Open-Science-Hardware.srt

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,570
Thomas Mboa: My name is Thomas Mboa,
I'm from Cameroon. And my

2
00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:15,840
background is in biochemistry,
specifically molecular biology.

3
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:22,200
So, I got a bachelor degree on
molecular biology. And then I

4
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:27,000
studied science of education.
And I got my two masters

5
00:00:27,030 --> 00:00:34,800
degrees in science of education.
Then I did my PhD in public

6
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:42,660
communication at the university
level in Canada. So during all

7
00:00:42,660 --> 00:00:47,280
my academic courses, I was
always impressed by

8
00:00:48,180 --> 00:00:55,740
information, how information can
be shared how information can be

9
00:00:55,740 --> 00:01:02,430
reused. And that is why from
this end place, I got into the


10
00:01:02,490 --> 00:01:10,020
open science movement eight years
ago with ... called OCSD.net : open

11
00:01:10,020 --> 00:01:15,870
and collaborative science,
network. And inside OCSD.net

12
00:01:15,870 --> 00:01:23,100
founded projects, our project
was DOAJ, a project to

13
00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:28,530
promote Open science in French, and
in French speaking, African

14
00:01:28,530 --> 00:01:36,780
countries and Haiti. So that is how
I let my network to grow to an

15
00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:45,150
organization working in on open
access, open hardware, any kind

16
00:01:45,150 --> 00:01:53,070
of openness, or any kind
of dimension related to open

17
00:01:53,070 --> 00:02:00,210
science. And locally, I read so
many sketches like the

18
00:02:00,210 --> 00:02:08,850
decolonial library, of Dominique Mvogo.
Today, I will spend

19
00:02:08,850 --> 00:02:13,590
more time on MBOA lab, the
maker movement. But I want also

20
00:02:13,590 --> 00:02:18,120
to tell that I am a researcher. I'm
doing research action, because

21
00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,500
I'm also a lecturer at
the advanced School of mass

22
00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:26,520
communication here in Cameroon
where I'm teaching digital

23
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:33,720
humanities, open science and all
what is related to scholarly

24
00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:41,040
communication. So that is, that
is me. So don't worry. MBOA lab,

25
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:50,490
I funded the MBOA lab in 2018 and is a
kind of reification of my thesis,

26
00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:54,660
because my thesis is on the
maker movement and the technical

27
00:02:54,660 --> 00:03:00,240
coloniality in French African
countries. So, the MBOA lab is a

28
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:07,200
kind of concrete realization of
what I learned from the MBOA lab

29
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:13,290
and the MBOA lab is specialized
on biotechnology due to my

30
00:03:13,290 --> 00:03:20,190
background in in biochemistry.
So, what we are doing at the MBOA lab

31
00:03:20,190 --> 00:03:26,850
we have, related to
public health and biotechnology,

32
00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:38,400
you have three main activity,
can you hear me Yeah. Thank you.

33
00:03:39,570 --> 00:03:45,570
So, we have like three main
activity related to public

34
00:03:45,570 --> 00:03:48,990
health. So, the first one is a
very complex: local

35
00:03:48,990 --> 00:03:55,860
production of enzyme reagents.
So that is a high level of

36
00:03:57,150 --> 00:04:03,480
molecular biology if I can say
and what we are doing, we are

37
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:08,130
put here seeing as I'm locally
at it because when I started my

38
00:04:08,130 --> 00:04:12,870
studying biochemistry 16 years
ago, it was mostly because I was

39
00:04:12,870 --> 00:04:17,100
impressed by molecular biology,
but also beacause that we cannot

40
00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:21,270
do it from Cameroon
because equipment and reagents are

41
00:04:21,270 --> 00:04:26,340
so expensive. So, when I are
going to open science movement

42
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,750
movement, I realized that though
openness, there is a lot of

43
00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:37,740
things that I can overcome a lot
of barriers of place and in my

44
00:04:37,740 --> 00:04:42,570
past that I can overcome and
help a new generation

45
00:04:42,570 --> 00:04:48,000
of African and Cameroonian to,
to succeed in molecular biology.

46
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,830
So we are producing enzymes
for Molecular Biology and

47
00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,290
currently we are selling
those enzymes in

48
00:04:58,290 --> 00:05:04,920
Cameroon and in Gana where we
have some collaborators. And everywhere

49
00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:12,390
in Central Africa when
someone need enzymes. So, that

50
00:05:12,390 --> 00:05:19,080
is like the deep molecular
biology part of our work we are

51
00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:25,830
doing at the MBOA lab. And
the second thing is local

52
00:05:25,830 --> 00:05:33,300
hardware manufacturing, because
one thing that I am advocating for is

53
00:05:33,330 --> 00:05:37,590
local manufacturing, because we
need in terms of openness, we

54
00:05:37,590 --> 00:05:44,160
don't need to work with black
boxes, we need to be able to fix

55
00:05:44,850 --> 00:05:49,140
our own equipment, if they are
broken, and we need to

