Talks local programme TEDxLive 2013

• Sjoerd van der Linde: The Story about our Past
• Marianne Gybels: “Forget about runkeeper, save lives with data”
• Ap Verheggen: “Extreme weather needs extreme solutions”

Foto’s TEDxAmsterdam Live 2013

All photo’s by Hicham Ghalbane (Ghalbane.nl)

I was attending a Google Glass event recently with the editor in chief of Engadget Tim Stevens. The event was part of a smart move from a few entrepreneurs who created some buzz around their new company by getting Tim to the Netherlands. I get to play around with Glass for a while and talked about possible applications with guys from the optician industry, a beer brand and a few other companies. Here’s my experience.

The first thing I was surprised by was the seamlessness of how the thing fits on your head. I am not a regular glass wearer myself, but it didn’t feel awkward at all; it’s light and it doesn’t block your vision in any way. A good thing to know is that the current Explorer editions of Glass are a year old, somewhere in the Google X lab there are some new versions already who are probably even lighter and have a better camera and what not.

My two big take aways

Take away 1. The current version is really limited (yes we know that already). You can search, get directions, take a picture/record a video and send a message. You need the follow the pre-programmed commands or else Glass just doesn’t listen. That’s the main flaw at this moment: you can just give commands, but the device really becomes interesting once you can ask it questions (Walking from work to the bus and asking what time is my bus leaving for example). Also the touchpad interaction takes some time to get used to: the touch surface has the same tangible experience as the whole side of the Glass, so you will be tapping at the wrong places for a while. Also opening up a full API will give Glass a huge boost in applications of course. Than there’s the price: for a consumer product this thing shouldn’t cost more than $600 dollars at first, and $300 within 2/3 years.

Take away 2. Yes, this might be the new iPhone. It really feels like such a moment to me. The iPhone really paved the way for new type of information behavior. I feel like a smartwatch is just like a smartphone only the experience moves from your pocket to your wrist. This really feels like a new paradigm (although wearable devices also have a long history already) of information experiences with a device that is more out of your way (we can stop tapping a piece of LCD) and can be more anticipatory and contextual. Although I do feel that a place on the wrist is more suitable than on your face, especially from a mass adoption standpoint.

Glass vs Smartphones: less emasculating?
According to Sergey Brin Glass is less emasculating than a smartphone, mainly because we don’t have to stare down to a screen all the time. We talked about this with Tim and he can sort of subscribe to this argument. With a phone every vibration and sound triggers you to take the device out of your pocket to judge if the incoming information is relevant enough to check out. Glass enables you to filter out the crap and only focus on the important messages coming. But these messages will have the same immediacy as they have on smartphones, meaning your going to zone out of everything your doing and read the message.

Future applications
We dreamed up some applications for future iterations of Glass. Here are some of the ideas:

• Real Time Translation
• Augmenting and sharing musea experiences
• Shopping: real time credits info as you pay etc.
• Gaming: yes, this could be an awesome immersive gaming experience
• Instruction video’s
• Contact management  think of a HighLight on steroids
• Becoming your own virtual personal assistent.
• Telepresence and Virtual displays

And so..
It was awesome actually wearing the thing. It is not about this device, it is not about Google or Glass, it is about a new wave of devices and information behavior that makes far more sense than our current smartphone interaction. Yes, privacy will be an issue. It is really easy to snap a photo or video without anyone knowing it, we need to figure this one out. And a universal solution might be impossible.

Prices need to come down, voice interaction needs to become much better and the API needs to be open, for this thing to really come alive. But when it does (and it will), we will use this technology. ‘Media are an extension of men’ a wise man once said, wearable tech will make this a more accurate prediction than McLuhan could ever imagine.

TEDTalk Sergey Brin: Why Google Glass

This post was originally posted to the VINT blog.

Van der Linde: “Over the years, I have come to realize that archaeology is very much alive, and has a lot to do with the present. Investigating the past is often more about politics than about ancient civilisations.”

