverlands and the other going South East between Mount Gambier & Tailem Bend. We are combining a Fab Lab show & tell with a ForwardIT info session at Libraries/TAFEs around the region with an added bonus talk with Craft South at Burra Town Hall. All Nomadic Fab Lab events are free.

3D printers at Adelaide Mini Maker Faire; photo by Jess Gunn

Schedule

The dates/times for the first round of FREE “Fab Lab Show & Tell” sessions are as follows:

10am Thurs 18th April – Gawler Library.
10am Fri 19th April – Clare TAFE in association with Regional Development Australia.
2pm Fri 19th April – Clare Library.
4pm Tues 23rd April – Regional Development Australia industry event at Berri TAFE.
10.30am Weds 24th April – Berri Library.
3.30pm Weds 24th – Berri Library.
10am Friday 26th April – Murray Bridge Library.

Craft South’s INFORM event “Getting connected: online marketing for artists” is on at Burra Town Hall from 11am to 3pm on Sunday 21st April and costs $50. Booking in advance is recommended.

The second leg is in May, heading to Mount Gambier, Kingston, Robe and Tailem Bend. We’ll update you about dates/times on those soon.

Seeya there!

Tiny, the movie – cannot wait to see this!

(HT Mathieu Ravier from The Festivalists)

to explain the password-protected post below…

It’s almost a year since I launched my crowdfunding campaign and it’s just over three months since I started living in the bus that the campaign enabled me to buy. I say ‘living in the bus’ but really i’ve been ‘camping in a metal tent’ because she’s been completely un-renovated – until now!

The first stage of internal modifications are about to begin and I wanted the Pozible supporters to get a sneak-preview so they can see how this develops before everyone else. I’ll open the post up after we have finished this stage, this is just a small way to show my huge thanks to the people who made this happen.

If you’re a Pozible supporter but don’t have the password, check your Pozible account for a message from me or just ping me directly.

Nomadic Fab Lab Part 2

Part two – schedule

Part one – summary

Tesla

Nomadic Fab Lab Part 1

Schedule