I spent about a day exploring China’s parallel universe internet. The fact that Weibo looks almost identical to Twitter and that RenRen looks almost like Facebook definitely made the parallel universe easier to explore. But everything being in Chinese is still discombobulating. I had been looking for a way to improve my technical Chinese (as well as my general Chinese), and I think that being a part of this parallel universe will help!
The following is a compilation of relevant links for our makerspace tour through Asia.
Makerspace publicity and aftermath: we’re on the internet!
Chaihuo (柴火, Shenzhen makerspace) [post] [list]
XinCheJian (新车间, Shanghai makerspace, the first in China) [post] [中文] [event] [list]
Beijing Maxpace (北京创客空间, Beijing makerspace) [event] [list] [NGO]
Weibo (微博, the Chinese Twitter) [tweets]
HangXin (attended New Years party in Beijing) [post]
Other makerspaces we visited
Tokyo hackerspace (…Tokyo makerspace) [list]
Onion Capsule (洋葱胶囊, China Academy of Art makerspace, student run, in Hangzhou) [list]
SkyWorks (天空工场, Tsinghua University makerspace, in Beijing) [slidedeck]
Friends of makerspaces we visited
These are not makerspaces, but are organizations that support makerspaces and include or grow makers.
Seeed Studio (open hardware advocate, component and kit supplier, in Shenzhen) [slidedeck]
Toyhouse (visual and physical collaborative classrooms, Tsinghua University, in Beijing)
Others doing similar asiatrips
Bunnie (Chumby founder; Feb 2009; 1 week; Shenzhen)
Noisebrige (San Francisco makerspace; Oct 2009; 2 weeks; Shanghai and Beijing; ~$1K)
Noisebridge 2 (Apr 2012; 3 weeks; Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing)
Asiatrip (our trip for comparison; Dec 2011; 2 weeks; Taipei, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo; $2.0K)
Makerspace movement in China, government sanctioned
What happens when a government is run by engineers [Shenzhen] [Shanghai]
First Open Hardware Summit [Beijing]
China Mobile Developer Conference [Beijing]
Chinese makerspace featured by CNN [Shanghai]
Makerspaces of the world
Nancy’s initial plans [post]
China makerspaces [info] [info]
Makerspaces in the rest of the world [info]