It depends on who you ask
History is written by conquerors, we learn that in high school at history class, if your teacher is any good. Van der Linde: ”If you look critically at who ‘owns’ the past, you might say that western archaeologists have often excluded communities in the countries whose pasts they are investigating”. Taking that in notice, the question is: is our story of the past the right one?

In modern times we have the methods to analyse all kind of relics, but we still need someone to connect the dots. Because archeaology depends on individuals, it’s is by definition a subjective story. Van der Linde: “If I ‘d take 3 specialists and ask them to connect the same dots, it would generate 3 different stories. This influences life in current times: who was here first, who’s land is this, etc. So the impact is enormous”.

Taking that in mind: “How would we feel if African archaeologists came to investigate the Netherlands and excavate our Hunebedden? I feel we should think again about the meaning of cultural heritage as a human right and how a collaborative approach towards the archaeological past can contribute to a better tomorrow.”

How should we preserve it?
The main question Van der Linde is asking, is how we can deal with the remains and deal with secure our heritage in a global unified way, respecting the local stories or even better, using them to connect the dots. We’ve made a first step into doing so with UNESCO, the organisation trying to preserve the worlds heritage. Van der Linde: “But something went wrong if you look at the map of their heritage management, it’s mainly focussed on Europe. So is there no heritage elsewhere? No, it’s about our Western oriented focus”.

“When we turn the tables,” says Van der Linde, “it shows us that we should recognize that we come from ‘a land far away’ to analyse their local history, their stories, their lives. How would we feel if our cultural remains ends in a museum in Ghana, with the perspective of the Ghanese people on it? So we need to see that our own investigation is not objective nor our exclusive right (on the truth). We have to stop seeing history as data and see the stories and the different versions of it, depending on who you ask. In that way it can function as tool for creating a dialogue between different cultures, thus effecting our current lifes.”

Time freezed object or a living thing?

In doing so it also shows us what heritage is and how other cultures see preservation. Some of them state that heritage shouldn’t be preserved by scientists, that culture and history is something that’s alive and part of a story. Not an time freezed object that should be put away in museum. A whole different approach then our own style upto now. It shows us a different way of looking at the past and more importantly using the past to benefit the present.

So if we learn to investigate the past with this knowledge, we can make a better anayses and understand our history better. So if the best predictor of the future is our past behaviour. this knowledge is in a way not only afffecting present time, it defines our future.

Marianne Gybels was our second speaker in the local program of TEDxAmsterdam live, before the livestream of TEDGlobal kicked in. Gybels is working at AmLAb, a hub that wants to collaborate with development cooperations to use new information technologies.

About AmLab

Marianne Gybels: “AmLab stands for Amsterdam Lab, a physical hotspot in the centre of Amsterdam where 1%CLUB, Akvo and Text to Change join forces and create an innovative work environment for social change. We collaborate to help people working in development cooperation use new information technologies and tools to give communities a stronger voice, bring aid work to life online, and engage a new, interconnected generation. We are presenting Three60, our Global Label and Infrastructure for Aid Transparency and Data Gathering using mobile phones as reporting tools. In many parts of the world, mobile technology is increasingly the only reliable infrastructure. With the implementation of this new global label of aid transparency, not only the global audience will be able to connect and get involved, but rather the people on grassroots level are empowered to take life-changing decisions into their own hands. Making information about aid available to everyone will create the possibility to increase the effectiveness of aid.”

TEDxAmsterdam Live Talk
Gybels: “Everyday we collect data. Data is everywhere. It makes my life easier, my decisions better and data gives me insight in a lot of stuff. But does it help Lynn (a third world girl). How can we help her with this great power of data? What data could we collect to make her life easier? To collect data to counter bigger problems in the world? Instead of using it just for a runkeeper app?”

The areas in the world with the biggest need for data don’t have the tools right now for gathering it. But they do have mobile phones. Gybels: They don’t have a toilet or electricity, but thet do have a mobile phone. We could use it to give Lynn feedback about her treatments at the clinic, so she wouldn’t have to travel a day to get to it. Maybe this is not a life changing thing, but it is a great help in her daily life.”

