freestore:stewardship:day00

for my first day as the free store steward as part of Jasmine's and Lola's Green Grant 2019 Project, i thought it would be a good idea to take a third of a shelf of free store donations and just see what was there.

i tried to take the right third of the second shelf

packed

i laided everything out so i could take a picture to identify as many items as i could

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what	type	action

my categorization was arbitrary and based on my limited fabrication experience but i had some observations

• things that were clearly retired projects were interesting because, in my mind, they are likely to have working components, but also exist in an assemblage that might be inspiring to a free store patron.
• consumer electronic pieces were basically only usable for their visual symbolism, being untested and of unknown sanitary condition. this is especially true of power-related components.
• the majority of the scraps, as well as the majority of practical experience at itp, tended towards plywood and acrylic. however, rubber and metals could possibly play a bigger role in the prototyping culture if a dependable supply for experimentation was present.

some pieces i felt had particularly strong conceptual connotations, so i wanted to showcase them by making another container

i also made a container for abandoned itp projects

unfortunately, my ontological theories were rejected by the community by the next day

while working around the shelf, i tried to casually interview some free store patrons as they were using the resource. some observations from this:

• one expressed wariness of too much categorization of the free store, citing a concern that fear of incorrect categorization might discourage some donations
• one cited the visual ambiguity of the categorization infrastructure (mostly my box) as being confusable as a donation / abandoned itp project
• one pointed out that some donations are more toxic than others, specially recalling the donation of the bronze tinsel. they said that for a week, the free store was all but render useless because the tinsel had covered everything.
• one stressed the importance of transparent container system if one is to be used. being able to visually scan without operating drawers was crucial.
• one reported a feeling of "tragedy of the commons" when considering the free store, claiming that either unequal labor or a culture of fear-based authority would be required to establish any order in the free store one day
• one reported that their main practical relationship with the free store was for either small homegenuous materials or structural elements (i.e. weird or extremely versatile shapes) and said that if there is a sifting process implemented, they would appreciate the highlighting of elements like that.
• one suggested an instagram for showcasing interesting donations, giving an example of a donation with an intricate mechanism.

other thoughts i had while doing this exercise

• using cardboard has the advantage of being able to do quick prototyping of containers on an ad hoc based. as an example, i made a small box for the keycaps
• the idea of tested scavenged components was exciting to everyone i "interviewed"
• to study how / what is used from the free store, i thought it would be a good idea to establish some sort of low-entry-cost guestbook
• all the of donations that were clearly trash were extremely small pieces, but contributed greatly to the sense of visual disorder
• the short time while i was laying out the collection of donations i had put in my box, new donations had come in to fill the space
• there was a wide range of value in the donations. from trash to brand new components and products (like a new pair of shoes) suggesting a wide variety of previous experiences and esteem with the free store.
• many that i considered to be much heavier users of the free store and shop than i am were not aware of some of the acrylic material storage structures, the existence of a pvc supply, the policy on materials that are there beyond their expiration date, and just how much and often materials are purged from the shop. many thought that throwing out materials didn't happen (but should), suggesting a general process-awareness effort would be appreciated.

n e x t s t e p s

• jasmine and lola are installing a tom igoe's pi-camera in order to open up the possibility of regular automated visual analysis of the free store state
• jasmine and lola are planning to add more container infrastructure, namely stronger reinforcement of the bottom shelf
• for my next trip, i think i will do a full pass for trash, then work off the categories of action from this trip, i.e. looking for all of the electrical components, acrylic etc. i will try to do more interviews and, if there is more container infrastructure by that time, identify more material categories to populate.