What Is A Challenge? - An Introduction

OSCEdays is about coming together to learn, discuss but also to build and create things – like tangible prototypes or Action plans. A CHALLENGE in the OSCEdays is a project or problem work on during the days. It can be all kinds of things. You can work on them in an already existing group or use the event to invite new people. Below you can find some possible ways to structure challenges.

Your challenge might be really great when you find a way to structure it that the outcomes directly benefit your project or company. Learn more about the below.

Brainstoming/Kick-Off-Discussion

Do you have an interesting, unexplored question or problem for example around a “service” innovation, a “supply chain” innovation, “logistics” innovation, a „communication“ innovation or a „hardware“, „software“ or „design“ innovation, that hasn’t even been discussed? Sit down and start. The goal could be to find further questions for investiagtion, or an idea, or even fully-fledged action plan or model to start working on. The outcome could be short document describing your findings or even a quick and illustrative prototype made with cardboard.
Tag: discussion

Prototyping

Do you already have a great idea for a service, system, software or hardware solution? Start (or continue) prototyping! Use the OSCEdays platform to show people what you are doing, ask for help and invite them to join you.
Tag: prototyping

Building & Implementation

If there is already a good practice, solution or plan developed, the challenge might be to implement it, for example in a local neighbourhood, factory, project or community. Form a group and swarm out to the city to talk to shop-owners. Or have an action-day to build more content for your project. Or do extended betatesting. Or build more copies of it… Do whatever steps are necessary to get to the next level.
Tag: implementation

Documentation Jam

You’ve already created a good technical solution or ‘best practice’ but it is not well-documented (open sourced) yet? Sit down and start the documentation. Invite people to test your documentation, give feedback, suggest good tools or structure, or provide other help with design, language or anything else. Communication is key.
Tag: doc-jam

Playing & Researching

Creativity means to jump outside of the box. Some challenges will be very unusual or different from the ones above. Well, the ‘play’ tag is for you. It might be research or experimentation, for art or protest, for laziness or communication.
Tag: play-research-art

Looking For A Problem To Run A Challenge Around?

Looking for content - a topic or subject - to run a challenge around? Have a look at our:

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Update: @Sophia created a list with ideas for textile challenges that is worth studying to get inspired for practical action.

Do not know if this is the right place to ask - but my challange is to create an app for an OVN to be integrated into a national economy so that it will be possible to pay taxes, track work efforts, pay salaries and so on, automatically… Thats a challenge right!?

@Tim_Sandgren That is definitely a challenge. If you tell us, how it does relate to Circular Economy and if you are willing to create the App as Open Source it is a good Challenge for the OSCEdays either.

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Cool!

I have done some research and found a network who has been doing excellent work in Europe. A grass roots organisation is currently finishing the “D-Cent project” backed by the EU-commission.

They certainly work in a “blue economy” way - that is they start from the needs in an organisation from the local and community level.

One of the developers, Denis Roio, has also started to write some software that facilitates the running of a food store.

If this work is solid and sound which I believe it is (it is heavily backed by scientific research). We are well underway to facilitate administrating coops in Europe.

The big problem now is the problem of legality - how to integrate the system with the tax collecting system of the state and also other governing bodies. There is now the opportunity to have a very interesting discussion about the possible creation of a transparent and smooth way of organising a cooperative… We just need to have a good dialogue between academia, governing bodies and civil society organisations - but that is nothing unusual when it comes to issues as central and important as this one!

To join in this project, you may join the dialogue that has already started between me and Roio on: https://www.facebook.com/dcentproject/posts/884269405034493?comment_id=888491874612246