Spreading the Wealth

Let's make the assumption that people are not lazy, a way they sometimes like to portray themselves. "I did nothing this weekend, and it was great." We like learning things and we want to contribute, build and be productive; that's why online video workshops like Citizen Engineer have such great potential. They are amazing tools to teach people complex procedures that are interesting, useful and able to be replicated.

I just learned how to turn a pay phone into a home phone and how make a SIMM card reader. At first this seemed completely useless to me, but as I continued to watch I realized the implications. The way we educate ourselves is fundamentally changing. This is just one example of how a very thorough instructor can bring an interested party up to speed on a relatively complex subject very quickly. This open source approach to sharing knowledge is exciting because it will enable us to make advancements much faster than before. If I really need to know electrical engineering so I can hack my SIMM card or recycle a pay phone I just bought on eBay; well this video empowers me to do it. Often times, creative solutions are derived from people approaching projects with fresh perspectives, another advantage of sharing information.

It seems we're still at the beginning of the do it yourself culture and I think we'll continue to see people developing their talents more pursuing their interests at a deeper, more involved level.

Check out an episode of Citizen Engineer:


Citizen_Engineer from citizen engineer on Vimeo.