DIYbio/FAQ
DIYbio FAQ v1.2: "The biohacker's FAQ"
- Please update this FAQ mercilessly with Q&A !
This Frequently Asked Questions document is for the DIYBio mailing list. This FAQ is now split into multiple topics for easier reading.
FAQ Revision History
- 1.0 - copied on 4/7/2009 from heybryan.org...DIYbio_FAQ
- 1.1 - some updates to clarify original version
- 1.2 - new sections, reorg, + sections about DIY agar DOI:10.1007/BF00152620 --jcline@ieee.org
What is DIYbio, as an organization?
DIYbio is an organization that aims to help make biology a worthwhile pursuit for citizen scientists, amateur biologists, and DIY biological engineers who value openness and safety. This will require mechanisms for amateurs to increase their knowledge and skills, access to a community of experts, the development of a code of ethics, responsible oversight, and leadership on issues that are unique to doing biology outside of traditional professional settings.
DIYbio is a distributed community of amateur or professional biologists, industry professional or amateur engineers, biomedical engineers, life scientists, computer scientists, etc. Our activities range across a broad spectrum, from molecular naturalism (sequencing part of your own genome or bacterial populations) to biological engineering to building low-cost, open-source alternative lab equipment (Gel Box 2.0) to writing open source software for biology, to creating open source hardware systems and manufacturing.
<html> <div style="float:left;"><object width="560" height="315"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3454392&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3454392&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="560" height="315"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/3454392">The DIYbio Community - Presented at Ignite Boston 5 (2009)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/macowell">mac cowell</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /></div> <object width="560" height="340" style="float:left;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-IIWH6Hhcnc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-IIWH6Hhcnc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> <div style="clear:both"> </div><br /> </html>
What is DIYbio's mission?
Are we moving to a future where everyone performs a little genetic engineering?
Who is a "biohacker"?
- What do people think of when they think of a typical biohacker?
- probably in the sense of the subculture (more broadly, Hacker culture)
- combines the hacker ethic of biologists, programmers, DIY enthusiasts, etc.
- Hacker ethic of the Homebrew Computer Club
- Free software movement
- people who enjoy "hacks".
- GNU is a hack: a recursive acronym for "GNU is Not Unix".
- might be somewhat related to biopunk.
How can I find out more and contribute?
Many ways! Here's a brief overview:
- mailing list (most activity) (note the discussion on the list's standards)
- IRC (#diybio on irc.freenode.net)
- local groups
So far, we mainly communicate through the mailing list. There is also a lower volume DIYbio announce mailing list, which occassionally has announcements that the community might be interested in. Also, there are groups for:
- San Francisco
- Chicago
- New York (city)
- London
- Boston.
- The main list is (as mentioned above) DIYBio mailing list
You're welcome to subscribe to the mailing lists- in fact, we encourage it.
There are other forums:
- biopunk.org
- diybioforum.org
- sciencemadness.org
- roguesci.org
- please expand this list
What are the Guidelines for Posting to the DIYBio mailing lists and/or Forums?
As the DIYBio mailing list membership grows, it is more important to follow good guidelines for easier readability within discussions.
Please:
- Follow conventional netiquette rules.
- When quoting another author, keep the attribution line ("On such-and-such-date, Jonathan Cline wrote:").
- Delete portions of the paragraph which do not pertain to the new reply. This is known as "Trimming the post".
- Replace deleted text with "[...]" if it changes the placement of words or sentences in a paragraph.
- Trim all quoted text to be the minimum necessary to follow the discussion.
- Add your message below any quoted text. This means "write your reply at the bottom".
- Do not "top post". "Top posting" is when the reply is added above the quoted text. This is not as easy to read when there are many replies in a thread. For this reason, do not "top post", only add the reply at the bottom.
- Change the 'Subject' of the email when the topic changes.
Where can I see an archive of previous DIYbio discussions and questions?
Right over here.
Some of our favorites ("member picks") include discussions on ..
- Public perception
- your favorite thread here
Is there a group in my area?
