Make Faire is quite the experience. For those who have never been to Maker Faire before, it is a magical, wonderful event with all of the contraptions a girl could ever dream for, or even of!

We had a booth at the Bay Area Maker Faire this past weekend, and oh was it fun. We spoke to hundreds of people about what WikiSeat is about, handed out Catalysts to teachers that were interested, and displayed all that we stand for, or rather, sit for.

Sean Wheeler (@mrwheeler) flew into town from Cleveland, Ohio for the event. After working with Sean for 2 years, it was amazing to finally meet him in person. He and Nic even did a presentation for “Meet the Makers”.

Most exciting of all we won two, not one, but TWO Editor’s Choice awards. Which was super exciting!

We didn’t forget to leave the booth and look at other things too though. We saw the life size mouse trap, a bunch of R2D2′s, and tons of 3D printers, all printing happily away. As we left, we even saw a home made submarine and a space-ship!

The whole event was awesome, and we all strongly suggest that you check out the next Maker Faire in your area. You can find Maker Faire’s, Mini-Maker Faire’s, or start your own, by checking this page on their website.

Special thanks to all of the organizers and attendees who made Maker Faire possible!

WikiSeat is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA license. What is that, and what does it mean for you?

A Creative Commons license is a way of sharing ideas and things with the world. The WikiSeat Catalyst has a CC-BY-SA license which, in Creative Commons’ own words, means:

“This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.”

Creative Commons licenses are sometimes described as being “Open Source”, open source means that the way a thing is built, or developed, that is the blueprints for that thing, are available to be publicly remastered, adjusted, and seen in general. Open source is also more than just access to the blueprints of a thing, (or idea!), but is also a culture. Open source culture is geared towards taking this philosophy of openness and sharing to all parts of our life. Car sharing and co-working, libraries, public hospitals and public schools can all be said to be a part of the Open Source Culture ethos.
When more people freely share what they are making with each other, we see a more diverse set of innovative inventions come out of that culture. No renaissance is possible without the free sharing of information between one group or individual to the next. By supporting creative commons licensing, and open source culture, we are supporting a renaissance of the 21st century, and into the future even!

Why is WikiSeat Open Source?

WikiSeat is open source for many reasons, but the main one is that we want people to use this project. The best way to get that to happen is by allowing people access to it’s blueprints, for free, to anybody or any reason. Even commercially! Any welder is allowed to make Catalysts and earn a fair wage.

What do you ask for in return when people use the Catalyst, or other WikiSeat related things?

If you, or anyone, uses the project, remixes it or whatever, we ask that they mention us when they describe or share that new creation. Think of it as “credit to, where credit’s due”. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside to know that people are using our project for new ideas!

How can I remix with WikiSeat?

Remixing is sort of like making mashups with different songs, in fact that’s exactly what remixing is. Ever listened to a remix of a favorite song? WikiSeat is like that, but with physical things! You can make your own Catalysts, change the core design of the catalysts, to have four legs, or be made out of a different material, or maybe your catalyst is the foundation for something completely different! Whatever your heart desires. We share our idea with you, you create something cool, and then share that with the world in turn. It’s like a continuum of sharing!

It’s been four weeks since Sean Wheeler’s class started the WikiSeat project, and now they are done with building. 

They have designed, built, messed up, fixed, and completed their very unique seats. It’s been a pleasure to watch this process happen, they have learned so much in such a short period of time. It is awe-inspiring to see these students show such enthusiasm for a school project. 

“Just be you,if they don’t like it let them go and remember what my teacher said ‘As I look around, I see so many people who just want to be somebody.” Is that you?” -Tera R.

For a complete walkthrough of the completed chairs you can check out Sean Wheeler’s flickr photo set,  he has documented every step of the process from the marshmallow challenge to the completed chairs. 

In other news, Antonio Vendramin  and Jared  Nichols have both received their Catalysts. They are both pretty stoked about the project kicking off in their classrooms. As well about 6 other folks have gotten their Catalysts, too. It is so exciting to know that there will be over 700 new WikiSeats this year! 

