Dr Laura James's writings

I’m delighted that a paper I wrote about  Field Ready ’s work and some of the engineering challenges we face was accepted by the  IEEE  for the  Global Humanitarian Technology Conference , which is taking place this weekend in California. I am permitted to share the accepted version of the paper [ PDF ] which is copyright IEEE. Once the official version is published, I’ll link to that and add the full citation. Abstract: Distributed manufacturing, where decentralized small, local sites are engaged in production, often supported by digital systems and networks, can be a powerful tool in humanitarian aid. Field Ready uses distributed manufacturing to produce essential non-food items locally where they are needed during humanitarian responses. Such supplies can be available to communities in need and to relief workers more quickly, more cheaply than alternatives, and provide appropriate solutions to problems, often engaging local people in designing and making necessary items, and