There's probably a group nearby- maybe at least somebody somewhat interested in getting together for lunch or maybe sitting down over a bench and doing serious experiments- at any rate, you can find out about those near you by checking out the map below or diybio.org/local.
<html> <iframe width="575" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=42.358163,0.0&z=1&spn=0,0&msid=117373025318808082442.00045fd549f07830e0465&output=embed&s=AARTsJqk9drOPzgJzPIckjwHnoC0bQwDAA"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=42.358163,0.0&z=2&spn=0,0&msid=117373025318808082442.00045fd549f07830e0465&source=embed">View a larger map, or to add yourself or your group to the map.</a> You'll need to sign into your Google account in order to add a new point. Here's a <a href="http://skitch.com/jasonmorrison/bycdy/add-a-point.png-png-image-864x494-pixels-scaled-70">screenshot of how to add a new point on the map</a>. </html>
You may also be interested in other local science groups around the world:
- dorkbot group ("people doing strange things with electricity")
- hackerspace.
- please expand this list
Are there any videos from regional groups?
DIYbio-NYC: Shot glass DNA extraction
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DIYbio-SF: Tito's food coloring electrophoresis
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DIYbio-boston: diybio visits the fablab
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Has DIYbio been in the news?
Yes.
- 2009-08-01: Am I a biohazard? (The Scientist)
- June 2009 issue of hplusmagazine
- June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine [1]
- 2009-05-18: In attics and closets, "biohackers" prove the spirit of Thomas Edison endures
- 2009-05-12: In Attics and Closets, 'Biohackers' Discover Their Inner Frankenstein
- 2009-03-18: The Geneticist in the Garage
- 2009-01-19: DIY DNA: One Father's Attempt to Hack His Daughter's Genetic Code
- 2009-01-07: Rise of the garage genome hackers
- 2008-12-30: Students, Scientists Build Biological Machines (transcript) (Lehrer on PBS) (video)
- 2008-12-25: Amateurs are trying genetic engineering at home (Slashdot)
- 2008-12-18: Público: Biohackers: reventar y reinventar la biología desde los garajes
- 2008-12-11: The Biohacking Hobbyist
- 2008-09-15: Hackers aim to make biology household practice
- many, many other occurences- keep sending them in
- also, there have been many news stories from the pre-DIYbio era which should be in this list
What are some educational resources for DIYBio and Biology? What are all these terms and technologies DIYBio keeps discussing?
See DIYBio FAQ: Education & Resources
What is open source hardware?
http://p2pfoundation.net/Open_source_hardware
"Open Source Hardware is hardware that keeps its designs available in a way similar to the open source in software." There is no defacto license for open source hardware yet. Some websites (like ponoko, thingiverse, unptnt) put hardware CAD files under a "Creative Commons" license. However, it's still unknown how this is likely to interface with the legal systems around the world (i.e., patents). And it's not necessarily true that putting something directly into the public domain is the best way to go either. So, the future is presently unclear- in terms of legal issues.
DIYbio has many big supporters of standardized packaging formats (like .tar.gz, .deb, .tar, .rpm, etc.) for automatic downloading of hardware components and instructions on how to build the components. There are some sites that almost implement this (but not quite) such as instructables, ponoko, thingiverse, odesigns, unptnt, etc.
- Open Source Everything project, adciv.org
- Open Source Ecology (Factor E Farm, openfarmtech, etc.)
- ToolBook (just some links to other articles about ToolBook) (infrastructure)
'Slashdot discussions
- How do I put an invention into the public domain?
- The State of Open Source Hardware in 2008
- Open source hardware for fun and profit (re: Arduino)
- Open source hardware gift guide
- Open source hardware gets public introduction
- Best open source licenses for hardware?
- What is open source hardware?
- other slashdot.org threads about OSH
What Projects has DIYBio completed? What projects are DIYBio contributors working on now? Who is working on what? Who do I contact to offer to collaborate on a project?
This section to be compiled from many sources soon. Or you can start by adding your project here!