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This year, we have 10 board nominees for 3 open seats on the OSHWA board. Board members will hold a 2-year position. Once board members have been chosen by the community, the board will appoint a President, VP, and Secretary. As every nominee answered “Yes” to having 5 hours a month to give to the board, we did not include that question in each nominee’s data. Board responsibilities include fundraising, advising on goals and direction, and carrying out compliance of the organization’s purposes and bylaws. The vote will be open on Oct. 20 and Oct 21. Since the post is so long, here is also a .pdf spreadsheet of the nominees. Members will be emailed a link to vote. Here are the nominees in random order:

Toni Klopfenstein

Why do you want to be on the board?

Over the last few years through my work at SparkFun Electronics, I have seen the great benefits and necessity of having a unified Open Hardware community. I would like to be on the board to continue improving and strengthening this community, and to help the community by working towards more common, widely known standards for open source hardware. For myself personally, all OSHWA-hosted events I have attended previously have been of great personal benefit and growth, and have given me the opportunity to meet many people and see many projects from the open source hardware community that I may not otherwise get a chance to work with.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

No.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

My current role at SparkFun Electronics includes maintaining and distributing our documentation via tools like GitHub, so I am well aware of many ambiguities the current open hardware definition has. I am passionate about helping the community grow and improve based on what feedback I see from the community in that role, as well as my previous role in tech support, where I was able to see many of the places that users of open hardware run into trouble or get confused.

I also am skilled at working with people of many different backgrounds and experience levels with open source hardware, and have the communication skills necessary to enable productive communication between extremely technical open-hardware ‘veterans’ and complete newbies to the field.

I also am very self-motivated, and good at prioritizing work that is not necessarily well-defined or clearly driven by others.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

Yes.

Tamer Elzayyat

Why do you want to be on the board?

To utilize my knowledge and experience.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

No, but I am a member in many organizations.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

PhD research now in electronics, and aim in same way.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

Yes.

Matt Joyce

Why do you want to be on the board?

I need something worthwhile to do. A raison d’tre. OSHW is an amazing organization supported by amazing people. I’d love to help push it forward, pull it up, and let it rest on my shoulder as needed. Of course more likely than not with the community behind it, it would more likely be like riding a jet powered tiger.

I’d still love to help out if I can. So I offer my assistance.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

Nope.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

I believe in the mission deeply. I’m honest. I have no incentives to work against or for anyone. I am surrounded by some of the best hardware folks in NYC. And, I’m generally a pretty good person.

I don’t think a board should want more than that out of its members.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

No

Michael Weinberg

Why do you want to be on the board?

While not as important as actual design and creation of OSHW, legal and licensing issues have the potential to have a huge impact on its development and growth. OSS serves as a guide, but not a perfect analogy, for hardware. I want to be on the board of OSHWA to try and help make sure that legal and policy structures are in place to foster OSHW. I also want to make sure that the OSHWA does everything it can to encourage the development of easy to understand best practices that allow non-lawyers to easily navigate some of these thorny issues.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

No

What qualifies you to be a board member?

I’ve never been qualified for anything I’ve ever done. That being said, I helped organized the OH/DC event that brought open source hardware to policymakers in Washington, DC, helped OSHWA with some of the legal issues in its FAQ, talked about policy and legal issues surrounding OSHW at a few Open Hardware Summits, and write about OSHW legal issues every once in a while.
I am not, however, proficient in KiCad. If that’s a requirement I probably shouldn’t be on the board. Not that I wouldn’t like to be proficient in KiCad or anything. Just that I’m not right now.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

No

Nahid Alam (nominated by Addie Wagenknecht)

Why do you want to be on the board?

Nahid served as the review chair for this years OHSummit and I [Addie] found her to be dependable, dedicated and easy to work with, she always was available for calls, meetings and was quick to respond to emails. In addition she is a member of the OSH community. She is founder at litehouse.io

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

Nahid served on the board of Chicktech (http://chicktech.org) and helped them with arranging robotic workshop (http://chicktech.org/programs/past-events/chicktech-high-school-2013-psu/) for woc and girls in tech.

She also arranges a monthly hardware meetup (http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Modular-Electronics-Meetup/)

What qualifies you to be a board member?

Please see above. I highly recommend her -Addie

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

Yes

Lars Zimmermann

Why do you want to be on the board?

