Open Source and Beyond: Collaborative Development Towards an Economy of ‘Meaning’

Seoul Digital Forum Presentation, by M. Jakubowski and C. Mota.

Abstract

Where consumption has become our major daily activity, we rarely ask what it means to ‘produce’ something. Open, collaborative development promises to revolutionize the way the economy operates by shifting the focus from profit-making proprietary production to meaning-making participatory production. Access to prior wok and crowd-based contributions allow companies to innovate faster and a greater number of producers to foster a broader and more diverse ecosystem. We also can (re)shape the artifacts we use and in this way shape our own experiences. What are the mechanisms by which this happens in practice – in our lives and in our work? What began a couple of decades ago as the open source movement is now extending into open source hardware, open product development, and open enterprise. How will these collaborative trends lead to a more efficient, satisfying and meaningful system of production? Do we have the courage to take the opportunity to disrupt manufacturing, stabilize economies, restore ecology, unleash productivity everywhere and leapfrog through old problems while leaving nobody behind?

Talk - [1]