Surge of Nerds Rebuilds Afghanistan

Over this past month, a group of motivated geeks traveled to Osama bin Laden's old stomping grounds in Afghanistan to help oversee a novel project: the Jalalabad Fab Lab.

It's an interesting experiment. A Fab Lab is essentially a small-scale workshop and rapid prototyping facility where local participants can learn new technology skills that can be applied to small business. Much of the work of the Jalalabad Fab Lab has thus far involved basic projects: printed t-shirts, small art projects, wireless antennas. Over time, lab participants are supposed to build tools to tackle more complex problems.

Anyone who has spent time over the past few years in Afghanistan is familiar with the world of Development, Inc. Afghanistan has been on the receiving end of a lot of promises: Billions have been pledged in international aid, but Afghans have become increasingly frustrated by the molasses-slow pace of development and official corruption. So it's interesting to read about a project that seems to be offering aid to Afghanistan on the economic plan.

Equipment and start-up costs equipment were provided in part by an National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Volunteers took unpaid leave to travel to Afghanistan. Total cost? Around $40,000 (not including donated time and security work). Fab Lab team leader Amy Sun has posted some diary entries on the latest trip to Jalalabad; they're worth a read. The biggest lesson, writes Sun:

Never before in history has there been a significantly large population of educated, skilled, experienced, 'young' talent with a semi-disposable income willing and eager to do professional work for little or no pay and even some that will spend their own funds. You have to provide a minimum infrastructure for them to come, and help offset some of the costs they just couldn’t bear. You have to rally them around an idea, spin a coherent vision and place them and their contributions squarely in focus. They won’t accept a mission that doesn’t make sense or isn’t technically or socially viable - and they’re more than competent to develop rational opinions that will need to be vetted and addressed. They will walk away from half-baked plans so you better be ready with supporting data for your claims; but once they buy into the vision they will autonomously meet mission with focus and intensity. It costs much less in dollars than you think.

Those in the reconstruction and development business -- and that includes the military -- are starting to pay attention to this kind of project. Last summer, I attended STAR-TIDES (Sustainable Technologies, Accelerated Research-Transportable Infrastructures for Development and Emergency Support), a demo sponsored by the Pentagon that focused on cheap and sustainable solutions for aid and development. This kind of program has the support of the Pentagon's former geek-in-chief, Linton Wells. It will be interesting if these ideas catch on elsewhere.

Check out the Fab Lab Web site; you can also see a slide show of some of the work at the Taj.

[PHOTO via Picasaweb]