Labdoo's Participants

Labdoo is a humanitarian social network where everyone can participate. Organized according to their function, the network is composed of the following non-exclusive participating groups: the grassroots, hubs, edoovillages and beneficiaries.
All of Labdoo's general values, philosophy and principles described in this document apply also to all of Labdoo's participating groups.

The Grassroots

The grassroots are defined as anyone carrying out a “Labdoo act”, no matter how small. Examples of such acts are: tagging, sanitizing a laptop, making a dootrip, explaining the meaning of the “digital divide” and “electronic waste” to a friend, recycling a laptop, coding a portion of the social network, etc. Every person that is part of the grassroots defines a node in the Labdoo network. Each of these nodes is connected with each other using the Labdoo humanitarian social network (HSN). The delivery of the overall social mission is made possible through these connections, which provide an efficient and sustainable way to bring excess capacity to regions in need.

While the Labdoo tools are provided “as is”, everyone participating in the project is expected to behave according to good ethic and moral principles. Participants acting against the values and principles described in this charter can be removed from the Labdoo network.

Hubs

Everybody can be a participant in the Labdoo network by performing actions to help spread education around the globe. When one or more of the participants act together regularly, they can optionally create their own Labdoo Hub. A hub is mainly a group of people that get together from time to time to carry activities such as collecting and sanitizing unused laptops, organizing dootrips, recycling technology, or carrying out outreaching activities, among others. Hubs are flexible in that they do not need to carry out all of these activities, but just the ones that are appropriate to the skills of the people part of it. For instance, some hubs are just dropping points where people can bring their unused laptops which then get transported to other hubs where they get sanitized. Hubs are typically implemented in high schools, at home, in companies, in your local neighbor community, in any type of organized community.

When a hub is created, it receives a kit containing the following:

  • A hub space inside the Labdoo systems that allows for the management of donated devices, dootrips, edoovillages, etc.
  • The listing of the hub in the page www.labdoo.org/hubs to help it gain visiblity.
  • The rights to create new edoovillages.
  • A web album inside the hub space where pictures of the hub's activities can be uploaded.

If a hub becomes inactive for at least six months or if it acts against the Labdoo principles described in this charter, its kit can be removed or reassigned to another hub or group of people.

Edoovillages

Edoovillages are schools where laptops are deployed. Labdoo focuses on equipping schools because:

  • Schools have their own organized community.
  • Classrooms are managed by teachers which can help monitor the good use of the laptops. The role of the teachers is also important to help Labdoo recycle laptops once they no longer work.
  • Schools typically have electricity and access to the Internet (even in remote areas thanks to the expansion of wireless communications). They also provide water-proof and secure shelters.
  • Working with schools simplifies also the coordination of dootrips, as many travellers to poor communities visit schools in their trips.

In order to create a new edoovillage, the potential recipients will need to fill in the Labdoo laptop request form.

When an edoovillage is created, the recipients receive a kit containing at least:

  • An edoovillage dashboard from where the inventory of contributed devices can be managed and tracked.
  • An entry in the list of Labdoo edoovillages.
  • A web album inside the edoovillage space where pictures of the edoovillages activities can be uploaded.

To help reduce electronic waste, a main obligation of the laptop recipients is to report back to Labdoo.org every six months the list of laptops under their inventory and their status (working or not working) and facilitate the process of recycling the laptops once they no longer work through the Labdoo's social network-based recycling mechanism. This reporting processes are referred as Global Inventory Checks (GICs).

The Beneficiaries

Besides helping to eliminate the digital divide and thanks to its distributed nature, Labdoo can also help remove other types of social barriers. One example is the barriers and stereotypes that may exist between beneficiaries and the benefactors. In traditional aid systems, usually the rich helps the poor, the north helps the south, the adults help the youngest ones. In the Labdoo network, however, everyone can benefit from the project and everyone can make a contribution. The project aims at covering needs and mobilizing excess resources wherever they may be, regardless of their location and their size. For instance, in the Labdoo network, aid can originate from the developing world and be received by the developed world. Also, not only adults can participate with the tasks of sanitizing a laptop, but also young students. Real examples found in the Labdoo network illustrating this concept are a Labdoo hub created in Mexico City sanitizing laptops and a School in Silicon Valley receiving laptops for students coming from low income families.

In the Labdoo network there are no benefactors; instead, everyone is a beneficiary. Those who receive the technology benefit from it by having a better access to education while those that dedicate a moment of their time to bring technology to the needy ones benefit from the experience of participating in a global project, learning about the social and environmental issues the world faces, making new friends, and the joy of seeing a happy face at the end of their mini-mission.