To push and support open source hardware and help to develop it. With being on the board I hope to get more grip, a network and possibilities to do this beyond the scale I am already doing this. 

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

No

What qualifies you to be a board member?

I advocate for open source hardware for years now, as open source economist. I am not an engineer. For that reason I have different motivations and viewpoints on the matter.

I like to explore the potential of open source for hardware in other fields than electronics. My current main interests are to make open source hardware work/bring it to the discussion for a circular economy as well as for the future of our freedom and democracy.

I initiated and am part of different projects focussing on open source hardware like:

The Open It Agency: http://openitagency.eu

The IPO Tables: http://ipotables.net (new)

Baubus: http://baubus.de (new)

OWi: http://owiowi.net

I write about open source hardware in my blog, there you can find also more projects: http://bloglz.de

I did research and do workshops and consulting on open source hardware business models. I wrote the chapter about business models for an upcoming book about open source hardware “building open source hardware”.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

No

Joshua Pearce

Why do you want to be on the board?

I want to help legitimize open source hardware as a concept to ease government and investor funding of its development, accelerate commercialization and catalyze mass-scale deployment. I want open source hardware to be the established default rather than the exception. I would also like to help the OSHWA build a centralized database to house all kinds of OSH to make it easier to find, use, adapt and share.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

I am on the advisory board for the AMSE Additive Manufacturing Challenge (IAM3D) and have agreed to sit on the Advisory Board for Adopting Appropriate Technology (ADAPT) as a Framework for the Technology and Engineering Education Curriculum for the National Science Foundation’s DRK-12 Grant Program. In Canada, I was on the board of advisors for Hearthmakers Energy Cooperative in 2009 and the Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Energy Applied Research Centre from 2011. I have also sat on numerous advisory boards for small stat-up companies and NPOs.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

I have a well-documented track record as a major advocate of open-source hardware in academia and the popular press. I have published extensively on both the technology of 1) open source appropriate technology (OSH for sustainable development), 2) RepRap 3-D printing (OSH for distributed manufacturing), 3) OSH for scientific equipment development and 4) policy against closed IP. For example, I published the seminal call for OSH scientific equipment in the journal Science (a top journal) and followed up with the book Open Source Lab (2014) published by Elsevier (the top scientific publisher) to help legitimize the now burgeoning field. I also published in Nature (another top journal) a piece challenging both patents as a innovation source and the public funding of closed research. My work is regularly covered by the mainstream media, where I am careful to ensure the meme of “open source hardware is a technically superior method of development” at every opportunity. For example, see the Newsweek article on our open source metal 3D printer for less than <$1200.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

No

Theodore Ullrich

Why do you want to be on the board?

I was at the very first OSHW meeting at Eyebeam in 2010. Here are some photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/teddesigns/sets/72157623642265534/

I started and run a product design and development consultancy, called Tomorrow Lab (http://tomorrow-lab.com). Since day one, Tomorrow Lab has always looked to uphold and create Open Source Hardware, however it has been difficult to keep commercialization as a priority when you are also trying to stay ‘open’. That being said, I’m interested in pushing to merge the two towards everyone’s benefit. I believe you have to resolve these issues in order for OSHW to flourish.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

Tomorrow Lab is is on the World2NYC Board with the NYCEDC, and the NextTopMakers Board.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

Ultimately, I see the role of a Board Member to guide the application of the organization’s goals to current activities and opportunities. Its all about staying relevant. Therefore, a connection to industry is an important qualification.

As an engineer, industrial designer, and startup founder, I am familiar with the needs of the hardware community. I meet with new hardware startups in NYC almost daily. My business consults for dozens of them per year. I believe the insights available from a person in my position would offer value for OSHWA.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

Yes

Rose Swan Meacham

PERSONAL STATEMENT
Ensuring that new technology and hardware is made available to everyone is essential to fostering innovations that will improve the standard of living and education for us all. I strongly believe that anyone (no matter what age, gender, race, or economic background) is capable of contributing to scientific discovery in transformative ways.

This is a topic I feel extremely passionate about and I strongly believe that Open Source Hardware can be used by communities world-wide to fill in for failing governmental systems such as clean living standards, STEM education and private healthcare. By unifying innovators with new ideas for creating, improving, or sharing Open Source Hardware I believe we can help individuals make visible impact on their communities worldwide.