Gybels: “What if we would create an open system with mobile devices wich would generate realtime data, available for anyone. So more people can benifit and make use of the data wich it collects? Form individuals like Lynn up to governments and differtent agency’s who aid society?”

Three60
Three60 is an initiative of 1%CLUB, Akvo and Text to Change. These organizations collaborate to help people working in development aid use new information technologies and tools to give communities a voice. But how does it work? Gybels: “We show on a global level different sets of information, for example the mortality rate on a country level. If we zoom in we can see the distribution of healthcentres and knowledge on subjects, so we can see where the gaps are. And for Lynn, she now has an option, she can choose to which healthcenter she wants to go. On a personal level it offers the possibility for feedback or advice and monitor actual change in habits. Imagine what would could happen if we all could combine all the data we have in one big datacollection. That’s our ambition. When we have that, we believe that this openness, we can make the complex issues more easy to solve. We use the information for social change.”

At TEDxAmsterdamLive, this afternoon in Podium Mozaiek in Amsterdam West, Ap Verheggen was our first speaker in the local program. Verheggen is an artist, who likes to make the impossible possible, in a very practical but almost inconceivable way.

Verheggen: “Man travelled to the moon and learned so much about the earth along the way. This was an extreme endeavour in 1969. I like thinking in extremes because I too learn so much on the way. I installed two monumental sculptures on a drifting iceberg in Greenland to show the extend and speed of climate change in the Arctic. This extreme art project opened my eyes to challenges the local Inuit face in adapting their lives to rapidly changing conditions: a direct connection between climate and culture. It became clear to me that climate change IS culture change. My current project is the creation of an autonomous Arctic glacier in a hot, waterless desert. We found: the hotter the air, the more ice. We actually live in an ocean of water; we just don’t see it. We may be swimming in a sea of solutions we do not see.”

Verheggen’s made a special art project in the Arctic: a sculpture that will go down with the melting ice, as an icon for the environmental issues we are facing as a society. Verheggen:

“That is wat I like about the Artic. The silence, the nature. As a filmmaker I’ve travelled around this area and could see the changes. I travelled within one year two times to the same place. The first time it was -20 celcius , one year leater  it was +20. That is 40 degrees difference! I’m not concerned about global warming as mostly descirbed, a rise with 1 degree a year is not the problem. My concern is in the extremes, such as at the Artic.”

We should adjust to the nature, not the otherway around, says Verheggen. The project on the Arctic is showing the speed of change. The sculpture is marking just one iceberg, but it is iconic for environmental changes. Verheggen: “My most pessimistic view was that 2 or 3 years later, people can recognize my drifting iceberg across the shore. It melted only a month later. With this project we had worldwide coverage. It was clear, with art we can reach people, tell them a  message.”

Climate change = culture change
Climate change = culture change, says Verheggen. It always changed and we adapted. Now it’s going into the extreme. How do we cope with that? How do we get back on track? We have to focus on solutions. We can witness it from our windows right now. Extreme weather in Germany, as well here in the Netherlands.”

Sunglacier
Verheggen’s newest project is SunGlacier. Verheggen: “We’re making the impossible possible. I like to see things in a different perspective..I want to show my confidence in our science to finding the solutions. With this porject I want to show we can find it. I want to make a glacier in an extreme hot place, the desert. We’ve always adapted to change, so with this project I want to show we can adapt tot his extreme changes. We will be using the energy from the sun to cool the condens from the air into water, and then into… ice!  So the burning mechanism of extreme heat is actually contributing to making something extreme cold: ice! If we can create a glacier in the desert we can show we have an ocean of solutions, we only have to find them!”

All testing results didn’t match with the theory. Verheggen: “Why? We’ve touched the border of science, so we haven’t explored it in depth. We’ve entered a world in which scientists haven’t entered before. That’s why this doesn’t match.”

Extreme solutions
Extreme weather needs extreme solutions. Stop naming, blaming and shaming, says Verheggen. No time for that and it doesn’t benefit our cause. Sustaineble is not enough, it’s about responsible behaviour.

