Jerry Do It Together

Jerry Do It Together is an open-knowledge project that focuses on the building process of IT infrastructures. It brings together citizens that decided to build a more inclusive digital society. A Jerry is a customized computer inside of a plastic jerry can, built together with its end users. Made out of end of life materials, they are the low cost solution for digital empowerment. The project compiles open-source building manuals and free tutorials assisting everyone to create a Jerry of his own.

The initiative is spread through the Jerry Clan, a global community of users and builders, that relayes it locally. By building Jerrys together, the team aims to open and democratize the knowledge in the field of digital technologies. Today, around 450 people are actively participating or following the project’s activities in Europe (France, Germany, Ireland) and in Africa (Algeria, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin).

“Our goal is to foster innovations that emerge from the community. Our key factor of success is to make new Jerry use-cases as replicable as possible. Therefore our key challenge is to strengthen the Jerry Clan with powerful tools for documentation, online and offline collaboration. Addressing both neophytes and experts is one of our primary challenges. “How to make people contribute?” is a key question we keep in mind when working on contributor paths.” (Justine Hannequin)