I would be honored to invest my energy and resources to ensure that Open Source Hardware is made both accessible and easy to work with by people from all backgrounds.

OUTREACH & EDUCATION
If allowed to serve on the board for OSHWA, I would organize educational events within schools and community spaces for the general public, including STEM topics for young adults (especially girls!), where open source hardware is used as a way to fuel interest and share technical skills.

I had the privilege of giving a TEDx Talk last year about Women In Science and through my research learned that while the number of girls in many undergraduate STEM programs outnumbers boys, the number of graduate level female students reversed to the minority. Among women surveyed in PhD level mathematics courses at Columbia, the majority attributed this to feelings of being undervalued and a lack of support from their peers.

Creating a common voice and networking space through OSHWA would help disseminate new knowledge about developing Open Source Hardware, but it would also provide the support many minority and underprivileged individuals need to be successful in STEM fields.

ONLINE NETWORK
It is important to take advantage of an online network to help connect OSHWA members with likeminded Makers worldwide. This network could include live streamed panel discussions that we host, video lectures from experts who lead our outreach educational events, and an encyclopedia of source code and data on Open Source Hardware.

These entries could reference StackOverflow and resources like Arduino’s Forum to help provide our community with the tools necessary to advance their own hardware projects and share improvements on existing schematics. In a sense, it could become a new user-driven forum for learning about the Open Hardware movement and advancing its progress by supporting those who are working with new designs.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

The most recent non-profit organization that I worked with was the Imagine Science Film Festival, which organizes an annual film festival in New York, as well as events throughout the year that make science accessible to the general public through film. The events were designed to make accurate, often esoteric scientific concepts more engaging and relatable through panel discussions and interactive activities for all ages.

The experience I gained would be extremely valuable to help with fundraising and creating a stronger global network of like-minded Makers. My responsibilities included planning and attending board meetings and developing new strategies that could help bridge the gap between art and science. I managed volunteers and hosted film screenings, panels with scientists and artists, planned educational events, fundraising parties, and started the first overseas outreach program which hosted film events and workshops in Saudi Arabia, Ireland, France, and Ecuador.

I worked directly with investors and sponsors, including Nature, Science/AAS, Google, Vimeo, NY Science Exchange, and universities such as NYU, New School, and Rockefeller to maintain the support we needed to bring quality content to the general public for free whenever possible. For example, I worked with Google and the University College Dublin to create the Mobile Science Cinema Truck – a private theater that was designed to bring science-themed activities and films to underprivileged areas throughout Ireland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTt4XfCcHxI

Another example includes an educational series that I organized with the New York Hall of Science to teach children about biological sciences and how to create their own animations. The culmination of the event was a screening of their films that was hosted online from our sponsor Vimeo and in theaters throughout New York during the film festival.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

The mission of OSHWA is very dear to me and I believe that my unique research experience would enable me to make a tangible difference.

My experience working for non-profit companies and sitting on boards gives me a pre-established network and resources I could draw from to help develop OSHWA. But perhaps more importantly, as a recent masters graduate from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, I have hands-on experience working with Open Source Hardware. I am currently applying this knowledge as a researcher in a Neuroscience Lab at NYU and developing a new experiment with collaborators in the Psychology and Neuroscience departments at Princeton University.

With new efforts being made by researchers to make their experiments available to the general public for free, I can see a huge potential for immense discovery by people outside of academia in the next decade. But a link between access to research and open source hardware and technology needs to be formed. I would like to start new movements among researchers to connect directly with the Open Source Hardware community to make the new technology developed in laboratories available to everyone. For example, Jack Andraka, was in high school when he invented a revolutionary test for pancreatic cancer and attributed his discovery to Aaron Swartz.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

Yes

James “Laen” Neal

Why do you want to be on the board?

I believe in open source–software as well as hardware– as a tool for the advancement of technology. I think OSHWA does excellent work promoting the philosophy of open source, and I’d like to lend my skills and resources to helping further its goals.

Do you currently serve on the boards of other organizations?

No.

What qualifies you to be a board member?

As a maker, I develop open source hardware. As a hobbyist, I use open source hardware. As the owner of a manufacturing service, the main group I want to serve are people making open source hardware.

Do you have an interest in serving as the board President?