TED originally started out as a conference about the latest developments for Technology, Education and Design. Nowadays, it has got a much wider range as the many personal touching stories at the last TEDxAmsterdam conference proved. But we still want to bring you the latest innovations! And what better place to check out new developments in design than at one of the biggest design conferences in the world: What Design Can Do? Today, my report is about the biggest and boldest design projects that were presented during the event.

Pragmatism and idealism: a natural fit
“The current crisis means that bankers, butchers and builders have started to think in totally different ways. The same goes for designers”, says Richard van der Laken, the man who initiated What Design Can Do in an interview with designblog Fontanel. “I think everybody – whether you’re a banker, butcher, mailman or designer- is experiencing that something has changed because of the crisis. The crisis brought a lot of distress but also has given us new consciousness. People ask: ‘Why do I do the things I do? What is my contribution to society, what is my place in the world?’ Those are the questions designers are also working with.”

For many young designers, pragmatism and idealism fit together perfectly naturally and thus, an important mission of What Design Can Do is the call they do upon the (inter)national designworld: “You’ve got the skills, you’ve got the talent, you’ve got access to means of communication, you’re working closely with all kinds of companies, so what are you bringing to the table?” Well, What Design Can Do certainly presented plenty examples of design projects which brought a whole lot to the table and wowed the audience with their bold thinking and positive messages for the future.

You don’t have to explain good design
One of the most up-tempo, funny and engaging presentations of What Design Can Do was the one of designduo Hellicar and Lewis. Combining artistic sensibility, design know-how and a penchant for surprise they create interactive visual experiences. Their range is wide, from a multi-projection fashion show to a Twitter-responsive sculpture in Tate Modern to branding projects for Intel or Coca Cola in collaboration with the popular band Maroon 5. What’s remarkable about their work is that they decided to make open source strategies the core of their business: “If someone just wants an old project, they can take it –steal it!”, Lewis said to Creative Review. “Go right ahead – I want to work on new things. Creativity = variety for me”.

But allthough their vision on design is truly inspirational, the true power of Hellicar and Lewis lies in their work. Take the installation Night Lights of 2009 where the Auckland Ferry Building was turned in a huge interactive playground by creating an installation that went beyond mere projection and allowed viewers to become performers by taking their body movements and amplifying them five floors tall. The pure joy and spontaneity it caused, letting people play and forget about their social roles makes the value of the work self-explaining. “Good design”, according to Hellicar and Lewis, “is design where you don’t have to explain why it’s interesting.”

Guns turned into musical instruments
Presented by What Design Can Do as ‘The Art of Healing Society’ and tipped by The Huffington Post as one of the ’10 International Artists to Watch in 2013’, Pedro Reyes had some big promises to fulfill.  And he certainly lived up to the expectations. The first thing to notice about Reyes’ work is that it is about creating a deeper understanding of abstract societal problems where many people have to deal with. Sanatorium for example is a utopian ‘temporary clinic’ that offers treatments for urban illnesses such as stress, loneliness and hyper-stimulations. The only way for visitors to experience the project is to sign up as patients and undergo treatment in a playful way.

But Reyes’ most impressive projects are his projects about raising awareness for gun violence. In Palas por Pistolas (2008) he melted down 1527 revolvers, shotguns and machine guns to make shovels which were then used to plant 1527 trees. In 2012 he turned 6700 ‘agents of death into instruments of life’ –  as he created 50 musical instruments from guitars to flutes and drums from guns that before were used to kill people, hereby balancing perfectly on the fine line between honoring the sad and terrible past and turning it into hope and new possibilities for the future.

A 3D printed canal house
New possibilities for the future were also explored by DUS architects. This Dutch architect bureau plans in the end of this year to have started at the 3D-printing of a whole Amsterdam canal house. The printer that will make this possible – the Kamermaker, is an eleven-and-a-half foot custom 3D printer, that will print walls from shredded plastic bottles, bioplastics and potato starch, building the house bit by bit from the ground up. Once completed, the 3D printed canal house will serve as a hub for 3D printed architecture research and serve as an educational space. The canal house is currently in the race against projects from Softkill Design and Universe Architecture to become the world’s first 3D printed building, but even if it loses, it surely means a big win as excellent example of where some thinking outside the box can lead to.

