DIYbio:Hi-Five/16-Dec-2008/Chat

Mackenzie Cowell
7:12 PM
he wasn't present
d2_jcline
7:12 PM

David Nunez
7:13 PM
I want to hear more about that arduino project
7:13 PM
 
david@davidnunez.com
tito
7:14 PM
ya
7:15 PM
 
Jonathon, are you in CA?
David Nunez
7:15 PM
I too have little bio/science experience
Mackenzie Cowell added jkelly555 to this chat
7:15 PM
jkelly555 cannot be added due to his/her privacy settings
7:15 PM
David Nunez
7:15 PM
hope my inexperience brings in a fresh perspective 
tito
7:17 PM
it will, david 
Alec Nielsen
7:17 PM
hey tito!
tito
7:17 PM
alec is legit
Alec Nielsen
7:18 PM
ha thanks
7:18 PM
 
what've you been up to
tito
7:18 PM
working
7:18 PM
 
let's chat on skype later tonight
d2_jcline
7:18 PM
re: my location - I am currently looking to relocate - I was in California 50% and Taipei 50%
7:18 PM
 
I am looking at Austin Tx
tito
7:18 PM
nice, I'm in Sacramento, just moved here
David Nunez
7:19 PM
if I scrub the usernames and text, does anyone have an issue with me blogging this setup w/ a screenshot? (i.e. how tokbox and skype work for small-medium sized ad-hoc diy teams)?
tito
7:19 PM
I'm an system tester with Accenture during the day - test scripts
7:19 PM
 
i'm cool with it dave
d2_jcline
7:19 PM
No screenshot or chat logs please
Alec Nielsen
7:19 PM
sounds good
tito
7:19 PM
alec you know meredith?
Alec Nielsen
7:19 PM
no, i've never met her
tito
7:19 PM
ah
Alec Nielsen
7:19 PM
i know of her though
tito
7:20 PM
ya, tom knight is awesmoe, willing to entertain any idea
Mackenzie Cowell
7:20 PM
http://diybio.pbwiki.com/Dec+16+Hi-Five
tito
7:21 PM
somehow connect the info on openwetware with diybio.org
7:22 PM
 
ya
Norman
7:22 PM
http://openwetware.org/wiki/DIYbio:Notebook/Open_Gel_Box_2.0
tito
7:23 PM
yooooooooo
Mackenzie Cowell added Len Sassaman to this chat
7:23 PM
Len Sassaman cannot be added due to his/her privacy settings
7:23 PM
Mackenzie Cowell
7:23 PM
len should be in this chat now
David Nunez
7:24 PM
Conference Idea:  I know lots of people organizing panels, etc for SxSW in Austin.
7:25 PM
 
Is there anyone near Texas?  (I used to live in austin)
d2_jcline
7:25 PM
URL for SxSW in Austin = ?
David Nunez
7:25 PM
http://sxsw.com  -- look at the "Interactive" festival
7:26 PM
 
it's primarily a web conference, but they love the Make / DIY and Games communities
7:26 PM
 
the point being... everyone blogs everything that goes on at that conf
7:27 PM
 
maker faire, for that matter
tito
7:28 PM
sick!
Jason Morrison
7:28 PM
len your audio dropped out for me
7:28 PM
 
it's static after "10 or 12 good..."
Norman
7:28 PM
same here, audio dropped out
Alec Nielsen
7:28 PM
me too, a while ago
d2_jcline
7:28 PM
I got dropped
tito
7:29 PM
hmm
Mackenzie Cowell added jkelly555 to this chat
7:29 PM
d2_jcline
7:30 PM
Biohack at codecon = ?
tito
7:30 PM
i'm also dropped
David Nunez
7:30 PM
I like it.  so what other hacker / code conferences do we think might enjoy a diybio track?
jkelly555
7:31 PM
when is the codecon conference?
Mackenzie Cowell
7:31 PM
mac will get project description q/a from each person via email
Jason Morrison
7:31 PM
http://www.codecon.org/2009/ sfo apr 17-19
Mackenzie Cowell
7:32 PM
mac will start list that keeps track of calls for "biohacking papers, presentations, posters, etc"
tito
7:32 PM
let's steal some software
jkelly555
7:33 PM
hey alec, id defiintely email tom about the turbidostat.  he'd probbaly pass along eveyrthing he has i bet if you were going to crank on it.
David Nunez
7:34 PM
is the idea to present representative mock-ups of projects in progress?
7:35 PM
 
So tangential question -- does bio include agricultural stuff?
Jason Morrison
7:35 PM
david - right now? going through http://diybio.pbwiki.com/Dec%2B16%2BHi-Five i think
7:35 PM
 
