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Citizen Infrastructure

Open-source insulin: "We Are Not Waiting"

Managing type-1 diabetes means constantly tracking blood sugar and dosing insulin — and for years the medical-device industry was slow to ship the obvious tools: real-time glucose readings on your phone, and systems that could adjust insulin automatically. So a community of patients and parents of diabetic kids stopped waiting and built it themselves.

What they built

Section titled “What they built”
  • Nightscout (“CGM in the Cloud”) — an open-source, DIY project that takes data from a continuous glucose monitor and puts it in the cloud, so it can be seen on any phone, watch, or screen. Parents could finally see their child’s blood sugar from across town.
  • OpenAPS and related DIY “closed-loop” systems — open-source code that links a glucose monitor to an insulin pump to automate dosing: a homemade artificial pancreas.

Their rallying cry became a movement: “We Are Not Waiting.” The code, the instructions, and the hard-won knowledge are shared freely; people help each other set it up.

Why it’s a commons

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This is the commons in one of its most contemporary forms. A bounded community pooled its skills to steward shared infrastructure — open code, open data, openly maintained — that markets found too small or too unprofitable to serve, and did it in more customisable, humane, quality-driven ways than the industry managed. It’s also a clear case of David Bollier’s point that commons often build what concentrated industries won’t — and a reminder (see enclosure) that such work needs to protect itself, since proven commons can become “free R&D” the market later absorbs.

Sources

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