OS Arch Zine - (idea for AEC conference distribution)
I have an idea to put together a zine, grassroots photocopy style (though could be convinced otherwise), that would serve as rallying cry of sorts for Free and Open Source alternatives to the existing proprietary software landscape in the AEC sector. I would like to show some examples of common inefficiencies, and document some of the reasons for the dismal state of interoperability, things like legacy habits, and the promotion of vendor specific proprietary solutions. Then a section that would be a 'call to action' of sorts; an introduction to free / libre ethics for a better world, an account of the history of the OS Arch community, and some examples of the great tools we have at our disposal. As a finale, the case for IFC as the ideal schema for BIM, and Bonsai for authoring and manipulation... and a larger vision for the future in which the only barrier to entry with doing professional grade work would be a computer and an individuals time and motivation. Perhaps this is just one section? Maybe there could be articles or tutorials submitted? I would love to hear some feedback or ideas / proposals that anyone might have.
A little background on how I came to this...
I presented at a conference a few months ago on the work I have been doing over the two years in improving software workflows and designing and implementing DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) at an offsite construction company. We design buildings which we panelize in a shop, truck them to site, and install them with a crane. I started the job 2 years ago, and I came from the field as a carpenter, with an interest in improving upstream processes. When I started the process was quite inefficient and involved exporting dwgs of plans and sections from revit, importing into cadwork, and redrawing the volumes for walls floors, windows, etc manually. I quickly discovered IFC as the ideal intermediary between revit and cadwork, and I began in earnest in improving the outputs, designing and implementing standard modeling techniques and improving attribution mappings. I would prefer to never work in revit, learning how to do attribute mappings and work with families was akin to elective dental surgery for me, and I never got that far with truly optimizing it. I did figure some things out though. I presented on details of this process in my talk. The conference was in New England USA and was a mix of architects, engineers, builders, code enforcement, policymakers, etc. One of the main things I heard after the talk from people who came up to me, was that they didn't use Revit, weren't interested in working with it, that they preferred Archicad or rhino and that the revit examples I gave we not of interest to them. So there I was, and I found myself saying "you and me both!", "I don't like revit at all' , "I never want to use it!" , etc , etc. So that was my take away.. I am DONE pandering to the legacy use of proprietary bloatware, no more interest in discussing or exploring its use, spending effort on bending it to my will or becoming an accidental advocate for it's use by discussing it in presentations. The path forward is to envision the future, DEMONSTRATE alternatives, educate others on the issues with the legacy AEC software, and show them what is possible with free and open solutions. There is another big conference coming up in a couple months that I will be attending, I'd love to bring an educational zine to distribute in person or leave around on tables. I would love some feedback on the idea, thoughts on angles I could take, ideas for contributions, etc. I will start working on it on my own soon, I am sending off this message in effort to motivate myself and to create some semblance of responsibility to carry this forward.
Thanks to everyone here for the inspiration.
- APG
Comments
Great! Here is a dump of my thoughts for this:
Education
Public institutions