OSE Specifications

Introduction

(last updated June 2010)

OSE Specifications are a metric for assessing a product's contribution to the creation of post-scarcity economies.

The OSE Specifications are a standard aimed at defining and evaluating the criteria of products, services, and their production - which serve to promote the creation of post-scarcity economies, and therefore, the creation of resilient communities. Post-scarcity refers to the rigorous condition of a community's adjustment to the usage of its resource base, such that needs and desires and provided abundantly - with significant surplus to fuel progress and evolution of the community.

Components of OSE Specifications

OSE Specifications cover a number of aspects of economically-significant production, covering the development and production aspects:

• Economic significance
• Open documentation
• Distributive economic nature
• Transformative nature of enterprise
• Systems design
• Transparency and participatory nature of production model and development process
• Creation of post-scarcity levels of production
• Simplicity and low cost
• Lifetime, modular design; design-for-disassembly; design-for-scalability
• Localization of material sourcing and of production
• Ecological qualities
• Economic Feasibility and Replicability
  • Minimization of waste, overhead, and bureaucracy
  • Product Evolution
  • Fabrication Facilities
  • Open Franchising or Open Business Model
  • Startup Assistance

Economic Significance

Economic significance refers to the overall economic importance of a given product or service. The assumption here that economic significance is defined on the basis of relevance for meeting the material needs of humans. For example, fuels and tractors constitute multibillion dollar global markets, and are thus economically significant. On the other hand, plain discussion may have little economic significance, if is not more than hot air.

Open Documentation

Open content

We begin with open content as a foundation – content that is free of restrictions on use or dissemination. The optimal license for content that we promote is the public domain. This keeps it simple from the practical and legal perspective. We have a philosophy that the users should decide for themselves as to how to use the information. We support open licensing. We are not interested in policing.

We believe that to claim something as ‘one’s own’ is arrogant, as it does not address the fact that any single ‘invention’ is simply a small additional to a large pool of existing knowledge that made the ‘invention’ possible. We believe that there is no point in trying to police the patenting of forks, as are simply so many different forks or development paths that could be taken nonetheless: creativity is unlimited. We believe that the more we contribute to the commons, the more new content will be generated.

Readily accessible or downloadble documentation and design

Distributed information in the computer age is made most readily accessible if it is available for immediate download from the internet. If material is available in electronic format, it may be manipulated or utilized readily with software tools. For example, digital designs may be edited or used immediately in CAD or CAM. If CAM formats are available, then data at one point in space can be readily transformed into a physical object at another point in space, in the presence of digital fabrication capacities.

Design Drawings

This is a start towards replicability.

Bill of Materials (BOM)

Next to design drawing, the BOM is the second most important towards replicability. This is a detailed listing of all parts used, sourcing, and prices. Availability of the BOM saves the potential builder countless hours of searching for part availability and for reasonable pricing. Relevant comments should be made alongside the BOM, such as, quality or reliability of certain vendors, their quality of service, and any other useful comments. The only difficulty with a BOM may be that if the audience is global, sourcing may not be readily available or shipping may be prohibitive, so local substitution of parts must be made. If a BOM is available, then the building of a specific product can commence immediately: there is no guessing which parts would work, or which supplier is reliable. At best, the process for one-off individual production can be as follows:

1. an individual decides that they need a certain product
2. they look that product up on an online repository of open source products, download fabrication procedures and parts lists
3. purchase parts locally all on the same day if they are located in an urban area where many suppliers are available
4. and start building a certain project.

All these steps can potentially be completed in one day when the BOM is available. Open design drawings and plans are only one aspect, but the critical point to enabling immediate production is the availability of BOMs, as the last step prior to actual fabrication.

Under this scenario, a realistic possibility emerges that a large number of individuals discontinue purchasing slave goods from who-knows-where, and begin to fabricate them locally. This is feasibile on the individual level for anyone equipped with a robust Fab Lab, or when small groups (a few to a dozen people) get together to purchase low-cost, open source, digital fabrication equipment. These people could operate out of backyard garages, rented workshop spaces, co-working facilities, or other community supported manufacturing operations. The types of products that yield themselves particularly to this type of production are those items that fall beyond the class of disposable goods, and are more or less long-use items. These items include electronics, mechanized tools, semi-heavy machinery, green vehicles, renewable energy systems, among others.

Tools

CAD by Mariano Alvira and SKDB are two different tools that can improve and automate different aspects of handling a BOM.

Free information

If information is free, it is most easily accessible.

Distributive Economics

Distributive economics refer to economic models that tend to distribute economic power as opposed to monopolizing this power.

Transformative Nature of Enterprise

We are interested in transformative economics, or those economics which tend towards community and global resilience, while having qualities that, proactively, move the world away from: concentration of societal power; perennial warfare; loss of meaning; bureaucracy; globalization of economic activity; newspeak; loss of freedom; and so forth.

