impact assessment (SIA) frameworks that could be adopted for this, documented their features (Sbeih et al., 2017), and analyzed them in an open dataset (Sbeih et al., 2018). But we still need to move away from a proliferation of frameworks, toward a simpler approach. Embedding them into platforms like Fab Labs.io is a good strategy: What if everyone could measure their impact by using a tool on Fab Labs.io instead of studying and applying theoretical frameworks? This would make it easier for people to understand their impact, and, at the platform level, get an overall view of the impact of local and global communities. How can we be sure that these Fab Lab and Fab City platforms are really digital social innovations? This is a promising strategy that would enable Fab Cities to understand what they could bring to society and economy. In turn, working on these platforms and research projects is an important opportunity for improving the way labs are organized, developing projects, doing research, interacting with stakeholders, proving their value in a clearer way, and improving the management of initiatives and networks among us. This would, ultimately, help us better define who we are as individual makers and as communities of makers and labs.
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THE FAB CITY COLLECTIVE