Hi folks,
Still working on my Masters (despite some setbacks).
One are of interest for me (atm) is around wider network(s) of MakerSpaces & FabLabs, and trying to fill in the gaps in between where there is shared or common needs.
Think of a federation of independent spaces - not unlike the UK Hackspace Foundation & FabLab network.
One area of need is around education (young & old) & certification, so that people can come in to a space, learn some skills or competency on equipment, and then be able to use similar equipment elsewhere - qualifications for new job, tertiary institution, other MakerSpaces/FabLabs - local or abroad.
The obvious answer or solution would be micro-credentialing/micro-certification; the most widely adopted standard seeming to be Open Badges.
Some noteworthy players in this space seem to be:
- Accredible
- Badgr
- & and interesting implementation @ MIT’s BlockCerts
(Related to this)
I’ve noticed that Fab-Manager have updated their stack, so I’m hoping to figure out some sort of integration so that relevant badges can be queried on a blockchain to verify that a member is certified to safely operate a piece of equipment (NFC/BLE scanning a tag & IoT-enabling via MQTT, or something along those lines)
What I’m hoping to achieve is some sort of Open, verifiable “Makers Pass” that could be used across 'Spaces/Labs & attractive to employers/benefactors.
This may seem like a Projects question (and probably is), but more to the point may be to figure out if the adoption & use of Open Badges across Spaces/FabLabs is even a viable path to go down to begin with, or is there some consideration I’ve not thought of yet?