DUS architects

If you can’t open it, you don’t own it
Sometimes though, thinking outside the box isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to create a whole different box. This is what Fairphone has shown. Started out in 2010 as an awareness project about conflict minerals in electronics and the wars that the sourcing of these minerals is fuelling in the DR Congo, by now it is ready to offer the world a real clean and fair phone. With – at the moment of writing this blog –  their goal of 5000 pre-sale customers  is reached, it seems that the world will soon be enriched by a phone that opens up the supply chain by making the process of making a phone completely transparent. Because, according to Fairphones founder Bas van Abel “Only if you can open up things, you really own them. So buy a phone, and start a movement!”

Further Reading:

• Support Fairphone’s crowdfunding action by ordering your own Fairphone here and read more in the fun interview our blogger Evelyn Grunau did with the people of Fairphone.
• Check also the first editions of this series ‘What Design Can Do: Desiging Human Nature’ about how product design has become social design, and ‘What Design Can Do: The Food System, hungry for design’ where Marije Vogelzang and Carolyn Steel show how to tackle one of the most important social systems.

Food as social glue
As our own Barbara Putman Cramer already told the audience of TEDxAmsterdam 2012: “Food is more than just fuel for your body”. And at WDCD there was also a lot of attention for how we design our foodsystem nowadays and especially: how we can design it a lot better.

Eating designer Marije Vogelzang is, as a professional, one of a kind. She herself actually thinks this is very strange as food is one for the most powerful things design can interact with as she told me in an interview for TEDxAmsterdam last year: “Designers always make things for humans, everything is focused on the human being. But the very thing that humans need to live their lives, food, they seem to forget about. If you start to work with food, you start to notice it’s connected to everything. It’s the glue between people, it’s how we interact with each other.”

Redesigning the way we deal with food is opening up possibilities to create new connections as Vogelzangs powerful project Eat Love Budapest proves. Leaving the audience of WDCD totally impressed, Eat Love Budapest showed a three day performance of Gypsy (Roma) women feeding visitors while telling the stories of their lives. Bringing together two strangers for the intimate act of sharing food and being fed, the project emphasizes the individuality and beauty inherent in the life of each person, including the nameless ones we may pass each day on the sidewalk, or groups that are considered outlaws like the Roma women.

Faked meat: food with a story and soul
The audience of WDCD also had the chance to take undergo a real ‘Vogelzang eating experience’. On a rainy rooftop of the Stadsschouwburg Marije Vogelzang organized a so-called Ponti-party: a barbeque where you could taste a Ponti, one of the faked meats Vogelzang designed in reaction to traditional meat substitutes which in trying to mimic meat only resolve in ‘soulless things’. To question this approach, Vogelzang invented new animals that could act as sources for faked meat, and thus I tasted the Ponti, a little creature that lives on volvanoes. It’s long and tastfull tail makes for perfect fingerfood. This background story, together with the great details in the fooddesign, makes the tasting an interesting but also a bit strange experience.

Cities are what they eat
Carolyne Steel, famous for her book Hungry City in which she traces food’s journey from land to urban table, also acknowledges the power of design for our foodsystem. Steel starts her talk by stating that food shapes the world around us, our cities and our daily lives: “Food is everywhere, but funny enough it’s too big to see it. We take it for granted that if we go into a shop or restaurant, there is going to be food there waiting for us, having magically come from somewhere“.

Because we take food for granted, we don’t see the impact it has on our environment. “Cities”, emphasizes Steel, “are like people. They are what they eat.” Via many examples of historical cities Steel presents how the way we deal with food impacts our environment: “If you look at the map of any city built before the industrial age, you can trace food coming in to it. You can actually see how it was physically shaped by food, by reading the names of the streets, which give you a lot of clues.”