& totally 
David Nunez
7:37 PM
yes (grabbing link)
d2_jcline
7:37 PM
did you try high schools?
Mackenzie Cowell
7:37 PM
not yet
d2_jcline
7:38 PM
community college will likely lease out space to "startups" but may be expensive
Mackenzie Cowell
7:38 PM
mac will chat with the Norman's Biogen idec contact
David Nunez
7:39 PM
I was thinking about the cambridge innovation center... but it seems both cost prohibitive and possibly unfriendly to wet applications
7:39 PM
 
yes.
tito
7:39 PM
ya but a weekend would be much better
7:40 PM
 
or Friday afternoon, for me
David Nunez
7:40 PM
nail down a specific date of the month ("ex. second tuesday")
7:40 PM
 
and don't change the sched.
d2_jcline
7:40 PM
sounds good
Alec Nielsen
7:40 PM
works for me
jkelly555
7:40 PM
sounds good
Mackenzie Cowell
7:40 PM
Easier for Len to partipate if  call is earlier
d2_jcline
7:41 PM
alternate times every other call
David Nunez
7:41 PM
please set up a google calendar or something I can subscribe to via ical
7:41 PM
 
(I can take that on if need be)
tito
7:41 PM
any opinions on weekend meetings?
David Nunez
7:42 PM
this is a good point... especially if the rhetoric is all about "hacking" which has, unfortunately, negative PR
Mackenzie Cowell
7:43 PM
Jason Bobe jump in here
7:44 PM
 
1. BioTerrorists will be professionals (DIYbio isn't really going to facilitate more terrorism)
David Nunez
7:45 PM
I'm missing what the concern is, here.   Are we worried about negative publicity and subsequent shutting down of activity?
Alec Nielsen
7:45 PM
i think the worry is actual bioerror
Mackenzie Cowell
7:45 PM
2. More positive biotech experts in the world is going to be good
d2_jcline
7:47 PM
I am concerned about actual bad things happening from accidental or overlooked engineering
David Nunez
7:47 PM
Yikes.
Mackenzie Cowell
7:47 PM
"Won't diybio enable tomorrows bioterrorists?"
ultralights vs. flightschool (dedicated terrorists won't be amateurs)
better to live in world w/ lots of experts (99.999999999% who are well intentioned)
wrong focus: bioerror way bigger threat than bioterror
we believe in certification programs; they impose constraints, but increase the ability of people to do the activity because it is explicity allowed
model rocketry
ham radio
recreational diving
ultralight flying
Food for thought: what activites are allowed without a license?  Exploratory bio, sure, but what about transforming dna purchased from the already-regulated synthesis companies?
7:47 PM
 
See section at http://diybio.pbwiki.com/Dec+9+Hi-Five
David Nunez
7:48 PM
Question: If diybio gets into the business of "certifying" or even "presenting safety information" does that present liability issues?
7:48 PM
 
(I.e. "diybio said if I do protocol X this way, then I wouldn't kill everyone in the lab... whoops")
Alec Nielsen
7:49 PM
maybe, but disseminating safety info is better than the alternative
David Nunez
7:50 PM
wrt Ham Radio -- FCC is a centralized organization that limits access to the hobby w/o certification (i.e. you can go to jail if you even ATTEMPT to broadcast a certain strength w/o registering yourself and all of you equipment).  Dangerous analogy, imho.
d2_jcline
7:51 PM
ham radio - you can do anything you want as long as your transmitter is below 50 watts
7:51 PM
 
or etc.
David Nunez
7:52 PM
question wrt plants - to what extent do "copyrights" on species of plants interfere w/ indie aggie people?
d2_jcline
7:53 PM
"hackers" was originally a term used for criminal suspects..  because public perception was unsophisticated
David Nunez
7:53 PM
Managing PR, then, is an argument to stay away from grungy hacker-cons which don't, for example, do proper call for papers.
d2_jcline
7:54 PM
A better response for reporters might be:  "We have safety documents that we freely distribute" etc.
David Nunez
7:55 PM
As a reporter, my next question would be: "Who wrote those documents?"
7:55 PM
 
and "Does your community read them?"
d2_jcline
7:55 PM
Um, you're smarter than the average reporter...
7:56 PM
 
all schools go thru 1-2 day 'safety lecture + quiz' training
Jason Morrison
7:57 PM
a set of biotech experiments aimed at 2-yr college or hgh schools that I'd like to replicate - http://www.biotechinstitute.org/resources/shoestring_biotech.html
David Nunez
7:57 PM
I agree w/ that. I used to run a program in Texas which encouraged kids to learn to program via building video games.  It was a GREAT story, "See?  Games aren't all that bad."
7:58 PM
 
who was doing the arduino project?  can you ping me via david@davidnunez.com ?
Alec Nielsen
7:59 PM
that was me
Norman
7:59 PM
http://www.doodle.com/
d2_jcline
8:02 PM
license comparison
8:02 PM
 
http://88proof.com/synthetic_biology/blog/archives/161
Mackenzie Cowell
8:03 PM
len
8:03 PM
 
http://bbf.openwetware.org/MailingLists.html
Norman
8:04 PM
http://openwetware.org/wiki/DIYbio
Jason Morrison
8:04 PM
http://openwetware.org/wiki/Join
d2_jcline
8:04 PM

David Nunez
8:04 PM
great call.  Thanks!
Alec Nielsen has left the chat
8:06 PM