Fab Lab conformity rating

From Fab Lab Wiki - by NMÍ Kvikan
Revision as of 09:46, 16 June 2011 by Amy (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search

The Fab Lab conformity rating is a code that describes how closely a lab meets the ConditionsForFabLabLabel. It should be taken as a quick summary of the lab "now" and understood to change over time. The conformity rating is self-assessed or community-assessed (ie, perceived rating by others).

Philosophically it would be ideal for all labs to be fully open all the time with free access and fully participating with other global labs. However, this may not be practical for every lab at this moment. A lab may shift their operations over time to adjust for economic pressures or to respond to a changing user base. For labs with less than an AAAA rating, we'd hope that the managers and administrators look for ways to fold in these behaviors.

criteria grade A grade B grade C
access to the fab lab at least some free/open public access (but may assess real material costs) paid public access only, but anyone can join closed restricted user group
adherence to the fab lab charter Charter explicitly on site and website "in the spirit" of the charter no mention of charter
common set of tools and processes Lab has all core tools & processes and possibly more Lab has 80 % or more of t&p Lab has less than 80 % of t&p
participate in the larger, global fab lab network Lab takes actively part globally Lab takes actively part regionally no participation

Examples:

Amsterdam is AAAA = lab offers free public access, refers explicitly to the Charter, has all tools&processes and takes actively part in the global network

A2, Florida is CCCC = lab is only open to students of the University, there is no reference to the Charter whatsoever, the lab has only laser cutters and 3D scannin/printing, does not do electronics, and it does not participate in the network