Use food to create a better world
“So”, says Steel, “if food shapes the world, then use food as a tool to shape a better world! If we’re already living in Sitopia – from the ancient Greek word ‘sitos’ for food and ‘topos’ for place – a world shaped by food, and if we realize that we can use food as a design tool to shape the world differently, then we need to just ask yourself: What kind of landscape are we shaping when we buy boxed food? Do we eat with one another, or do we eat meals in a car? Do we value food or do we waste it? We should use food as a tool to question what kind of society we want.”

Further reading

• Read TEDxAmsterdam’s interview with Marije Vogelzang here.
• Check for an innovative idea how to feed the city our own TEDxAmsterdam 2011 Award winner John Apesos’ project METfarm.
• Check also the first edition of this series ‘What Design Can Do: Designing Human Nature’ about how product design has become social design.

You can join the TEDxAmsterdam blogging team. Why should you and what do you need?

• It’ll enhance your network
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• In sum: it will make you a blogging rockstar

All we ask, is a dedicated monthly commitment to blogging, excellent writing skills in English and creative story ideas on Technology Entertainment and Design. A little bit of experience on our cms Wordpress will probably help out, too

Editors
In the blogging team, we also are looking for two proofreaders/senior editors who can do a checkup and final edit on all the nice blogposts we write! Would you like to join the ever expanding TEDxAmsterdam blogging team?

Fill out this form.
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As some of you know, TEDxAmsterdamLive will combine local content with live streams of the sessions World on its head and Regeneration from TEDGlobal 2013. Today, we are excited to elaborate on the local content. And we are excited to let the speakers introduce themselves!

Ap Verheggen

“Man travelled to the moon and learned so much about the earth along the way. This was an extreme endeavour in 1969. I like thinking in extremes because I too learn so much on the way. I installed two monumental sculptures on a drifting iceberg in Greenland to show the extend and speed of climate change in the Arctic. This extreme art project opened my eyes to challenges the local Inuit face in adapting their lives to rapidly changing conditions: a direct connection between climate and culture. It became clear to me that climate change IS culture change. My current project is the creation of an autonomous Arctic glacier in a hot, waterless desert. We found: the hotter the air, the more ice. We actually live in an ocean of water; we just don’t see it. We may be swimming in a sea of solutions we do not see.”

Sjoerd van der Linde

“People often think of archaeology as a harmless science that is only about the past. But is the past really ‘dead’? Over the years, I have come to realize that archaeology is very much alive, and has a lot to do with the present. Investigating the past is often more about politics than about ancient civilisations. If you look critically at who ‘owns’ the past, you might say that western archaeologists have often excluded communities in the countries whose pasts they are investigating. How would we feel if African archaeologists came to investigate the Netherlands and excavate our Hunebedden? In this TEDx talk, I will invite you to think again about the meaning of cultural heritage as a human right and how a collaborative approach towards the archaeological past can contribute to a better tomorrow.”

AmLab

“AmLab stands for Amsterdam Lab, a physical hotspot in the centre of Amsterdam where 1%CLUB, Akvo and Text to Change join forces and create an innovative work environment for social change. We collaborate to help people working in development cooperation use new information technologies and tools to give communities a stronger voice, bring aid work to life online, and engage a new, interconnected generation. We are presenting Three60, our Global Label and Infrastructure for Aid Transparency and Data Gathering using mobile phones as reporting tools. In many parts of the world, mobile technology is increasingly the only reliable infrastructure. With the implementation of this new global label of aid transparency, not only the global audience will be able to connect and get involved, but rather the people on grassroots level are empowered to take life-changing decisions into their own hands. Making information about aid available to everyone will create the possibility to increase the effectiveness of aid.”

