"Technology by the People, for the People: Building communities to eliminate barriers to technology" was a breakout session at DARPA's "Wait, What?" forum. It was hosted by DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office and moderated by Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Participants included Elad Alon, Matt Ettus and Tom Rondeau.
Start with the creative and collaborative mentality of the burgeoning do-it-yourself and maker movements. Add to that the powerful electronics and manufacturing technologies previously accessible only in the rarified high-tech sector. What might you get? How about innovation in innovation itself, in which the opportunity to develop far-reaching capabilities opens up to millions, even billions more people? It's all about expanding the open-source software model—in which code is openly shared with others for iterative improvements—and applying it to hardware and brainware. Imagine what could quickly erupt in such an open ecosystem: cameras that could track and recognize thousands of objects simultaneously; miniature sensors that could help us integrate, learn and communicate with our environment; circuits that would allow for extracting information from mounds of tangled, unstructured data; and algorithms that could be readily embodied in efficient, specialized hardware. Now, overlay on all of that today's global connectivity to get the biggest innovation multiplier of all: the ability of kindred brains to find and work with each other wherever in the world they might be. Where and how will this revved-up open-source ethic prove most consequential? What kinds of standards, protocols and technical giveaways might best encourage creativity and success? This session explored the potential implications of an unleashed open-source technology movement.
