Open-design movement - Wikipedia

Open-design movement - Wikipedia
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Movement for publicly shared designs
RepRap
general-purpose 3D printer that not only could be used to make structures and functional components for open-design projects but is an open-source project itself
Uzebox, an open-design video game console
Bug Labs
open source hardware
Zoybar
open source guitar kit with 3-D printed body
Free Universal Construction Kit
by Golan Levin and Shawn Sims, Ars Electronica exhibition,
Offenes Kulturhaus
de
museum, Linz, Austria (2012)
The
open-design movement
involves the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information. This includes the making of both
free and open-source software
(FOSS) as well as
open-source hardware
. The process is generally facilitated by the Internet and often performed without monetary compensation. The goals and philosophy of the movement are identical to that of the
open-source movement
, but are implemented for the development of physical products rather than software.
Open design is a form of
co-creation
, where the final product is designed by the users, rather than an external stakeholder such as a private company.
History
edit
Sharing of manufacturing information can be traced back to the 18th and 19th century.
10
11
Aggressive patenting put an end to that period of extensive knowledge sharing.
12
More recently, principles of open design have been related to the
free
and
open-source
software movements.
13
In 1997
Eric S. Raymond
Tim O'Reilly
and
Larry Augustin
established "open source" as an alternative expression to "free software", and in 1997
Bruce Perens
published
The Open Source Definition
. In late 1998, Dr. Sepehr Kiani (a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT) realized that designers could benefit from open source policies, and in early 1999 he convinced Dr. Ryan Vallance and Dr. Samir Nayfeh of the potential benefits of open design in machine design applications.
14
Together they established the
Open Design Foundation
(ODF) as a non-profit corporation, and set out to develop an Open Design Definition.
14
The idea of open design was taken up, either simultaneously or subsequently, by several other groups and individuals. The principles of open design are closely similar to those of
open-source hardware
design, which emerged in March 1998 when Reinoud Lamberts of the
Delft University of Technology
proposed on his "Open Design Circuits" website the creation of a hardware design community in the spirit of free software.
15
Ronen Kadushin coined the title "Open Design" in his 2004 Master's thesis, and the term was later formalized in the 2010 Open Design Manifesto.
16
The
COVID-19
pandemic provided a significant test case for the open-design movement's principles of
distributed manufacturing
. With global supply chains struggling to meet the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical devices, open design communities, such as Open Source Medical Supplies (OSCMS), contributed to fill the gap. It was documented that OSCMS producted over 48 million units of PPE and medical supplies by "citizen responders" and makerspaces across 86 countries.
17
Current directions
edit
Open Source Ecology
, open source farming and industrial machinery
The open-design movement currently unites two trends. On one hand, people apply their skills and time on projects for the
common good
, perhaps where funding or commercial interest is lacking, for
developing countries
or to help spread ecological or cheaper technologies. On the other hand, open design may provide a framework for developing advanced projects and technologies that might be beyond the resource of any single company or country and involve people who, without the
copyleft
mechanism, might not collaborate otherwise. There is now also a third trend, where these two methods come together to use high-tech open-source (e.g. 3D printing) but customized local solutions for
sustainable development
18
Open Design holds great potential in driving future innovation as recent research has proven that stakeholder users working together produce more innovative designs than designers consulting users through more traditional means.
19
The open-design movement may arguably organize production by prioritising socio-ecological well-being over corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption.
20
Open machine design as compared to open-source software
edit
The open-design movement is currently fairly nascent but holds great potential for the future. In some respects design and engineering are even more suited to open collaborative development than the increasingly common open-source software projects, because with 3D models and photographs the concept can often be understood visually. It is not even necessary that the project members speak the same languages to usefully collaborate.
citation needed
However, there are certain barriers to overcome for open design when compared to software development where there are mature and widely used tools available and the duplication and distribution of code cost next to nothing. Creating, testing and modifying physical designs is not quite so straightforward because of the effort, time and cost required to create the physical artefact; although with access to emerging flexible computer-controlled manufacturing techniques the complexity and effort of construction can be significantly reduced (see tools mentioned in the
fab lab
article).
Organizations
edit
VIA OpenBook
reference design
CAD
visualisation
Open design was considered in 2012 a fledgling movement consisting of several unrelated or loosely related initiatives.
21
Many of these organizations are single, funded projects, while a few organizations are focusing on an area needing development. In some cases (e.g.
Thingiverse
for 3D printable designs or Appropedia for
open source appropriate technology
) organizations are making an effort to create a centralized open source design repository as this enables innovation.
22
Notable organizations include:
AguaClara
, an open-source engineering group at Cornell University publishing a design tool and CAD designs for water treatment plants
Arduino
, an open-source electronics hardware platform, community and company
Elektor
23
Field Ready
GrabCAD
Instructables
Local Motors
(defunct): methods of transport, vehicles
LittleBits
24
One Laptop Per Child
(inactive), a project to provide children in developing territories laptop computers with open hardware and software
OpenCores
, digital electronic hardware
Open Architecture Network
Open Hardware and Design Alliance
(OHANDA)
OpenStructures
(OSP),
25
a modular construction model where everyone designs on the basis of one shared geometrical grid.
Open Source Ecology
26
including solar cells
27
Thingiverse
, miscellaneous
VOICED
VIA OpenBook
netbook has
CAD
files for the design licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported License
Wikispeed
, open-source modular vehicles
Open Source Design
28
a community created in 2016 to hold space for designers interested in open source.
Zoetrope, an open design low-cost wind turbine.