No

OSHWA gave financial assistance to several women to attend the 2014 Open Hardware Summit in Rome, Italy. Below are conversations with two of these scholarship recipients, one from Pune, India, and the other from Colorado, USA. Both women have wonderful thoughts to share, plus Toni Klopfenstein is seeking a seat on the OSHWA Board in the upcoming election. Please read on to hear their stories.

What is your name?
Sphoorti Joglekar

What is your age?
21

Where do you live?
Pune, India

Where are you from originally?
Pune, India

What is your title at your job?
Member of Technical Staff, Airtight Networks (Pune, India)

What do you do specifically for work?
I work on kernel and driver level features for the company’s product.

Why did you want to attend the Open Hardware Summit? Before attending, what did you hope to get out of it?
I was introduced to the open hardware community while working on my thesis project, and robotics and embedded applications have always been my interest. Before attending the Summit, I hoped for an opportunity to meet and learn from people contributing and making a huge difference in the open source hardware world. And the Summit provided me with that, and more!

What does open source hardware mean to you?
I am a beginner, and I am learning a lot about open source hardware and looking for mentors to guide me in my journey.

What do you see as the biggest struggle with open source hardware?
Being a beginner to the open hardware community, I find the absence of hackerspaces and FAB Labs a challenge.

What are your thoughts on the gender and/or racial issues around open source hardware as a subject overall?
I feel more and more women should get involved in open hardware community.

What did you get out of The Summit? What was your favorite part?
I gained a lot out of the Summit. I met fellow scholarship recipients, and also Alicia, Addie, Aileen, Becky and Phoenix who are really great at what they do. I came to know about the various open hardware projects people are working on worldwide through the talks session on Day 1 of the Summit. The second day was more about community participation and building a strong community through the workshops that were conducted.

Most importantly, I gained confidence to interact with really talented people on this huge platform and I am so thankful to OSHWA for encouraging me to attend and interact with all these people.

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What is your name?
Toni Klopfenstein

What is your age?
26

Where do you live?
Boulder, CO

Where are you from?
Monument, CO

What is your title at your job?
Quality Assurance Engineer, Sparkfun Electronics (Boulder, CO)

What do you do specifically for work?
I manage all Github repositories, work on circuit boards where the original engineer no longer works at SFE, organize the Hackers in Residence that come to work with our engineering team, assist with board revisions when necessary, and act as a liaison between engineering and tech support.

Why did you want to attend the Open Hardware Summit? Before attending, what did you hope to get out of it?
I was interested in getting to listen to and share ideas with other folks in this arena, and to strengthen our community. My hope was to leave the Summit with new people to collaborate with, and determine where we need to improve.

At last year’s Summit someone discussed open hardware farm tools, which was fascinating and really opened my eyes to the diversity of open hardware, and the fact that it is not just about circuit boards. I’m eager to see what this year has in store, and to learn more about other exciting projects. Even though it’s different from my own work, it’s important to take into consideration these other ideas to allow me to make better working decisions myself.

I hope to represent SFE well at The Summit. I want to truly listen to other ideas out there, and be sure that as leaders in this movement, we are staying true to the community and working with them, not accidentally against them. Communication, listening, and gathering is key.

What does open source hardware mean to you?
Open source hardware means there are no secrets or black boxes filled with things that you cannot see into. It is accessible so you can learn about something, and then go find its data sheets somewhere to learn even more. It’s not a product that is full of secrets and made specifically for one specific company. There are far fewer trade secrets, and much more accessibility.

What do you see as the biggest struggle with open source hardware?
How do you translate open hardware information to people? How do you share this kind of documentation with people and ensure that it is accessible? The common consumer can use open source software quite easily, but there are larger challenges with hardware.

What are your thoughts on the gender and/or racial issues around open source hardware as a subject overall?
This scholarship was created to ensure that women, and their voices, have a place at the table. The Summit is a brainchild of two women, which is important because this is still a very male-dominated industry.

What did you get out of The Summit? What was your favorite part?
The 2014 Summit was very valuable for me. During the first day, I got to learn about many new open-source projects that I was not aware of yet. One that really stood out to me was the Open Seed Initiative, which again, was great to learn about as it reminded me that “open hardware” doesn’t necessarily just mean electronics, but instead can include a wide range of materials and supplies, including agricultural items.