56
00:05:49,170 --> 00:05:53,790
understand the process from the
beginning to the end, how such

57
00:05:53,820 --> 00:06:01,320
equipment work. So that is why
also we are working with some of

58
00:06:01,650 --> 00:06:11,460
equipment used by ourselves. And
some of my work related to this

59
00:06:11,730 --> 00:06:16,200
has been featured in through
Nature articles talking about

60
00:06:16,860 --> 00:06:22,260
all the work we are doing at MBOA lab
of our third activities,

61
00:06:22,290 --> 00:06:26,970
capacity building, because it's
very important for us to build a

62
00:06:26,970 --> 00:06:34,200
new generation of Cameroonian
and, and African able to

63
00:06:34,230 --> 00:06:39,450
understand to trust, able to
trust in themselves and able to

64
00:06:39,630 --> 00:06:45,900
build things from Africa from
what we are doing. So we are

65
00:06:45,900 --> 00:06:49,920
teaching we used, to we are
working with local university.

66
00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:56,250
So used to post Intel we need we
used to train them through 

67
00:06:56,250 --> 00:07:05,220
workshops. And but it's not easy,
because we have some challenges

68
00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:11,760
and funding is the first
one because we are depending of

69
00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:19,500
international collaboration
sometime. And the there is a

70
00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:26,280
kind of lack of local
awareness and support. So we are

71
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:33,180
trying to overcome all this kind
of barrier. And also very

72
00:07:33,180 --> 00:07:38,760
important is some barriers, like
language barriers, I'm sure that

73
00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,240
you understood that I'm not,
English is not my primary

74
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:50,670
language that I have. French is.
 I have done all my studies

75
00:07:50,700 --> 00:07:54,420
in my school in French. So
French, if I can say, even if the

76
00:07:54,450 --> 00:07:58,710
two language are colonial languages
for us, but French.. I am fluent

77
00:07:58,710 --> 00:08:02,940
in French more than in
English, so that sometimes also

78
00:08:02,940 --> 00:08:12,300
it can be a barrier for us.
And we don't have the

79
00:08:12,330 --> 00:08:16,470
government support also. So it's
very important to have the

80
00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:21,300
government support but here is
very difficult, but through the

81
00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:26,850
good vibes we have and the good
collaboration we have at an

82
00:08:26,850 --> 00:08:31,440
international level we are still
sustainable through the research

83
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:39,060
development we are doing. And
yes, this just to say, thank

84
00:08:39,060 --> 00:08:43,590
you. This is a small team, the
small team of them one if some

85
00:08:43,590 --> 00:08:47,940
woman be here, that is the
permanent, the permanent and

86
00:08:47,940 --> 00:08:53,670
one. And we have a lot of
volunteer and intern but here is

87
00:08:53,670 --> 00:08:58,320
the five permanents that are
 doing all the magics and the

88
00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:05,100
work. So thank you very much for
your attention.


10
00:01:02,490 --> 00:01:10,020
open science movement eight years
ago with ... called ocsd dot net: open

11
00:01:10,020 --> 00:01:15,870
and collaborative science,
network. And inside OCSD.net

12
00:01:15,870 --> 00:01:23,100
founded projects, our project
was SOHA, a project to

13
00:01:23,100 --> 00:01:28,530
promote Open science in French, and
in French speaking, African

14
00:01:28,530 --> 00:01:36,780
countries and Haiti. So that is how
I wind my network grow

15
00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:45,150
organization working in on open
access, open hardware, any kind

16
00:01:45,150 --> 00:01:53,070
of openness, or any kind
of dimension related to open

17
00:01:53,070 --> 00:02:00,210
science. And locally, I read so
many sketches like the

18
00:02:00,210 --> 00:02:08,850
decolonial library, of Dominique Mvogo.
Today, I will spend

19
00:02:08,850 --> 00:02:13,590
more time on MBOA lab, the
maker movement. But I want also

20
00:02:13,590 --> 00:02:18,120
to tell that I am a researcher. I'm
doing research action, because

21
00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,500
I'm also a lecturer at
the advanced School of mass

22
00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:26,520
communication here in Cameroon
where I'm teaching digital

23
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:33,720
humanities, open science and all
what is related to scholarly

24
00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:41,040
communication. So that is, that
is me. So don't worry. MBOA lab,

25
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:50,490
I funded the MBOAlab in 2018 and is a
kind of reification of my thesis,

26
00:02:50,490 --> 00:02:54,660
because my thesis is on the
maker movement and the technical

27
00:02:54,660 --> 00:03:00,240
coloniality in French African
countries. So, the MBOAlab is a

28
00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:07,200
kind of concrete realization of
what I learned from the MBOAlab

29
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:13,290
and the MBOAlab is specialized
on biotechnology due to my

30
00:03:13,290 --> 00:03:20,190
background in in biochemistry.
So, what we are doing at the MBOAlab

31
00:03:20,190 --> 00:03:26,850
we have, related to
public health and biotechnology,

32
00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:38,400
you have three main activity,
can you hear me Yeah. Thank you.