Mens in de Maak: by Frank Kupper, Maaike Ament, Bart Brouwers and Rutger Slump

“Mens in de Maak is a social change company. We help you to reinvent the future and yourself in the light of cultural and technological change. Our goal is to shape the debate about these changes by providing a creative platform for experimenting, play and the open exchange of ideas. We want to inspire people to think for themselves. For TEDxAmsterdamLive, we take you on a trip to the future of nanotechnology. From shiny toothpaste to patrolling nanobots and neuro-electronic interfaces, this technology gives rise to new hopes, fears and fantasies. Using the method of dramatic improvisation, we will playfully explore what these ideas will mean in the future. Enter our philosophical laboratory and discover what you think about nanotechnology.”

For those of you who did not register yet, please do so here. Feel free to spread the word and urge people around you to join us June 12 at Podium Mozaïek. Think Again.

The TEDxAmsterdamLive crew

Design by Tommy Beemsterboer

Recent catastrophic events in Bangladesh shook up the fashion industry and once more started the discussion about manufacturing circumstances of some of the clothing items we wear on our backs every day. But unfortunately simply discussing does not always change things. We still need people that stand up, do something and inspire others to do the same and spark a change in the way we think, act and also buy. There are brands with ‘conscious’ clothing collections, there is biological food and fair-trade coffee and now there is also a fair-trade mobile smartphone: Fairphone. “It’s all about opening up the supply chain, creating transparency.”

The company is at a crucial point in it’s short history: they recently re-launched their website, which now also includes a webshop. With 5000 pre-orders of the smartphone, they can start the production. With only 13 days left to reach their target (at the point of publishing they’re at: 3,724), we asked Tessa Wernink (Communications Director), Roos van de Weerd (Public Relations Manager) and Joe Mier (Community Manager) at Fairphone a couple of questions.

What made you get up and do something, instead of just talking about a fair supply chain and placing people first?“

Fairphone started three years ago as a campaign aimed at creating more awareness around the abuses in the supply chain of electronics. Our goal was to understand the system and see if things could be done differently if you produced a phone putting social values at the base of your mission. That made Fairphone both a storytelling artifact (our campaign), but also a real product that could function as a catalyst to change the way products are made and eventually positively influence an economic system based mainly on profit maximization.

“Initially, we decided to set up our formal organizational structure as an NGO (non-governmental organization). We soon realized however that, despite shared values on creating social impact, the NGO structure was not a perfect model. Around the same time, we had been in talks with operators, who were willing to support us on both our mission and the sales and there were an increasing amount of people asking us when the phone would hit the market, so they could buy it. “Wow!”, we thought, but also “mmm, what’s next”. So far, we had been funded by the Dutch government and by social funds like Stichting DOEN, but what would it mean to actually create our own revenue?

“We realized that this could be a very real possibility and given we were going to sell an actual product, being a company would be a more appropriate funding model. It would make it easier to market our product and generate money to reinvest in our long-term mission. So, that’s when we decided to set up a company, take seed money from an investor who understands our mission, and run it as a social enterprise: applying commercial strategies to maximize social impact. After all, we were going to be part of the economic system. Our goal has never been and never will be to maximize profits for external shareholders.”

I saw Bas van Abel’s (Founder, CEO) talk during PICNIC last year and it made me look at my phone and think about if I would be ready or willing to make the switch to your Fairphone. Are you satisfied with the number of people that signed up? Do you have the feeling that people are “ready”?

“At the moment, a dazzling number of 18000 subscribers are following the steps we take. But that is just the part that is interested, we have now sold 3,724 phones. That is a lot, but not yet the 5000 we need. We do get the feeling that for example countries like Germany and Austria are more ‘ready’ than The Netherlands or the UK. In Germany for example people are a lot more willing to actually change and to make a switch. You can feel this in criticisms, reactions we get, press attention, buzz on the internet. We don’t think people are totally ready yet, but the context is. That is as well the role we need to take, being a catalist for change. That might mean, making people first aware and then stepbystep towards “ready”.”

To me it is a bit like the discussion about living Vegan, or “at least” being Vegetarian – compared to consuming meat etc. but being aware of where it comes from and how it gets to your plate. Are you ok with people solely talking about your product and supporting you, but not buying the phone? Was part of your goal also to simply start the discussion?