“I’ve never felt so proud to complete a homework assignment.” -Alexis H. 

Follow #WikiSeat to see more of the students’ posts, and follow @MrWheeler and @WikiSeat to follow how the project is coming along.

We’re still making Catalysts for other classes, having just received another shipment of metal to send Catalysts out to @Vendram1n and his students. 

Sean’s students have been blogging quite a bit about the project. From their Manifestos to noting their feelings about the project. To highlight a few more recent posts:

“I feel like I’m being told to do a chair to function as a chair. Mine bends the rules a bit because my function is my form in a sense, because it is planned to be an art piece.”  -Jack

“While I’m constructing my Wikiseat, I plan on using Emerson’s principles to help me along the way. I’m making my chair to solve a problem, my problem. I’m not going to waste my time worrying about other people’s problems or trying to compare to other people’s problems, because my problems are the ones I need to solve.” -Sommer 

“Twenty years from now, I’m not going to remember the things I learned by doing worksheets and tests; I’m going to remember the one class that did everything a little differently and stood out from the rest of them.” -Ghadeer

“I know that while working on my chair, I will have some doubts about my choices and I may change my mind about what I’m doing, but I’m also going to trust myself, and I will have a great chair at the end of this.” -Katya

Follow #WikiSeat to see more of the students’ posts, and follow @MrWheeler and @WikiSeat to follow how the project is coming along.

To me, things like the taste and the sound of the orange are kind of indescribable, and are really something that one would have to actually experience rather than to be told about it. – Alex M.’s Blog
 

Honestly, this was the best orange I’ve ever eaten. I’ve never taken twenty-five minutes to eat an orange, maybe five minutes. But in that five minutes, I never appreciated it, thought about where it came from, or looked at the cells. -Sarah’s Blog

…You can’t assume the blatant explanation is the correct one and this requires you to put forth something called effort. This is a problem that is being exasperated by several things, but one of the prime reasons is due to our schooling system. I can say with confidence that we just play a game through high school. It only dawned on me what we were doing in sixth grade but when it did, even the minimal effort I was putting forth stopped. Until this year I haven’t put any thought or effort into school, even though I was in the “focus” program, the supposedly challenging course for middle school students. For four years I haven’t tried to do well in school. This is a huge problem that needs to be solved and I think that the 2.0 program at Lakewood High School is on the right track. -Steven H.’s Blog

We also have sent out Catalysts to two other classrooms and are quickly making Catalysts for more. A total of 13 teachers have offered to pay for this project out of pocket, which is way more than we expected to. It’s amazing the support and determination that these educators have shown, teachers are an awesome group of people!

If you haven’t seen it on our Twitter, or #wikiseat, here’s what our shop looks like, it’s not the most glamorous, but this is where these crazy bits of metal are being made.

We hope that you will follow the progress of these classes as the project continue’s throughout the semester, there are plenty of more awesome things that are to happen.

Follow WikiSeat and Sean Wheeler for updates about the project, and #WikiSeat to see what students and others are doing!

Please read this whole email. We are volunteering all of our free time for the next three months because we really really like education. Thank you for being teachers who are willing to explore something new.

It’s been a while, with the holidays, work, and life in general we’ve been a bit busy. We hope you all had a great holiday and are looking at a bright new year.

So the fundraiser didn’t make it to the $85k… that number was pretty big and we are sad that we didn’t get the funding, but also no one seems too surprised. After taxes and fees from Paypal and Indiegogo, we brought in $1,735.07, which is pretty awesome! Special thanks to everyone who contributed or told their friends and family about the fundraiser. With these funds, we (Alaric and Nic) are making and shipping Catalysts to Sean Wheeler’s and Jon Wolford’s classes in Ohio. They were the two classes originally involved before we put out that crazy Call to Action. 

So what now? What about the other 101 classes? We want to make this project happen for you and your students. 

We could try the fundraiser again. It would be awesome if it works, but it might not. We wouldn’t know if it works or not for another month, which would leave you on the fence in regards to curriculum planning. So, we’ve decided to volunteer our labor. 