The talks on the first day overall were also really inspiring, especially getting to see so many new faces (at least to me!) in the open hardware field.

The workshops on the second day were also great. Not only did I get to learn some interesting insights about running an open hardware business from Eric Pan of Seeed Studio, but I got to work with folks from companies that I am familiar with from a business standpoint, but not from a personal standpoint. Because of this, for me personally, it helped create a more personal connection for me to other companies in the open source field that I would not necessarily have gotten the chance to meet otherwise. In my opinion, events like that help enforce the community aspect of open hardware, which is important and is something that could still be improved greatly.

OSHWA is looking for 2 new faces to join the board of directors for the Open Source Hardware Association. Please fill out this form to become a nominee or forward the link to the person you wish to nominate for them to fill out. The purpose of this form will be to tell voting members a bit about yourself. We will be publishing the nominees and their answers on Oct. 15th. Board members hold a 2-year position. Once board members have been chosen by the community, the current board will appoint a new President, VP, and Secretary. Board responsibilities include fundraising, advising on goals and direction, and carrying out compliance of the organization’s purposes and bylaws. Board members David Mellis, Star Simpson, Emile Patron, Jeffery Warren, and Addie Wagenknecht will remain on the board. We thank Danese Cooper and Windell Oskay for their years of service. Nominations will be open until Oct. 15th.

Nominee form.

Member voting will take place Oct. 20th and 21st. Want to vote in the election? Become a memberif you’re not already! Please note that only individuals can vote, corporate members cannot.

The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) has developed a Quick Reference Guide for open source hardware.

The folder contains:

– a checklist for opening your project

– a May and Must poster to remind the community of what must be done to consider a project open hardware and what other options you may use.

– a folder of many different file types of the open source hardware logo.

– a copy of the open source hardware definition and best practices

– a “What is Open Source Hardware” infographic

You can find the Google drive folder here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_f25OKVb0TCb3BKQ053RV9DcU0&usp=sharing

If you find this useful, please consider contributing to OSHWA through membership or donation!

 

When you ask someone what license they are using for their open source hardware project, you’re quite likely to hear the answer “Creative Commons.”  And unfortunately, that doesn’t fully answer the question.

The reason is that there is not a single entity called the “Creative Commons license.” Rather, Creative Commons offers a number of different licenses that can apply some rights and protections to your work, including the CC-BY and CC-BY-SA licenses which reflect open source values closely.  In the 2012 and 2013 surveys these licenses were, in fact, the most popular licenses used for open source hardware documentation. (Creative Commons licenses cannot be applied to the hardware itself.)

Creative Commons also offers licenses that carry restrictions — against commercial use and/or derivative works — that are strictly incompatible with open source¹.  The open source hardware definition states that a license for open source hardware “[…] shall allow for the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of products created from the design files, the design files themselves, and derivatives thereof.” Thus, if you choose to release hardware under the banner of “open source,” that means that you agree to allow others to use your design commercially, as well as to create derivative works (and to use them commercially). Consequently, you cannot advertise your project or product as “open source” if it carries restrictions against either of those uses.

To enumerate the particulars, the following licenses are compatible with open source values:

1. Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
2. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)
3. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

While the following licenses carry restrictions that are not compatible with open source:

1. Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
2. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)
3. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)
4. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

Here are some more resources about the issue of NC and open source:

• p2p Foundation (highlighting a snippet from LadyAda’s Blog)
• Creative Commons
• Freedom Defined 
• Open Knowledge Foundation Blog
• OSHWA’s FAQ

To continue the discussion we’ve also posted this topic in the forums.

¹The Open Source Hardware Definition itself is a derivative work of the Open Source Definition (for software), and its language regarding commercial use and derivatives of OSHW is directly adapted from the language in the software context. Restrictions against commercial use and/or derivative works are incompatible with open source hardware, and also incompatible with open source software.

