9

(Elliott) #1

STEPHEN


TRANOVICH


59

LENS

a reluctance to sharing or working with
open-source formats?

ST The world of open-source technology
and the world of seed capital... they
almost feel like two magnets that are
pushing in opposite directions, trying to
overlap in their fields. Definitely, venture
capitalists are very reluctant to touch
anything open-source. A lot of startups
and a lot of individuals love open-source,
because it allows them to become a big
part of something, and allows them to have
resources that they wouldn’t otherwise
have. Smaller stage companies really
embrace open-source.
If you look at non-open-source tools,
especially when you look at information,
where information doesn’t cost anything to
reproduce, essentially the cost of that piece
of information is directly dependent on
how scarce it is. In order to keep
high prices on information, you
have to actually systematically
under-utilise that information.
I think that that systematic
under-utilisation is negative for
humanity. I would love to live in
a world where we’re utilising all
the information we have, rather
than holding back.

HS That sounds like the sort of
thing Corey Doctorow would say, about
information wanting to be useful, rather
than free... We’ve strayed a long way from
making cool things.

ST Normally the people who are entering
the Prize are either individuals or groups
that are already into open-source. Or they
are non-profits, or they’re very early stage
startups. And all four of those groups
generally embrace open-source. If you’re
a not-for-profit, you’re not trying to hold
information back, you want to share it.
The early stage startups are just trying
to get every edge they can to get off
the ground, and open-source definitely
provides that.

HS Apart from the money, what other
glittering prizes are on offer?

ST Another thing this year, that is
brand new, is that we have added
achievements to the prize. These don’t
have any money attached to them, they
are just like achievements in video
games. For example, you have the Sonic
Screwdriver Achievement, which is for a
hack that does everything; or the Ender’s
Achievement, for young entrants. We
also have the MacGyver Achievement,
for achieving something amazing with
commonplace parts. There is also the
Cyber Punkster Achievement for music
that’s ‘out there’. Lots of really fun
cultural references that are attached
to actually doing something with
your hardware.
We have given away roughly a million
dollars to open-source hardware projects.
I think that’s pretty incredible.

HS Apart from documentation and open-
source, what makes a winning Hackaday
Prize entry?

ST I think it’s an intersection of
innovation, solving a real problem,
documentation, and implementation.
Right now, we have four equally weighted
judging criteria. It has to be a unique
way to solve a problem – you might
build a really incredible thing and, if it’s
not actually solving anything, it doesn’t
have a chance of winning the prize.
Documentation, we’ve covered that. It
has to be implementable by other people.
And, it has to be complete.

HS Could you tell us your role within the
Hackaday Prize?

ST I’m not the only one working on the
project, but I definitely am the main
person working on the project. I’m the
only person where this is my beat. So
I’ve collected all of the judges for the
Hackaday Prize. I make sure that all of
the logistical pieces fit together in time,
that the actual judging process happens
on time. I’m not a finalist judge, but I do
take part in the judging process a lot.
I work directly with participants, make
sure that they’re getting their things
in on time and answering all of their
questions, helping their projects.
I do tons of media for the prize, going
to talks, I did a talk at a Maker Faire at
South by Southwest about the Prize... I’m
always on the lookout for cool projects
that are already existing, that should be
part of the Prize.

HS If anybody’s reading
this who has missed out on
the open hardware design
challenge and the robotics
challenge – and by the time
this goes to print, they’ll have
missed the power harvesting
challenge – that leaves the
human-computer interface
challenge, and the musical
instrument challenge that are
still open to our readers. Do
you have any tips, or can you give away
any insider information about what the
fields are looking like there?

ST We haven’t received any official
entrants yet, but I have had some really
really interesting conversations with
people about the human-computer
interface challenge. I know there’s going
to be a solid handful of particularly stellar
projects, which I’m really excited we can
give a platform to.
The musical instrument challenge is
exciting because I think it’s going to bring
in a whole different group of people, a
different sort of energy. Another thing I’m
really excited about is how the products in
the human-computer interface challenge
go on to become musical instruments. I’m
really excited for that.


We have given away
roughly a million dollars
to open-source hardware
projects. I think that’s
pretty incredible

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