The DIYbiosphere Project

The DIYbiosphere collects and maintains entries on Do-it-Yourself biology (DIYbio) initiatives from all over the world in a distributed manner, similar to a wiki but using GitHub, Jekyll, and Netlify. The project is participatory and completely open-source. Everyone can access and (re)use the content at sphere.diybio.org, which is dedicated to the public domain, except where otherwise noted. Anyone can also contribute to the project: writers add or edit entries, and developers participate in the development; the software, design, and overall direction of the project. Go to the repository at DIYbiosphere/sphere to see how to get started to contribute. Learn more about the development community and how to get more involved.

DIYbiosphere has four main goals. One is to create a central platform to find and learn about DIYbio initiatives. Two is to provide the DIYbio community a simple way to post and share their initiatives. Three is to have an open-source project to foster connection to DIYbio projects, people, and ideas. And four is to map and visualize the DIYbio community. Learn more about our mission, vision, and values in our philosophy page.

How it started

DIYbiosphere’s original vision is credited to Gabriela A. Sanchez, a PhD student (at the time) at the University of Geneva working as part of the “Citizen Science” research team under the leadership of Prof. Bruno Strasser.

The project replaced an earlier page on diybio.org called /local, a simple list of local groups that had strained to keep up as the community grew. Announcing the project in March 2018, DIYbio.org co-founder Jason Bobe explained the aim: “to make it easier for the community to share structured information about projects and organizations… a venue for community members to help raise awareness about opportunities to get involved in various activities.”

The choice to build it on GitHub with simple markdown-based entries was deliberate — a way for anyone in the community to collaborate on a shared information resource without needing to be a web developer. Quoting sociologist Jenny Reardon on the nature of a living community project: “Nothing endures; all is ‘in-formation.’”

DIYbiosphere is hosted by the nonprofit DIYbio.org — read more about the organization and its own history.