29
30
See also
edit
Free and open-source software portal
Manufacturing portal
3D printing services
Cosmopolitan localism
Commons-based peer production
Co-creation
Knowledge commons
Modular design
OpenBTS
Open manufacturing
Open-source appropriate technology
Open-source architecture
Open Source Initiative
Open-source software
Open standard
and
Open standardization
Open Design Alliance
Digital public goods
References
edit
"Design and implementation of 3D printer for Mechanical Engineering Courses"
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research 9(3):293-312
. March 2021.
doi
10.31686/ijier.vol9.iss3.3001
"Uzebox - The ATMega Game Console"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-08-28.
"Evaluation + Tools + Best Practices: BugLabs and Open-Source Hardware Innovation"
. Worldchanging
. Retrieved
2013-06-16
"First Pics of Bug Labs Open-Source Hardware"
. TechCrunch. 2007-11-01
. Retrieved
2013-06-16
Sorrel, Charlie (2013-03-28).
"Zoybar | Gadget Lab"
Wired
. Retrieved
2013-06-16
"Ars Electronica Archiv - Award of Distinction 2012; The Free Universal Construction Kit; Shawn Sims, Golan Levin"
Prix Ars Electronica
. Retrieved
28 July
2025
"Golan Levin, Shawn Sims. Free Universal Construction Kit. 2012"
The Museum of Modern Art
. Retrieved
28 July
2025
The Free Universal Construction Kit
. Retrieved
28 July
2025
– via vimeo.com.
"Open collaborative design"
. AdCiv. 2010-07-29. Archived from
the original
on 2019-06-29
. Retrieved
2013-06-16
Nuvolari, Alessandro 2004. Collective Invention during the British Industrial Revolution: The Case of the Cornish Pumping Engine. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 28, nr. 3: 347–363.
Allen, Robert C. 1983. Collective Invention. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 4, no. 1: 1–24.
Bessen, James E. and Nuvolari, Alessandro, Knowledge Sharing Among Inventors: Some Historical Perspectives (2012, forthcoming). In: Dietmar Harhoff and Karim Lakhani eds., Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities and Open Innovation. Cambridge: MIT Press. Pre-Print: Boston Univ. School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper No. 11-51; LEM Working Paper 2011/21. Available at
Archived
2013-02-28 at the
Wayback Machine
Vallance, Kiani and Nayfeh, Open Design of Manufacturing Equipment, CIRP 1st Int. Conference on Agile, 2001
R. Ryan Vallance, Bazaar Design of Nano and Micro Manufacturing Equipment, 2000
"Announcing: Open Design Circuits"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-08-12
. Retrieved
2007-10-05
Alexander Vittouris, Mark Richardson.
"Designing for Velomobile Diversity: Alternative opportunities for sustainable personal mobility"
Archived
2012-09-16 at the
Wayback Machine
. 2012.
"DESIGN | MAKE | PROTECT"
Open Source Medical Supplies
. Retrieved
2025-12-13
J. M Pearce, C. Morris Blair, K. J. Laciak, R. Andrews, A. Nosrat and I. Zelenika-Zovko, “3-D Printing of Open Source Appropriate Technologies for Self-Directed Sustainable Development”, Journal of Sustainable Development 3(4), pp. 17-29 (2010).
[1]
Mitchell, Val; Ross, Tracy; Sims, Ruth; Parker, Christopher J. (2015).
"Empirical investigation of the impact of using co-design methods when generating proposals for sustainable travel solutions"
CoDesign
12
(4):
205–
220.
doi
10.1080/15710882.2015.1091894
Kostakis, Vasilis; Niaros, Vasilis; Giotitsas, Chris (2023-06-30).
"Beyond global versus local: illuminating a cosmolocal framework for convivial technology development"
Sustainability Science
18
(5):
2309–
2322.
doi
10.1007/s11625-023-01378-1
hdl
10609/148924
ISSN
1937-0709
Thomas J. Howard, Sofiane Achiche, Ali Özkil and Tim C. McAloone, Open Design And Crowdsourcing: Maturity, Methodology And Business Models, International Design Conference - Design 2012, Dubrovnik - Croatia, May 21–24, 2012.
open access
Pearce J., Albritton S., Grant G., Steed G., & Zelenika I. 2012.
A new model for enabling innovation in appropriate technology for sustainable development
Archived
2012-11-22 at the
Wayback Machine
Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy
(2) Published online Aug 20, 2012.
open access
Archived
2016-05-13 at the Portuguese Web Archive
"Elektor FAQ Elektor"
. Archived from
the original
on 23 January 2013
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
"littleBits: DIY Electronics For Prototyping and Learning"
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
"Home"
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
"Open Source Ecology"
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
"Solar cells"
. Archived from
the original
on 8 March 2015
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
"Home"
. Retrieved
25 January
2024
"The Zeotrope - A low-cost, open source wind turbine"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2011-07-23.
"Wind Turbine"
. Archived from
the original
on 25 April 2015
. Retrieved
16 April
2015
External links
edit
Wikiversity has learning resources about
Open design
Wikiversity has learning resources about
Topic:Engineering/Free or open source design tools
Episodes of Collective Invention
Archived
2016-03-04 at the
Wayback Machine
(Peter B. Meyer, August 2003) An article on several historical examples of what could be called "open design"
"Lawrence Lessig and the Creative Commons Developing Nations License"
Alex Steffen
, November 2006) An interview with
Lawrence Lessig
on the use of the
Developing Nations License
by
Architecture for Humanity
to create a global open design network
"In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms Are the New Bits"
(Chris Anderson, Wired February 2010)
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