+ MetaReciclagem

MetaReciclagem is an open network created in 2002 in Brazil. I has been the result of intensive exchange through the internet of over a hundred people from different sectors in a mailing list. At first a collective in São Paulo proposing the reuse of donated electronic equipment with free and open source software, soon MetaReciclagem turned into a network of multiple identities working towards the deconstruction of technology, taken in a broad sense, and its re-purposing and re-signification in different contexts aiming at social change. While opting not to follow the common path in Brazil - creating an NGO and earning lots of money from the government by repeating the same practices over and over again-, MetaReciclagem has established distributed and deep dialog with projects in the government and civil society, universities and businesses, proposing a participatory approach to collaborative exchange between people and institutions. Members of MetaReciclagem have been, in an emergent way, an important influence to plenty of Brazilian projects related to subjects such as digital inclusion and technological appropriation; free and open source software, knowledge and culture; media and technological education; open innovation networks and media arts; and many others. It has emerged as a typically Brazilian yet globally replicable way to think and do human-centered technology development, supporting ethical principles such as collaborative production and social uses of technology. After five years, the network has become a reference in technological appropriation in Brazil, counting hundreds of collaborators, as well as being used as key methodology for the elaboration and implementation of large-scale governmental projects such as the Pontos de Cultura, Casas Brasil and others. More than a technology project, it has aggregated educational perspective, artistic experimentation and the development of alternate economic cycles, having received honorary mentions on Prix Ars Electronica Digital Communities in 2006 and on APC Betinho Communications Prize in 2005, and being listed a finalist for the APC Chris Nicol FOSS prize in 2007.

+ Gambiarra

Gambiarra is a Brazilian definition for the informal deviation of technical knowledge. It is a widespread cultural practice, consisting of all kinds of improvised solutions for everyday problems with any available material. It is a first, personal drive to what MetaReciclagem has been doing: the will to creatively transform whatever we want to transform by exploring the indetermination of technology, here understood in a broad sense - computers, toothbrushes, axes, fireplaces, language. Gambiarra is less a solution than a process: in the boundary of "temporary" and "definitive" solutions, it is always about trying, observing, learning and trying again. That unstable condition, even is sometimes less effective, allows for a great deal of ad-hoc innovation. Bringing that understanding to the perspective of information technology and working with the ideas of free (livre) software, open hardware, open spectrum and open content, deeply involved with social contexts, has been proving a powerful way to intervene in some contexts in Brazil.

+ Mutirão

A mutirão is a tropicalized form of the multitude, requested whenever one needs help to accomplish goals bigger than her/his capacities permit: buildind a wall, cleaning a home, fixing street lamps or anything. Whatever the personal differences, people tend to see the Mutirão as a collective effort towards a greater good, that temporarily suspends tensions and puts people to work together. A Mutirão is usually non-hyerarchical and dynamic. Each one contributes with what s/he wants or can, and the result is often satisfatory. It can be seen as a very productive way for a community to accomplish common goals.

II. Methodology

+ Open source multimedia publication

The free software movement has been able to prove the viability of decentralized and emergent development of intellectual production. Hundreds of thousands of software programmers from all over the world are responsible for the development of a myriad of solutions for virtually every software need.

This way to create knowledge has been influencing other areas as well. Many experiences have been based upon the principles of free software. But most of them are limited to focus on the distribution of finished works, and not to the deep process of collaborative exchange that free software proposes. It's not only about allowing the free distribution, but also of creating effectively open and collaborative processes, supported by development communities.

The idea of an open source publication comes, in that sense, to propose more than mere spread of knowledge, but fundamentally the adoption of collaborative principles for the whole process of production – publishing the sources, raw materials, interviews, references, articles, the creation of a collaborative editorial community and collective decision-making.

+ Online collaboration

For the development of the open source multimedia publication Mutirão da Gambiarra, a collaborative production methodology is to be used: establishing an editorial group following the release of an open call, using collaborative online tools for an ongoing level of exchange and open the process of ellaborating the publication to contributions and comments of any interested parties. The online environment will be built with the free content management system Drupal, and any improvements are to be published back to its community.

The URL http://mutirao.metareciclagem.org will host all the documentation generated, as well as a meta-narrative that comprising of technical issues, application of collaborative methodology and findings during the process.