Where 2.0 charges admission, but WhereCamp is a free and open ‘unconference’ and I’m hoping to do a workshop there where people can build their own rigs, do test flights, and generally do a bit more hands-on work. More on WhereCamp soon — we’re still finding out if we can fly at Google’s Mountain View campus… they’re the hosts.

Instiki allows you to define a DEFAULT_WEB in your /config/environment.rb, but it won’t redirect the web root to that web’s HomePage, which would seem to be the point. Darn. So I forked and patched Instiki on Github, adding the following code to replace line 26 of /app/controllers/wiki_controller.rb:

      if defined? DEFAULT_WEB
        @web_name = DEFAULT_WEB
        redirect_home
      else
        redirect_to :action => 'web_list'
      end

Now if I go to wiki.grassrootsmapping.org, I see the HomePage of my default web. Hooray!

Update: OK, my bad. This is unnecessary:

As distler pointed out on Github, defining DEFAULT_WEB should work out of the box. Why didn’t it work for me, I wondered?

Well, I put the line:

DEFAULT_WEB = 'wiki'

in environment.rb, but I put it OUTSIDE the Rails::Initializer.run do |config| block. Putting that line inside that code block solved my problem.

I’m leaving this all up for future generations to learn from my mistakes. (Most likely me in a year or so.)

Nadya Peek at the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT is leading up an effort to get a FabLab build in Haiti, so that as reconstruction progresses, Haitians have an opportunity to circumvent the traditional manufacturing and supply chain paradigm — and to create a broad range of goods for themselves.

A Fab Lab are high-tech and relatively expensive ‘universal factory in a box’ – including a ShopBot CNC, laser cutter, and so forth, with which you can make all kinds of electronics, furniture, replacement parts, and even more machines. They exist in a variety of places around the world and part of having a Fab Lab is being connected with a global network of makers and tinkerers at other Fab Labs.

I initially balked at the idea of spending $250k (yowza!) on something like this, but I think that enabling and empowering Haitians to challenge the global manufacturing powers-that-be is a fundamentally important part of helping Haiti become self-sufficient. Once the ‘theatre of disaster’ shifts to somewhere else, and the spotlights move to other disasters, a Fab Lab will support their years-long reconstruction effort.

But first they need $250k, so please consider donating!