Systems Design

Systems design refers to design of economic paradigms which consider the whole human and natural ecosystem, and the relationships involved, not just an isolated part of that system. For example, non-systems thinking may lead one to conclude that a modern steam engine for transportation is a bad idea compared to biodiesel or fuel alcohol because the thermodynamic efficiency of a steam engine is two times lower than that of diesel engines or gasoline engines. The systems design perspective will claim that the steam engine is a great idea, because biomass pellets can be used as fuel, and the yield of cellulosic biomass per acre is about 10 times higher than the yield of oil or alcohol. The systems thinker will continue, by stating that if the whole system is considered, biomass pellet production is much simpler to accomplish, and that biomass-growing areas can be integrated with other uses such as orcharding or livestock raising, and the systems thinker will continue to make other claims that such an energy source allows for absolute decentralization of production and resilience of communities using the simplest means possible. The point to be made is that the systems thinker can continue to make a large number of claims on how a particular activity is desirable based on a number of systems connections, which the non-systems thinker dismisses as simply not being part of the question.

We believe that destructive non-systems thinking is so pervasive in our society, that in general, individual and societal decision-making is completely partisan, thin on logic, and downright retarded. We are including a metric for systems design in the OSE Specifications to raise awareness of this issue, with a hope, which even if futile, attempts to bring a glimmer of light to the situation.

Transparency of Production Model and Development Process

The development process for products, and their production model, should be transparent to any interested observer. This allows for study of, input into, and improvement of the topic of interest. Transparency allows feedback loops to become active, and empowers those who are interested in learning more about a topic. Transparency is one of several qualities of a distributive, economic process.

Transparency of some program implies that the program is open to suggestions, correction, or replication of itself, stemming from an ethical foundation of the given program. Therefore, tools such as non-disclosure agreements, patents, trade secrets, and other means of protectionism are inconsistent with the creation of transparency.

Development Process

1. Participation in the development process is entirely voluntary. No compensation for alienation is necessary. As a result, the best designs are produced from the commitment of passionate stakeholders.

2. Anyone may join or leave the development group at any time

3. Collaborative development process utilizes the input of diverse stakeholders

4. Steps and results of the development process are documented

Creation of Post-Scarcity Levels of Production

Post-scarcity levels of production imply the availability of effective tools of production, including both hardware and techniques - which allow for the ample meeting of human needs. Post-scarcity levels of production also imply that local, nonstrategic resources can be utilized effectively, reliably, and with the capacity to produce significant surplus. The goal of attaining post-scarcity levels of production of something are thus synonymous with a particular community being able to transcend physical survival as a basis for evolving to pursuits beyond mere survival.

Simplicity and Low Cost

The design and implementation of any product or service should be the simplest from both the fabrication and cost perspective, such that it is the most readily replicable. Attaining simplicity is indeed the most difficult design challenge. Most people confuse high performance with extra features, because they externalize the hidden liabilities that accompany the extra features. Simplicity is synonymous with efficient resource use. Simplicity should also apply to the fabrication procedure of an object. As such, simplicity is also synonymous with low cost. The basic design philosophy of OSE is to include simplicity in design and fabrication - ie, design-for-fabrication should be applied.

Lifetime, Modular Design; Design-for-Disassembly; Design-for-Scalability (DfS)

(Note: For mainstream reference on lifetime design, see the work of Saul Griffith)

Simplicity of design promotes the features of lifetime, modular, and scalable design-for-disassembly (DfD).

Lifetime design implies that the value of a product does not depreciate over time. This implies freedom from labor required to replace a certain product, which has direct implication for one's access to free time.

Modular design is a design which allows different modules to be used and interchanged, giving the user control over and flexibility with the object of use.

DfD means that parts of modules may be replaced readily, by taking the module apart. This has profound implications to lifetime design.

DfS is more than a design that can be scaled. It is the principle of designing things with ease of scalability as one of the features - ie, design that can be scaled easily. This is a slight improvement over design that can be scaled, in that DfS includes explicit features that make scalability easy.

Scalability means that a basic building block can be used to make larger or smaller versions. This contributes to low cost and efficiency.

Multipurpose Modular Design

Objects should be designed so that they are made as building blocks, or modules, of other or larger objects. This way, objects can be modified. Instead of a whole object having to be replaced to add new functionality, a module may be added. This gives products a flexibility that is built into their very nature, such that the user has additional control with minimum expense. Modularity may sometimes be synonymous with inter-operability, and may sometimes be synonymous with scalability. It may contribute to lifetime design if an object is 100% modular and each module may be replaced. Modularity also means that an object may function as a building block of other objects. In all cases, modularity implies that an object may be modified. The combination of flexibility, adaptability, scalability, interoperability are desirable. These features expand the range of applications, increase lifetime, reduce cost, as well as provide and retain high value. In a material world, these are features that contribute to wealth and prosperity. In a nutshell, modularity provides large value and has low associated costs. These are good implications for individual and community well-being.

