RIAT Institute
= Research and Development in Future Cryptoeconomics and Open Source Hardware is "an independent institute researching and designing the future of decentralization: privacy tech, cryptoeconomics and open source hardware".
URL = https://riat.at/
Description
1. The RIAT Open Hardware Lab:
"The RIAT Open Hardware Lab works with Open Source Hardware and Open Design projects such as the Apertus open source cinema camera. The talk from 2015 outlines challenges in open hardware project development, and discusses how documentation becomes a necessary element that is often overlooked – and what are elements that make up a successful open hardware project. An often discussed field are open source hardware business models – there is a lot to learn from existing Open Source Hardware projects about novel and sustainable business models in technology.
One of the publications of RIAT is called Openism: Conversations in Open Hardware. It is a book that was published in 2016, and it is a qualitative investigation of different open hardware projects. We wanted to lear what these projects understand as ‘open hardware’. How open and libre can hardware be?
Thematized in the publication is for example the Arduino project – how the project was able to grow and become a success. Another text in the book is from Joshua Pearce who is a professor at Michigan Tech, and he is talking about the ROI – return of investment in open hardware projects. Please get in contact with us if you want to have one of these books – they are on the info table, and you can also download them for free online on the RIAT website.
In the context of the RIAT Open Hardware Lab we will run one workshop : we investigate the Trezor Crypto Lib and see how it works internally. Trezor Crypto Lib important in terms of open hardware, because the Trezor Wallet is an outstanding open hardware device and project. Trezor Crypto Lib has great documentation, and you can run it on your own device if you are paranoid. We investigate Trezor Crypto Lib, how good is a document that what kind of different crypto workflows can we get with simple devices that are not that fastest, usual crypto accelerated devices, and we investigate what we can learn about the implementation of Monero in Trezor, Ledger and Hardware Wallets in general."
2. The Future Cryptoeconomics Lab:
"The Future Cryptoeconomics Lab , established in 2016, began its journey with the publication “Future Cryptoeconomics“. This publication exemplifies the foundational approach to inquiry at RIAT, which is characterized by rigorous analysis, continuous learning, and in-depth discussions. Our objective is to delve into the complexities and boundaries of cryptoeconomics. In this context, we critically examine concepts like ‘immutable code’ and ‘unstoppable codes’, recognizing that terms like decentralization often represent more of an aspirational promise rather than a realized fact. A critical aspect of our investigation also involves scrutinizing the actual locations and control points of our data, thereby revealing the current state and distance from true decentralization."