Photo credit: Aleph Objects, Inc.
CC BY SA 4.0

The Front Range Open Source Hardware Symposium was a success! The purpose of the event was to educate the public about open source hardware. Ten open source companies (Sparkfun, Lulzbot, Open Tech Collaborative, Road Narrows Robotics, Modrobotics with their open manufacturing system, Great Scott Gadgets, Cryptotronix, Pcduino, Sparky’s Widgets, and representation from Mach 30) were present along with around 50 attendees. We had an excellent discussion with House of Representatives Congressman Jared Polis. The main topic brought to the attention of Congressman Polis was that innovation moves faster with open source hardware which is why it is important as in IP alternative. Many people also voiced the need for more openness in publicly funded research to enhance the copy-ability of experiments and use open source hardware alternatives within the education system for the benefit of transparency and longevity. There was also mention of the inhibiting cost that some governmental regulations can have on open source hardware. And Jared Polis voiced his concern about making sure open source hardware stays accessible and open in the face of new IP reform. You don’t take our word for the success of the event, Here’s a write up from Aaron Harper.

We wanted to share the process for inviting a member of Congress / government official to speak with the open hardware community where  you live. While OSHWA can not currently help with funding these events, we can assist by sharing fliers, email copy and the information that it takes to host an event.

1. Contact your representative to ask if they would be willing to participate in an event talking with the open source hardware community. Schedule a time (be prepared to wait a few months for a time slot). Check with their office that the signage for your event is appropriate and notify them of the location.

2. Set up a way to RSVP (we used Eventbrite), and promote the event. The event should be a public event to educate the public about open source hardware. OSHWA can include your Open Hardware Symposium with your congressperson on our events page and mailing list.

3. Communicate with the people involved, those asking to show their open source hardware projects and your congressperson (or their staffers). Here is a copy of the logistics email sent and the agenda email.

4. Contact OSHWA to mail you fliers [flier 1, flier 2]: info@oshwa.org

5. Rent tables, chairs, and venue if needed. We had snacks because of the time of the event. You may also need to purchase power strips and extension cords if the venue does not provide those. You may want to ask the open source hardware companies in attendance to assist with the costs. Here is the break down of this event’s costs:

Venue $225
Table/Chair Rental $178
Ice, beverages, snacks $130
Total: $533

6. Thank people for coming, tell everyone what open source hardware is, remind people to stay respectful and on topic, and start your discussion! If you need help along the way, don’t hesitate to contact info@oshwa.org

 

We are thrilled to announce the Open Source Hardware Association’s annual Open Hardware Summit: the Fifth annual Summit will be held September 30, 2014 and October 1, 2014 in Rome, Italy.

It is intended as a community to discuss and draw attention to the rapidly growing Open Source Hardware movement on a global scale. The Summit is a venue to present, discuss, and learn about open hardware of all kinds. The summit examines open hardware and its relation to other issues, such as software, design, business, law, and education. It is the one time a year which the community can come together.

Why Europe? We felt it was important after receiving feedback from community outside of the United States to bring the Summit to a larger global audience. The Open Hardware Summit this year will be held in parallel with the Innovation Week in Rome. This will give attendants the opportunity to attend multiple events in a relatively short period of time in the city. Last but not least, thanks to the collaboration with Rome’s Innovation Week we will be able to make the fifth Open Hardware Summit an open event with no admittance fee. We hope this choices will help bring more attention and cooperation to the key topics of open source hardware and open manufacturing.

In line with this effort towards inclusion and global reach the Open Source Hardware Association will in addition be launching and leading a Session at the Upcoming OuiShare Fest in Paris to announce its expansion and plans to open international branches.
The call for talks and workshops for the Open Hardware Summit is forthcoming at 2014.oshwa.org and will serve to bring inspiration from several key Open Hardware leaders to the community. The call will also be an opportunity to propose workshops and co-creative sessions that can produce knowledge and action in the community.

In 2013 OSHWA conducted a survey of the international open source hardware community, which received 1,007 responses. We’ve shared the aggregate results! You can download the master files, or use the graphs we’ve created. A big thanks to our Research Chair, Catarina Mota, for making the survey and the data possible.

The survey results can be found under our Research tab (along with data from 2012), or simply follow this link: https://www.oshwa.org/oshw-community-survey-2013/

Some of the basics of Open Source Hardware, the landscape, history and implications are covered in the attached article, written as a collaboration between Alicia and myself.

PDF attached , text below.

(The the full journal touched on the landscape of OSHW in various sectors of tech innovation and how a shifting paradigm in entrepreneurship might affect corporations, innovators, and policy makers). Email me (gabriella.levine@gmail.com) if you’d like to read a copy.

And here are the slides from the presentation.

