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

”