Blog Post on OSE's Development Method
Exlainer Video Script
Intro screen. Open Source Ecology -- (ting) -- Home of Distributive Enterprise. ---
Open software is well-established, and has its development process figured out -- (pop in) -- Github, Wikipedia
The process for developing open hardware, on the other hand, is much harder.
It requires materials, tools, facilities, logistics...
Nobody has it figured out yet.
Figuring this our is important because then people could design new products really fast.
After all, just about any new 'invention' is just a small step on top of all existing human knowledge.
But because most things are proprietary - everyone ends up reinventing the wheel.
Now imagine compressing development times of hardware from years to weeks. Like Wikipedia.
For that, coordination with a larger team is required.
Say you are doing an open source startup. Imagine that you can ship faster and retire earlier. Hopefully to doing world-changing work.
Open source hardware means distributing production. The market for honest work - about $100 Trillion - is the entire global economy. Bumping out invading colonials is good work. (walmart -> Polydome with Gandhi).
Be a part of the change.
Open Source Ecology is starting a group on the Open Source Hardware Development Method. We will:
1. Invite leading OSH practitioners (OSHWA logo + Peeps) to a Working Group 2. Identify all the steps in open hardware development 3. For each step, create standards, best practices, and develop a common language of icons and taxonomies 5. Get feedback and adoption from the OSH community
Now the list of steps can be as long as detailed as needed, and across all sectors, from electronics to airplanes to regenerative agriculture. It can include metasteps, organizational, and enterprise aspects.
Why the complexity? Once everything is put on the table - then different projects can pick and choose what they need.
Say you need a basic documentation strategy. Here are the best tools and practices.
Say you need to build a legal framework, or a community. You get the picture.
If the Overall Method is Defined and Standardized - then it can serve as a backbone that can be mashed up, adapted, and developed, stylized, forked, or published. For open hardware projects to really build upon each other, the first step is a common language.
We have started work on this in 2013 by instigating the open source hardware documentation jam. We are continuing.
So sign up for our working group, and make history happen. --- Open Source Ecology. Home of Distributive Enterprise.
http://opensourceecology.org/open-source-hardware-development-method