“Of course! For us it is not so much about the phone as a product. The phone is a storytelling artefact, it is the journey and the destination. So, if it for some people only functions as a start for a bigger conversation and discussion, that’s perfect. We see it more as a movement, a kick-starter. But of course we also heavily depend now on a group of buyers to take the next steps, so to people not buying: join our newsletter and share with your friends!”

Looking at what happened in Bangladesh recently and in other countries; the discussion raised in the fashion industry lately – was it always about electronics for you? Or also setting an example for the consumer goods industry in general?

“The supply chain for the production of electronics is very complex and is therefore a great starting point to unravel the chain. It is also very difficult and creating a fair product in this industry almost requires creating a situation of world peace! But we think that a phone is also a good product because so many poeple use it and it is a great symbol of our connected world.”

So, how did you make it happen? How are you able to produce in a fair manner?

“Fairphone can also be seen a s a platform to bring best practices together. We aren’t only brokering parterships between stakeholders, but we are also using existing initiatives like CFTI (Conflict-free Tin Initiative) and Solutions for hope, that source tin and tantalum from conflict-free areas. This change can only be achieved by doing things together. We work with factories where a specially established fund will ensure decent wages are distributed amongst workers. We work with people that want to change, they can also be working for big companies. Like Vodafone, whose sustainability manager contacted us and with whom we are co-developing the eco-score. It’s all about opening up the supply chain, creating transparency. We for instance publish our bill of materials, our suppliers to make it easier to track and trace materials. From a consumer side, we want to offer people to put their own operating system on there, to change parts themselves, have Dual SIM capability…Taking into consideration the full lifespan of the product, we have joined existing e-waste programs, have a phone sell back program and offer spare parts of all crucial components through our sales channels.”

If we would only consider the technological aspect of the FairPhone, what would your sales pitch to our readers be? How would you convince people to make the switch – based on what the phone offers?

“The phone is smart and comes with “buckets full of karma“. We’re not just a bunch of do-gooders; we’re making a super cool, high-performance smartphone packed with features bound to impress.”

Some Fairphone specs:

• Dragontrail glass: Ultra thin and light; super durable and scratch-resistant
• Mediatek 6589 chipset: Quad core CPU for faster processing and page loading
• 16 GB internal memory: For music, movies, apps, games and more
• qHD display: 4.3 inches of touch-screen goodness
• Dual front/ rear camera: 8 mp + 1.3 mp for photos and video calls

How can you get one of your phones and how long does it take until you have it?

“At the moment only on our website. The pre-order campaign runs to the 14th of june, we need a 5000 pre-oders at that moment, so that we can go into production. When we make it, you will receive your phone in Fall, we expect shipping between september and november.”

Any other way people can get involved with your project?

“We are thrilled to have such a committed and talented community surrounding the Fairphone initiative and product, getting lots of inspiring e-mails and messages from people asking how they can help. Since this started as a very collaborative project we really depend on our community for feedback and input.When we talk to people who want to help, we usually ask what part of Fairphone they like the most, and how their personal or work experience can contribute to this area. At some point all of us currently working at the company were ‘part of the community’ so anybody can join if they’d like to and find a role that fits them. This could mean helping us build an online discussion platform for our community, or acting as an ambassador to the company and brainstorming events and places to spread the Fairphone story. We’ve had lots of people simply send us contact details to favorite newspaper or niche magazines, or written them themselves to get us in those papers.

“While we have quite a large online community (almost 15,000 on FB and 3,500 on Twitter), we’d also like to do more outreach offline at events. Imagine sending our ambassadors a little Fairphone care package with flyers and materials to get the word out that way. People can write our Community Manager Joe directly, if they want to help out in these offline or online ways.”

Anything else you would like to share?

“The phone costs €325,- including taxes. Profits will fund future interventions in the supply chain, funding a progressive model for change. If you, or people in your circle of friends want to support our campaign, please go to our site. Buy a phone, start a movement!”

Here’s a video to share and spread the word. Even if it is just to make people think…

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