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“Broadening the Open Source Landscapes: Insights from OSHWA”

A. What is Open Source Hardware? Open Source Hardware is an alternative to the patent IP structure. As the communally written and accepted definition states, “Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or the hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, ie. the design from which it is made, is available in the best format for making modifications to it. The formats can include CAD designs, electronic schematics, source code, technical drawings, and photo / video documentation. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs.” See this video for further explanation.

More fields in industry, design and technology are adopting the Open Hardware definition as part of their missions and values, broadening the landscape of source files available for use. Open-source hardware has been applied to electronics, fashion, furniture, musical instruments, bio-engineering and much more. A few specific examples follow, though there are many more open source projects and too many to list. See here for a growing list of Open Hardware projects. Arduino, a microcontroller and (Integrated Developer Environment) IDE software platform developed for hobbyists to make electronic prototypes, has expanded the world of hardware development from electrical engineers to artists, hobbyists, and even youth. Open Hardware projects range from industrial machines [open source ecology], 3d printers [RepRap], environmental disaster relief efforts [Protei, Open Relief], space programs [DIY Space Exploration, Mach30], and underwater robotics [openROV].

The Open Source Hardware Association, referred to as OSHWA, is a pending 501(c)3 non-profit to educate people about open-source hardware, collect data from the community, and voice community standards. OSHWA aims to represent the Open Hardware movement, globally.

B. INNOVATING BASED ON MODELS: Technology has always been innovated based on other people’s successes, from the discovery that the earth was round, to the invention of the telephone, steam engine, or airplane. Although patent laws were originally designed to protect inventors’ ideas and benefit the public good, today patents constrain further innovation. Open Source is founded upon the belief that the more designs and processes can be open and shared, the quicker that innovation can happen. Open source hardware generally benefits the consumer because it enables the consumer to test, alter, iterate upon the product, thereby allowing for competition within the free market.

There are many examples of successful businesses openly sharing software, such as Mozilla and Linux, but the rise of the Open Hardware trend is beginning. This growing trend is founded in the belief that sharing ideas, designs, and methodologies can bring technological innovation and manufacturing mainstream on local and global scales, making it easier to engineer new solutions to complex problems. Open Hardware projects that facilitate free sharing of documentation, source code, and CAD designs, are an approach to proliferate innovation.

C. HOW TO CREATE OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE: Open-source hardware depends on proliferating technology through sharing the documentation and source files needed to build and modify your hardware. As the open-source hardware definition explains, one must document the complete and preferable versions of the files for a design, rather than an intermediate or obfuscated version. For mechanical components and physical designs, it is the original CAD files. For circuit boards, it is the original schematic and board layout files.  The Open Hardware community has generated a list of Best Practices pertaining to documenting and sharing work related to a piece of hardware so that others can use and modify the work.

Unfortunately, a technology that attempts to be Open will often incorporate original design files for hardware that are in proprietary formats from expensive software tools because the open source equivalent software does not exist. In this case, it’s helpful and encouraged to offer versions of the design in alternative or intermediate formats that can be viewed or edited with common or free programs. For example, PDFs of circuit schematics, Gerbers for circuit board layouts, and IGES or STL files for mechanical objects. These allow people without access to expensive or proprietary software to make use of your design as best possible. However, releasing the original files as well defines the core of open-source hardware practice.

Many individuals and companies that produce open-source hardware publish their design files on their website when the product goes on sale (for example, Arduino). Others store their files in online version control systems (e.g. GitHub or Google Code), so that they are public throughout the design and development process. This is a choice that businesses or individuals make. Further, there are websites specifically designed for sharing hardware designs, like Thingiverse and Instructables.

If the inventor adheres to the open source hardware definition, then he / she may use the open hardware logo to denote to the community that their project is open and the source files are publicly available.

D. WHO PRODUCES OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE AND WHY COLLABORATION IS VITAL: The open source hardware community is made up of a diverse set of people and backgrounds. People from the open source hardware community categorize themselves as: DIY-ers, engineers, makers, hackers, artists, and activists, and often a combination of several of the previously listed items. Communities of these people participate in the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) movement, the rise of makerspaces/hackerspaces (places where like-minded people get together and invent things usually based in science, tech, and art), the Maker movement, and the open source hardware movement. Similar to the sharing ethos that occurs in makerspaces and the maker and DIY culture, the Open Source Hardware movement began as a way for people to share information and documentation for fabricating hardware. Through the proliferation of information, building up other’s code and designs, several companies and open source hardware projects have branched from other open source hardware projects, thus being the result of knowledge and skillshare that happens in collaborative work facilities.