If modular design is followed, then the type of interoperability of using building blocks leads us to a Pattern Language of technology. In this pattern language, the modules or building blocks serve as the sentences of a larger language, or technology infrastructure.

Scalability

Products should be designed so that they can be scaled up or down - such as by addition of new modules, or using multiples of a part in parallel. For example, a solar concentrator system designed according to the principle of scalability should be a linear design (see Solar Power Generator), so that it could be enlarged either by lengthening or widening the array.

Localization of Material Sourcing and of Production

For community resilience, ability to use local resources is key. While it is important that a community have this ability for essential needs, it is optional, though desirable, for other nonessential items.

Using local resources may necessitate that a given community have additional technology to produce a certain item. For example, if a given community does not have the conditions to grow a certain crop easily, it may want to invest in the additional technology required to grow that crop successfully. Or, if a certain community does not have adequate water, it should invest in well-drilling or roof-catchment technology, instead of importing water from unsecured sources.

A community should thus, in general, strive to increase its technology base to accommodate the provision of all essentials, and not settle on its ability to trade to procure these essentials, as trade may be vulnerable to disruption. Trade is quite acceptable for non-essential items, such as musical instruments, since disruption of such supply does not threaten the survival of a community. The level of technology in which a community is autonomous should be determined on practical grounds.

Moreover, in today's world, we already hear about 'produced locally.' We should add 'sourced locally' to our vocabulary - as resilience implies not only local production, but also local sourcing. Local sourcing typically requires that a community have additional technological infrastructure and knowhow for providing the necessary feedstocks.

Localization Levels

• Level 1 - production is local
• Level 2 - sourcing of materials used in production is local
• Level 3 - raw material production is local
• Level 4 - production machinery used in the production process above is open source and locally fabricated

Localization applies to the creation of natural economies, or those economies based on the substance of their own, natural resources, free of supply chain disruptions.

An example of Level 3 is that local aluminum is made by Smelting aluminum from local clays.

If localization is taken to all the 4 levels, for all necessities of sustaining its population - that means that a region is autonomous, and as such, has no built-in tendency to wage war for others' resources. This is the critical point of localization - its benign effect on global geopolitical struggle. In simple words, people don't kill and steal.

Ecological Qualities

The product of interest must be good for the environment.

Economic Feasibility and Replicability

Minimization of Waste, Overhead, and Bureaucracy

The key point to the competitiveness of agile, open source enterprise is its lean structure with minimal overhead. Minimization of waste occurs by collaborative development, such that R&D costs are shared by a number of stakeholders. Competitive waste is eliminated by open enterprise giving services away rather than competing for market share, which is the ethical marketing strategy for open enterprise.

Other strategies for keeping overhead low are crowd-funding the production facility, such as in Factor e Farm's case. We also propose paperwork reduction by operating as an un-incorporated entity, with contractually-based fiscal fiduciaries and liability management, operation in the Republic via private contract, and by in-house legal literacy.

Product Evolution

A process should be in place for continued maintenance and development of a product. This could be a support community, foundation, or users.

Fabrication Facilities

Concrete Flexible Fabrication mechanism exists for others to purchase the product at reasonable cost. This is a means to assuring that a diversity of suppliers exists, such that monopoly is avoided.

Open Franchising or Open Business Model

This point defines how easily one can obtain access to replicable enterprise design. See our motivation with respect to Open Business Models, as described under the OSE License.

There is a number of details that goes into enterprise replications. These are all the standard details found in a Business Plan, plus the actual technical details that go into that plan, such as designs and CAD, fabrication procedures, BOM and sourcing information, economic analysis, ergonomic analysis, and so forth.

If you are interested in replicating an enterprise, then please inquire with us regarding practical considerations. For those interested in replication, we are looking for long-term commitment to provide the necessary due diligence of business model documentation.

Startup Assistance

Producer training is the key to assisting others to start up enterprise. Dedicated workshops should be available for others to learn the trade. We plan on offering a 2 year immersion program, which includes not only workshop skills, but agriculture, as well as theoretical and organizational aspects.

Calculation of a Metric Score

The list of properties below defines the OSE Specifications Rating. There are 42 aspects listed above (with question marks), which divided into a total of 100 points (for a perfect score), gives the value of 2.38095+ points for each question.

Economic Significance

a) Is it relevant for meeting the material needs of humans?

Distributive Economics

a) Does the economic model distribute economic power?

