“Rawaya wa Bidaya” [UPDATE] The challenge is now live on facebook! and we’re happy to showcase our first comic: For the past twenty years, the Arab world has been undergoing major development – sponsored by governments and non-profits alike. Yet, we continuously see a gridlock in the execution of projects: much funding is held up in ever-tangled […]
October is not like many suburbs I’ve seen. I use the term “suburb” loosely; it’s at least three million people. The new UN building under construction at the end of the block had people hanging out in front of it all day, sitting on the concrete barriers protecting it from the road. Half-empty buildings looked […]
Landing in Cairo was certainly an interesting experience. I had never travelled outside the United States before (other than a few places by car in Canada, along the border – Windsor, Niagara Falls and Toronto), nor had I travelled alone before. At all. I had $55 with me — I had brought $60 (yes, I […]
The World Maker Faire happened last weekend at the New York Hall of Science. Coming right off of the inspiring talks at the Open Hardware Summit it really made me appreciate all the wonderful things this community does and the appreciation and support that wells up around these events. This is a note of thanks […]
Maker spaces can be found all across the world. They are initiated by the need to create, and the need for a close-knit community that will be able to freely communicate and collaborate. Unfortunately, these hubs of creativity can not be found in the places that need them most. Cairo has seen a steadily growing […]
Gemsi is excited to announce that Maker Faire Africa has sponsored GEMSI’s Three Day Maker Space that will be held throughout the creative fair Oct 6, 7, 8 2011. They have also provided for a flight for one workshop host and a set of tools that is bound to make the Three Day Maker Space […]
GEMSI is proud to announce that we have partnered up with The School Factory. The School Factory is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that creates value-creating communities and spaces that transform education. They have been supporting maker spaces, hacker spaces, coworking spaces since 2002 and their current roster of spaces extends from Jigsaw Renaissance in Seattle WA, to Pumping […]
GEMSI is pleased to announce that Mitch Altman will be supporting GEMSI’s proposed Three Day Maker Space to be held at Maker Faire Africa this October. Mitch is an ideal person to team up with to help promote Maker Spaces. Mitch is also co-founder of NoiseBridge, one of the early of the second wave of […]
Tony Roberts has a new post on rural hackerspaces up on his blog. His previous work as CEO of Computer Aid Interna tional distributing technologies to developing countries has done much good over the last 10 years. It is good to hear him describe the possibilities of sustainable home grown solutions that may come about from the […]
This post documents the birth of my current project. You can read about it here in this grant proposal to USAID. Last Wednesday I had the privilege of attending a meeting between Arab American business and representatives from the White House, including people from USAID and the U.S. Small Business Administration. It really seems like the current administration […]