Resources are USA centric

[YosypC]

I've come across this beautiful repertoire of knowledge and resources but it's noticeable how it's built around US market: the shop links are all Amazon.com or local shops and the dates use USA format (arguably the most ambiguous and least used around the globe). I understand how it's impossible to list shops for each continent, but I'd like to open a discussion regardless (Aliexpress is a universal shop, for example) also using more international formats.

[dmalawey]

You bring up a crucial issue. It's worth addressing but it is also overwhelming for one person to address. Behind the scenes here are some notes:

• amazon links and local shops are a short-term solution, so if the opportunity appears to serve the whole world then it overrides the USA-centric choices in documentation.
• the priority value of an amazon link has two parts, 1) to provide specific models instead of just a tool name and 2) to provide traceability of a set of choices that worked for a particular application. (so if I purchased an item in one
• to treat the amazon link as a "solution for shopping" is just an added benefit for a USA-based reader
• having the amazon link as a potential revenue for me, helps increase the chance that I can make this whole effort more sustainable. I'm working with near zero budget and the amazon links sometimes generate a small revenue.
• the unexpected asset for the amazon links is data - if we can see a large number of clicks on one item and no clicks on another item, it's a feedback that says the links can get demoted or that content can get removed, and more valuable content can take its place.

Notes from SCUTTLE Robotics work:

• I went through a journey with SCUTTLE robotics, sourcing parts in malaysia from RS components, Lazada, Cytron.io and other southeast-asia suppliers. Years of work made up a nearly complete set of shopping links for the same components to build that robot in southeast asia, for equivalent parts to the North American parts.
• I tried to get contributors to tabulate shopping links for new regions such as Turkey, Brazil, and so on, with partial successes. (we should note that the components in the SCUTTLE robot are the same components for the lab - extrusions, brackets, power supplies, DC devices, microcontrollers, and so on.
• From 2021-2024 I could not maintain the list of parts for multiple regions nor could I get the consistent support to keep those lists maintained. So, I did what I could and updated the amazon content only.
• For each component listed in the SCUTTLE BOM and in the OpenLab BOM, as the author I have an idea of which ones are truly globally available and the method by which a shopper overseas would trace the USA part to find a local part. So, for example the 30mm extrusion would have many ways to be sourced - there's no predicting it. The crucial barrier for an individual looking for the global part would be verifying the geometry would work for a 3D printed bracket. They don't all match. For that reason, I built a post having the four most common variants in 3D models. Now, the individual can identify their parts by physical measurements and bypass the brands, manufacturers, distributors as a way to verify. See the extrusion variants post here

Global variations occurs with shopping, all the way down to geometry of parts. I think it's impossible to give shopping-level solutions for a global audience but it's possible to give engineering-level solutions (how to evaluate, how to compare, what specifications to trust) for the global audience. So, this problem of USA-centric solutions from a USA-based author is very huge, and worth a very careful study before implementing changes. I'd love to support a generalization of specific items to make them more globally useful. But I am not sure how to address it across the board. I just know that I am capable of posting my personal selections along with more general selections as I author content. Open to ongoing ideas, or suggested updates on my authored content. Yes we want to support the whole world of engineers - engineering is universal. I'm committed to universal information. For anyone reading, I agree with the points in the issue but I don't yet know how to resolve them! Please treat this comment as just further information to be considered towards solutions! - David.