If you want to do this project, we will build you Catalysts and have them shipped to your school for only about $5 per Catalyst! While typing this, I feel sort of late-night-television-esque, but what it boils down to is that we really want to make this project happen for you. 

Why about $5 per Catalyst? The last time we purchased angle iron it was exactly $2 per Catalyst worth of materials (Jose at Bay Area Iron Works took a liking to the project and gave us a discount). Shipping a box of 40 Catalysts (12”x12”x12” 45lbs.) from San Francisco to Ohio via USPS Parcel Post is just over $1 per Catalyst, but this will vary based on your location, so we will have to do the math for each individual order. Manufacturing takes place at a shop where we pay $100/month in dues. There are also drill bits, grinding wheels, gloves and other supplies that we go through pretty fast when making large amounts of these things. If there’s any cash left over we might spoil ourselves with Tacos, a soda, and a Snickers bar for nic. (He really likes Snickers.) 

Last time we checked, it takes about 20 minutes to make each Catalyst, but through some Scientific Management, it is possible to shave off a minute here or a few seconds there. While this might be interesting, it doesn’t actually effect you because we’re not going to charge you for the time we put into this. 

The reason why it used to cost $12/Catalyst was because we were accounting for materials, shipping, and fair wage for a welder. Labor turns out to be most of the cost. 

The next question that you might have is, “Can they make 5,000 Catalysts in 3 months?” We have no idea, but we’re sure going to try! Since there is no way to be sure, we will have to work on a first-come first-serve basis. 

Of course, you’re not at all obligated to do this project. If you’ve had enough of these long rambling emails, let us know. Or if you really want to do the project, but can’t come up with $5 for each of your students, tell us. We will try to connect you with a sponsor, or help you run an Indiegogo fundraising campaign of your own. As we’ve mentioned before, instructions for making Catalysts are available online. 

As a side note, we both have full time jobs. Nic works for a non-profit, and Alaric is an assistant for a hostel company… so suffice it to say between rent (in San Francisco), food, and student loans, we don’t have much to spare.  We are looking at Grants, and possible investors. If anyone has anything to offer here, whether that’s contacts, advice, or a pro-bono Grant writer, we’re all ears. 

If you’re in, awesome and email us. We still have your mailing address. As soon as we get funds for the raw materials, we’ll start welding away.

Thanks!
Alaric and Nic

Please note: The $5 per Catalyst thing only applies to the first 103 teachers who responded to our Call to Action back in October. If you would like to participate, contact us and we’ll do our best to help you.

So, we have some bad news, and some good news for everyone. 

I’ll start with the bad news because there’s no point in putting that off. We are halting the fundraiser. We have hidden the Indiegogo page and will be restarting the campaign in a month. 

Why is this happening? Well, honestly it’s just wasn’t working this way. 

We are really new to this, I mean wet-behind-the-ears new, and we are learning as we go along. We need your support, advice, and assistance to make this happen. 

In addition to the online fundraiser, we would like to explore other ways to raise funds. If you, or anyone you know has experience, or has a great idea for this sort of thing, let us know! We’d love to hear your suggestions. 

What about the donations so far? If you want a full refund, we will gladly do this. Otherwise, we will be using the funds to get the first few classes Catalysts, so we can start seeing these seats get built. Donors will still receive their rewards by spring break. 

For those who want to do the project right now, the Instructable is online, here. Send that to any welder, and they are likely to be able to make as many Catalysts as you need. 

For the next month, we are going to regroup and plan out new ways to promote this project so that we can get Catalysts to as many folks as possible. 

Thank you so much for your continued support, it means the world to us. 

Have you ever wanted your very own Catalyst factory? Now we have an instructable written up detailing step by stem instructions on making a jig for making catalysts (for making seats). 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Open-Source-Seating-WikiSeat-Catalyst-Fabrication/

Thank you for checking out our project. If this is the sort of thing you are into, please consider supporting our fundraiser that will be launching after the new year. More info about this can be found here, for now.