Welcome to the “Grow Your Own Media Lab” Wiki. This is a place where GYOML organisations and other people who are interested in community based, creative media labs can document what they are doing.

The key features of GYOML are meant to be a menu of good practice, plus a record of successes and failures - there’s no point lots of local organisations falling into the same traps that we have already spotted!

This website uses a wiki system that means that you can contribute to it right now. All we ask is that you make yourself a username by clicking on the LOGIN button, then log in and get contributing!

We’d like you to contribute (if you have something useful to say) whether you:

• ...work or volunteer for a participating organisation
• ...have taken part in a GYOML event
• ...have organised (or would like to organise) something similar
• ...represent an organisation that would like to take part
• ...are interested and have some useful ideas

So what is GYOML? To find out in detail check out the original funding bid that made the project possible. If you haven’t got time for that, you should know that GYOML is about cultural and community groups using free, open source software with available, no-cost hardware in a creative learning context - helping people to learn, create and communicate online throughout their lives, in communities all across the UK.

We aim that this project will create a menu of great practice that can be used by community groups, individuals, social enterprises, local autorities, and other organisations, to create green, sustainable, community-based IT centres which participants can use for free, as long as they take an active part.

• Access Space

• Folly (Lancaster)
• The Polytechnic (Newcastle)
• MediaShed (Southend)
  • Mongrel / The Jellied Eel Shed

• A2RT (Birmingham)
• Radius (Glasgow)
• SCAN, (Southern Collaborative Arts Network)
• Copeland Borough Council
  • CA15

• GYOML North West: Folly (Lancaster)
• GYOML North East: Polytechnic (Newcastle)
• GYOML South: MediaShed (Southend on Sea)
• GYOML Glasgow
• GYOML Nationwide

• GYOML Meeting May 2007

• Links to GYOML Individuals

• Links to open source software

• Some responses to enquiries about setting up new diy media labs.

Originally when we set up this Wiki, we envisaged that it could form a highly structured Knowledge Base, incorporating a whole range of “howto” resources which Access Space, and other participating organisations, would contribute to.

This hasn’t really happened - probably because each participating organisation has their own HOW-TOs. Here are some HOW-TOs and please feel free to add more:

• Access Space Knowhow Server

• Gearbox: The free media toolkit from MediaShed

Some other great HOW-TO information:

• FLOSS Manuals: a great project initiated by Adam Hyde

• An interesting site with lots of HOW-To info on moving image work

• A site with useful info around video and distribution

• We need some kind of guides to
  • This website
  • How to use it

• Plus anything else that we think’s a great idea!
  • GYOML Discussion page