In 2012 a survey was conducted by OSHWA to collect data about the community. The full results can be found on our website. Another survey is currently ongoing for 2013. The 2012 survey had 2000 participants, although this is not representative of all the people in the open source hardware community. The 2012 survey found that 44% of the participants were using open source hardware for their jobs/careers. Only 14% of participants reported that none of their income comes from building open source hardware, while 86% of participants make some or all of their income from open source hardware. 52% reported living in the USA, though this number could be high as the survey was in English, and US-centric despite our best efforts to outreach beyond USA.

E. WHY GO OPEN? Patents were created to incentivize inventors and spur innovation in exchange for 20 years of exclusive rights in the form of a monopoly. The patentee has to disclose how their innovation was created to the public. In today’s patent system, money made from patents is going to lawyers rather than the inventor, and a twenty year monopoly is not a realistic timeframe for the pace of technology innovation in the digital era. The barriers and frustrations that the patent system has created is veering inventors to adopt a new alternative to patents: open source hardware. It is vastly easier to innovate on a technology which is open and the source files are publicly available, at no cost. Open source hardware creates products not driven by building monopolies but driven by capitalistic pursuits and technological innovation in an open environment. This type of sharing information leads to powerful opportunities for companies and individuals to learn from each other.

To further illustrate these ideals, Nathan Seidle, former board member of OSHWA and open hardware business owner of SparkFun Electronics, was invited to testify to the House Subcommittee on the IP Reform happening in congress6. He uses open source hardware rather than patents because his products are innovated within weeks, rather than years. His products also get copied and reproduced by consumers and users. Patented works also get copied, but Seidle reports that is more lucrative to out-innovate a copied product rather than litigate.

Rather than esteeming the value of intellectual property, open source hardware companies value a large community using, sharing and making daughter products or derivative products, working towards a common goal of bettering the world of electronics and prototyping tools.

 Individuals and companies value open source hardware to make it more accessible and attainable by a broader audience. Additionally, open source hardware piggybacks off the DIY movement by valuing giving others the design files to “build it themselves and fix it when it is broken”.  A third reason people find it beneficial to open source hardware aligns with the DIY &  maker ethics, valuing the ability to control, alter and personalize the items which one owns. As products swing back to personalization from mass market goods, open source hardware makes personalization of goods possible. Not only does personalization benefit the consumer, but the fact that companies can build off of, curate, and improve other open source hardware products also means the consumer is getting a better product. Inventors are creating the marketplace and alternate IP system that they want to be part of.

F. Future of Open Source Hardware: OSHWA hosts the annual Open Hardware Summit. Each year this event continues to grow by a few hundred people, and the people attending and sponsoring come from bigger and bigger businesses. Open source hardware tools are now making it to mainstream market, such as an open source laser cutter (such as LaserSaur) and an open source jigsaw14. This is a new advancement in the open source hardware landscape. Along with these new advancements and growth within our community, we recognize that people want more options for their hardware, even in the niche of open source hardware. OSHWA is looking to develop a laundry label type of labeling system that would graphically represent which parts of a project were open source (for example, the mechanicals, the electronics, the process, etc.), which parts can be easily fixed if broken, which parts can be recycled, which parts have instructions for troubleshooting, etc. As Open Hardware increases the options that inventors have when releasing their technologies, we hope to grow the number innovations using open source hardware as well as continue to relay the benefits of open source hardware to the general public.

FURTHER READING:

1. https://www.oshwa.org/definition/

2. the history of oshw organizations and definitions

3. https://www.oshwa.org/sharing-best-practices/

5. Adafruit The many layers of open source hardware: definitions, licenses, challenges, and debates http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/03/28/open-source-hardware-overview-slides/

6.Testimony of Nathan Seidle, Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet U.S. House of Representatives: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/113th/08012013/080113%20Testimony%20-%20Seidle.pdf

This blog post by Gabriella Levine prepared for OSHWA.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

So feel free to use any of the following info for describing or writing on Open Source Hardware.