User talk:Friedrich.hust

1

Who are the main founder of the project?

Marcin Jakubowski:

Open Source Ecology (OSE) was started to contribute to a global commons of open source information — with a particular focus on the tools of production.
I started OSE in my last year of my PhD program, as a response informed by what I perceived to be a general societal lack of true collaboration and openness, which I saw even in academia.
I noticed that even academia was turning into branches of proprietary corporate research and development, as opposed to the original mission of culturing open knowledge toward the benefit of everybody.

2

Where is it mainly located?

In the Kansas City area, Missouri – where the experiment began in 2006.

GPS: 39.863124,-94.376017

3

What is the objective of the project?

Objective:

Our vision is a world where every community has access to an open source Fab Lab which can produce all the things that one currently finds at a Walmart cost-effectively, quickly, on-demand from local resources.
We envision these Labs being self-replicating and multiplying like rabbits. This would be a giant leap for distributive economics, where resource constraints no longer apply.
People would then have a chance to shift a significant portion of their energy to interests beyond mere survival.
The end state is super-skilled workers, free of control from remote power centers, as people in communities regain their power to thrive without strings attached to their happiness.
The scope of production should include everything from food to fuels and energy to semiconductors and metals.

What are the realized results in autumn 2011?

We have final prototypes of the PowerCube, Tractor, Soil Pulverizer and CEB Press. We have prototypes of the Dimensional Sawmill, Microtractor, Universal Rotor, Drill Press, Backhoe and designs of Multimachine, Industrial Robot and Steam Engine.

4

What is the nature of the project (non-profit / for-profit)

non-profit, for-benefit.

How is the project funded at this moment?

• True fans (crowd funding)
• Donations
• Product selling

5

What makes your project special more successful than other projects?

• Core values on which the GVCS is build and OSE is founded: see the OSE_Specifications
• Proving the practicality of these values with the current status of the project.
• Integration of all aspects of life into one community - technological, ecological, economical and social.
• All this leading to the creation of a local economy which can be easily deployed around the world.

6

How are you going to distribute your concept?

• Word of mouth
• Internet
• Trainings - training the trainers and builders.
• Creating flexible manufacturing facilities world-wide, using global designs.

7

Why are you not counting on an internal engineering force, but rather on a community?

OSE is open to everybody. Community and engineers are welcome.

8

Do you take statistics of your contributors?

No, no time to maintain.

How many people contribute to the project?

Hundreds to thousands worldwide. 5-10 on-site in the last months.

Where are the contributors from?

USA

What are their level of education?

high school, university, engineers, work experienced.

Contributor:

Hundreds worldwide, 2 on-site (14.April 2011) \cite{website:OSEFINANCIAL}

Currently 420 True fans

Coreteam: >7

9

What is the benefit to the community and the single contributor?

Community and contributors: globally shared economically significant designs for the current and future generations. Experience in designing, prototyping and documenting open source hardware. Localized production, drastic cost reduction and more.

10

What does the community contribute? (design / prototyping / ... )

Design, Prototyping, Documentation, Technical support, Finance, Knowledge, Resource and Organizational development and more.

11

Of what kind are the innovative contributions (product- / process- / business model-innovations)?

Product, Open Source Collaboration Process, Business.

12

How are contributions evaluated?

By their current practicality.

How do you decide which technology / development should become part of the project?

By Metric Scores: OSE_Specifications#Calculation_of_a_Metric_Score

How are innovative contributions favored in the evaluation process?

By accepting and implement them if practically possible.

Is your community a source of innovative concepts?

Yes.

13

How do you decide on which components to make or buy?

Make if you can do it now. If not, then buy and when you have production capacity make them later.

Up to which granularity / complexity are you going to produce parts by yourself?

Starting from melting scrap metal and extracting aluminium.

Where do you find possible suppliers for the realization of your project?

Steel supply nearby and from buying parts from the Internet.

14

Is the community engaged in prototyping ( virtual / real world)?

Yes.

The community is engaged in virtual (CAD) and real world prototyping. There are already completly functional prototypes, like lifetrac, power cube, CEB Press, etc.

15

Does a dedicated online platform exist?

no, we use currently MediaWiki

What are the most important features?

• easy to contribute by a lot of people

What are the challenges of creating such a platform?

• identifying the needs of OSE and creating a working concept for their implementation

16

What information are common to the community?

All GVCS designs.

Do you use open software / open file formats?

Information broadcasted through various channels, vlog, blog, mediawiki and twitter. Software:

• Linux
• Dia
• FreeCAD
• Blender
• Drupal
• MediaWiki
• Vanilla Forums
• LimeSurvey
• ...

some people even think about creating their own OSE Linux build. Containing all the necessary tools and libraries. \cite{website:OSEGLINUX}

17

How are the tasks broadcasted to the community?

• blog
• vlog
• email

18

How is the granularity for the tasks defined?

from abstract to very concrete.

19

What are the managerial challenges now and in the future?

Finding people to support the project - technically, on-site and remotely, and financially. Check our Project Needs

20

Which license is used?

See http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Open_Source_Ecology:Copyrights

• GNU Free Documentation License 1.2
• CreativeCommons by-sa3.0

What are the basic license principles?

From FAQ:

A comprehensive licensing strategy is currently being developed. Check back later. 

Also from FAQ:

Our technologies are open source in the traditional sense of open access to published blueprints (“source code”) for the technologies.
The OSE definition also includes an open business model – namely, that we share the business model openly by documenting fabrication economics and ergonomics, sourcing information, economic analysis, and other details which help others to replicate a profitable enterprise. \cite{website:OSEFAQ11}