33
00:03:39,570 --> 00:03:45,570
So, we have like three main
activity related to public

34
00:03:45,570 --> 00:03:48,990
health. So, the first one is a
very complex: local

35
00:03:48,990 --> 00:03:55,860
production of enzyme reagents.
So that is a high level of

36
00:03:57,150 --> 00:04:03,480
molecular biology if I can say
and what we are doing, we are

37
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:08,130
put here seeing as I'm locally
at it because when I started my

38
00:04:08,130 --> 00:04:12,870
studying biochemistry 16 years
ago, it was mostly because I was

39
00:04:12,870 --> 00:04:17,100
impressed by molecular biology,
but also beacause that we cannot

40
00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:21,270
do it from Cameroon
because equipment and reagents are

41
00:04:21,270 --> 00:04:26,340
so expensive. So, when I are
going to open science movement

42
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,750
movement, I realized that though
openness, there is a lot of

43
00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:37,740
things that I can overcome a lot
of barriers of place and in my

44
00:04:37,740 --> 00:04:42,570
past that I can overcome and
help a new generation

45
00:04:42,570 --> 00:04:48,000
of African and Cameroonian to,
to succeed in molecular biology.

46
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,830
So we are producing enzymes
for Molecular Biology and

47
00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,290
currently we are selling
 those enzymes in

48
00:04:58,290 --> 00:05:04,920
Cameroon and in Gana where we
have some collaborators. And everywhere

49
00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:12,390
 in Central Africa when
someone need enzymes. So, that

50
00:05:12,390 --> 00:05:19,080
is like the deep molecular
biology part of our work we are

51
00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:25,830
doing at the MBOAlab. And
the second thing is local

52
00:05:25,830 --> 00:05:33,300
hardware manufacturing, because
one thing that I am advocating for is

53
00:05:33,330 --> 00:05:37,590
local manufacturing, because we
need in terms of openness, we

54
00:05:37,590 --> 00:05:44,160
don't need to work with black
boxes, we need to be able to fix

55
00:05:44,850 --> 00:05:49,140
our own equipment, if they are
broken, and we need to

56
00:05:49,170 --> 00:05:53,790
understand the process from the
beginning to the end, how such
57
00:05:53,820 --> 00:06:01,320
equipment work. So that is why
also we are working with some of

58
00:06:01,650 --> 00:06:11,460
equipment used by ourselves. And
some of my work related to this

59
00:06:11,730 --> 00:06:16,200
has been featured in through
natural articles talking about

60
00:06:16,860 --> 00:06:22,260
all the work we are doing at MBOAlab
of our third activities,

61
00:06:22,290 --> 00:06:26,970
capacity building, because it's
very important for us to build a

62
00:06:26,970 --> 00:06:34,200
new generation of Cameroonian
and, and African able to

63
00:06:34,230 --> 00:06:39,450
understand to trust, able to
trust in themselves and able to

64
00:06:39,630 --> 00:06:45,900
build things from Africa from
what we are doing. So we are

65
00:06:45,900 --> 00:06:49,920
teaching we used, to we are
working with local university.

66
00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:56,250
So used to post Intel we need we
used to train them through 

67
00:06:56,250 --> 00:07:05,220
workshops. And but it's not easy,
because we have some challenges

68
00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:11,760
and funding is the first
one because we are depending of

69
00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:19,500
international collaboration
sometime. And the there is a

70
00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:26,280
kind of lack of local
awareness and support. So we are

71
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:33,180
trying to overcome all this kind
of barrier. And also very

72
00:07:33,180 --> 00:07:38,760
important is some barriers, like
language barriers, I'm sure that

73
00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,240
you understood that I'm not,
English is not my primary

74
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:50,670
language that I have. French is.
 I have done all my studies

75
00:07:50,700 --> 00:07:54,420
in my school in French. So
French, if I can say, even if the

76
00:07:54,450 --> 00:07:58,710
two language are colonial languages
for us, but French.. I am fluent

77
00:07:58,710 --> 00:08:02,940
in French more than in
English, so that sometimes also

78
00:08:02,940 --> 00:08:12,300
it can be a barrier for us.
And we don't have the

79
00:08:12,330 --> 00:08:16,470
government support also. So it's
very important to have the

80
00:08:16,500 --> 00:08:21,300
government support but here is
very difficult, but through the

81
00:08:21,300 --> 00:08:26,850
good vibes we have and the good
collaboration we have at an

82
00:08:26,850 --> 00:08:31,440
international level we are still
sustainable through the research

83
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:39,060
development we are doing. And
yes, this just to say, thank

84
00:08:39,060 --> 00:08:43,590
you. This is a small team, the
small team of them one if some

85
00:08:43,590 --> 00:08:47,940
woman be here, that is the
permanent, the permanent and

86
00:08:47,940 --> 00:08:53,670
one. And we have a lot of
volunteer and intern but here is

87
00:08:53,670 --> 00:08:58,320
the five permanents that are
 doing all the magics and the

88
00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:05,100
work. So thank you very much for
your attention.