Transformative Nature of Enterprise

a) Does it promote community and global resilience?

Systems Design

a) Does it consider the complete human and natural ecosystem?

Ecology

a) Is it good for the environment?

Development Process

a) Is participation in the process entirely voluntary? b) Can anyone join or leave the development group at any time? c) Does the collaborative development process utilize the input of diverse stakeholders? d) Are the steps and results of the development process documented?

Simplicity of design

a) Is it low Cost? b) Does it have Long Life? c) Is it modular? d) Is it designed for disassembly?

Design for scalability

a) Can it be scaled up? b) Can it be scaled down? c) Is it easily scalable?

Localization

a) Materials 1) Are materials used in production local? 2) Is raw material production local?

b) Production 1) Is product production local? 2) Production machinery used in production process a) Is it Open Source? b) Is it locally fabricated?

Economic Feasibility and Replicability

a) Is there minimal overhead? b) Is there minimal waste? c) Are R&D costs shared by a number of stakeholders? d) Are services given away? e) Are production facilities Crowd-funded?

Product Evolution

a) Is there continual produce maintenance? b) Is there continual product development?

Fabrication Facilities

a) Is there a flexible fabrication mechanism?

Open Business Model

a) Is there a Business Plan? b) Are there technical details in the business plan?

Open Documentation

a) Is content Open Source? b) Is content readily accessible (downloadable)? c) Are there design drawings?

Designs a) Are design drawings CAD? b) Are fabrication procedures detailed? c) Is economic analysis available? d) Is ergonomic analysis available?

e) Bill of Materials (BOM) 1) Is there a parts list? 2) Is Sourcing of parts listed? 3) Are prices of parts listed?

Startup Assistance

a) Is producer training available?

Summary

In summary, we aim to raise the standards embodied in open source product development efforts by articulating the possibilities. OSE Specification describes all the desirable features that can be embodied in open economic development, under the assumption that maximum advancement of distributive production is the best route to human prosperity.

The end promise is liberatory technology - open, replicable, essential, optimal, and ecological goods and services for humankind living in harmony with natural life support systems.

Other Notes

We are interested in providing a transparent assessment of the overall openness or accessibility of so-called open source products. The concept of open source is extended here to physical products in general. The intent of this specification is to clarify those attributes of the product or product development process that contribute to widespread access to users. This specification is intended to help people assess distributive production aspects of projects, by distinguishing between the various degrees of ‘opensourceness’ embodied in projects. This is because some projects call themselves ‘open source’ when, in reality, only a small portion, or even no physical portion, of the hardware is open source.

For example, in the case of the OS Green Vehicle, the only open source component is an apparent design process, but the output of the design process is proprietary: ‘Your rights to use, modify and re-distribute any data from this web site are limited.’ Moreover, the components used in the car are proprietary. This is not in the true nature of open source ideals.

Access refers to use for both private or market purposes. The specification is not neutral in its goals, just as no technologies are ever neutral. The intent goes so far as to point out the nuances that contribute to a particular direction of: (1), promoting ecological integrity, (2), contributing to the highest possible quality of life, and (3), creating the widest possible distribution of wealth. Because the open source method of product development has immense potential in transforming the economic system, the OSE Specification aims to address the evaluation of positive change endorsed by various open source projects.

The scope of OSE Specifications is far-reaching: it considers all the steps necessary for a product to be user-accessible. This includes open access to relevant information and affordable access to physical products. This implies that for physical products, the highest standard is the existence of a production facility to bring a given product to market.

OSE Specification does not stop at physical production facilities. It addresses the means for replicating the production process itself. This includes the development of open business models, training materials, and apprenticeships for entrepreneurs. As the final step, we consider the availability of capitalization assistance within the metric. The capitalization assistance may be in the form of producing the machines involved in production for the trainee’s new enterprise, or it may mean that the trainee shares in the earnings from making a product in order to help defray the cost of a new facility.

Such level of commitment to the success of replication may imply a hidden agenda behind this program. Indeed there is: the greatest possible empowerment of people and communities to be the masters of their destinies by beginning to take control of their means of production. Self-employment and local, ecological economies are desirable byproducts.

OSE Spec addresses access for two audiences: both users and producers. Production could occur by do-it-yourself means. More importantly, we have the framework of flexible fabrication in mind. The OSE Spec addresses the availability of blueprints or digital designs, which can be used readily in computer-controlled fabrication facilities. Such fabrication procedures lend themselves for use by producers selling to outside markets. Indeed, the metric addresses the ease with which production may be initiated. At best, production should be easy to start, if it requires minimal capitalization, and if producers can be trained effectively.

The particular elements of OSE Spec includes four areas: information access, ecological design, design process, and economic feasibility and replicability. The components of OSE Specifications are detailed as follows: