Five Questions With: Brian Jepson

Brian Jepson is a well-known figure in the Rhode Island tech community, particularly for his involvement with the Providence Geeks and AS220, as well as his longtime advocaacy for digital innovation in the Ocean State. Jepson works as an author and editor at O’Reilly Media, a leading tech-oriented publisher. He recently talked with Providence Business News about what he’s working on now and what he sees coming down the pike in the tech world.

PBN: What projects are you working on for O’Reilly Media right now?

JEPSON: I work in O’Reilly’s Maker Media division, the team that produces MAKE Magazine, CRAFT Magazine, Maker Faire, and more. Most of my time is spent managing the MAKE:Books series, a small book program that includes books oriented toward Do-It-Yourselfers: everything from electronics and microcontrollers to astronomy and chemistry. Some of the topics in development include basic electronics, physics, and forensics. Our most recent book is Syuzi Pakhchyan’s “Fashioning Technology,” which is also our first CRAFT title. It shows the reader how to craft wearable electronics, DIY toys, furniture powered by electronics, and more. One of the books in development that I’m very excited about is The Best of Instructables, which will showcase projects from Instructables, the World’s Biggest Show and Tell.

When I’m not focusing on books, I am involved with Maker Shed, which is our online store that also makes in-person appearances at events like Maker Faire. Besides books and many other items, we carry DIY kits from independent makers: these are people who build kits in their basement or kitchen, box or bag them up, and we put them up for sale. At each Maker Faire, we try to debut a number of new kits. In San Mateo, we introduced Puppet Pie’s felt Finger Puppets, ProdMod’s LED Hula Hoop Kit, and Sparkle Labs DIY Design Electronics Kit. There are many popular kits we’ve been selling for a while, such as Adafruit Industries’ MintyBoost, a cell phone/iPod charger that you solder together yourself and enclose in an Altoids tin. And we carry a kit from a Providence maker, the Bare Bones Board, an open source electronics prototyping kit from Paul Badger of Modern Device.

My involvement with Maker Shed includes finding and evaluating new kits, promoting the kits that we carry, and working in the Maker Shed during events. At Maker Faire Bay Area this year, we provided space to a couple dozen kit makers to demonstrate their kits and answer questions. My job was to make sure they were set up, had what they needed, and could take breaks when they wanted to so they could see the Faire.

PBN: So, I take it you don’t buy the idea that someone is either good with computers or good with their hands?

JEPSON: I think that the capacity to learn goes very deep with all people. Learning is not just memorization, but an attitude, mindset, set of skills. If people learn how to learn at a young age, they’ll have the tools they need to educate themselves, with curiosity as their guide, throughout their entire life.

PBN: What tech industry trends are you keeping an eye on?

JEPSON: Most important to me is the rise of the DIY spirit and the tools to help people create things. Although it’s not happening as fast as I’d like, we’re starting to see inexpensive fabrication equipment such as the RepRap and Fab@Home that allow you to print 3-D objects using environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic. So people are able to design an object on a computer, press the print button, and watch objects appear. As these technologies evolve, and as commercial tools like rapid prototypers and laser cutters become less expensive, people will be able to manufacture small runs of items in their homes, offices or schools.

I’m also watching microcontrollers and sensor networks. Microcontrollers are computers-on-a-chip that are very inexpensive. The open source community has been making them easy to use. For example, Arduino makes a board based on an AVR ATmega microcontroller for artists and designers. It’s simple to create things with Arduino, and very simple to program it.

A microcontroller can, in many cases, take the place of a computer. For example, if you need to scan an RFID tag and turn the lights on when the right tag is swiped, you can do that with a microcontroller, and you can build such a system yourself for under $100: the Arduino costs $35, and you can get an RFID reader with an assortment of tags for about $50 from Parallax. For about $25, you can add an 802.15.4 wireless communication module (the basis of the ZigBee protocol) to each node – the ability to do embedded programming and set up networks of sensors is now in the reach of non-professionals, which is awesome.

PBN: As a tech industry observer, what’s your take on the Hasbro v. Scrabulous affair?

JEPSON: There’s a lot going on here. Mostly, there’s the question of intellectual property: did the makers of Scrabulous clone more of the Scrabble game than would be permitted in certain jurisdictions? Under my understanding of U.S. copyright law, there’s some subset of the game – the idea of it – that can be legitimately expressed in a different way, or worked into an entirely different game. But there’s the expression of the game: specific rules, game board design, and other items, that Hasbro can lay claim to.

What bothers me the most about it is that here’s a game that a lot of people really like, and will spend a lot of time using, and clearly has immense value to its users and owners. It’s a shame that the parties couldn’t have come to some kind of settlement that would have let all my Scrabulous-playing friends continue without interruption. There could have been a win-win-win situation for Hasbro, Scrabulous and users, but it seems like they are far away from that now.

PBN: Early in your career, you worked as a technology programmer on Wall Street. What lessons do you think firms can learn about the technology they rely on from last year’s scandal over Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue French bank trader at Société Générale?

JEPSON: It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved with that industry. I don’t think this is a technological issue though. Think about computer security for a moment: the weakest link is the human link – some of the biggest compromises have started with social engineering. I think the solution to things like rogue trading starts in “meatspace”. If people are looking over one another’s shoulders, and asking the right questions, rather than leaving their fate in the hands of an “expert” – it’s much better if knowledge and responsibility is evenly spread throughout any enterprise.

For more information, visit Brian Jepson’s blog, Maker Media and Providence Geeks.