Open  Source  in  Design    

Threat  or  Necessity  for  Design    In  its  Role  for  Problem  Solving  and  Innova>on?    Peter  Troxler,  Research  Professor  

Abstract  •  Design  is  becoming  more  important  across  society,  and  with  it  design  as  a  

profession  and  professional  designers:  there  is  Design  Thinking  in  business,  Co-­‐Design  in  the  public  sector;  and  design  is  geIng  a  place  in  research  and  educa>on.  This  is  reflected  in  many  ini>a>ves,  of  which  PROUD  is  an  important  example.  The  European  Design  Leadership  Board’s  recommenda>on  to  the  EU  reflects  these  developments.    

•  At  the  same  >me  there  are  socio-­‐technical  developments  that  build  on  the  possibili>es  of  digital  and  In-­‐  ternet  technology  that  require  liRle  central  control  and  allow  lateral  par>cipa>on  and  collabora>on.  Wiki-­‐  pedia,  social  media  and  YouTube  are  a  few  examples  of  such  developments.  This  development  towards  lateral  power  is  at  the  core  of  the  current  Third  Industrial  Revolu>on.    

•  In  design,  the  no>on  of  ‘open  design’  has  emerged,  which  denotes  a  departure  from  authori>es  of  de-­‐  sign  to  design  that  builds  upon  transparency,  collabora>on  and  reusability  beyond  selected  and  selec>ve  membership.  In  my  talk  I  will  inves>gate  whether  this  development  can  be  instrumental  to  co-­‐design,  or  whether  co-­‐design  will  have  to  adopt  the  no>on  ‘open’  to  remain  relevant:  is  ‘open  design’  a  threat  to  design  in  its  role  of  problem  solving  and  innova>on  or  a  necessity?    

Outline  

1.  Design  is  becoming  more  important  – Design  Thinking,  Co-­‐Design,  …  

2.  “Digital  Revolu>on”    – Wikipedia,  YouTube,  …  

3.  Co-­‐Design  vs.  Open  Design  – AND,  OR,  XOR?  

1  Design  is  becoming  more  important.  

1.  Differentiating European design innovation on the global stage

2.  Positioning design within the European innovation system

3.  Design for innovative and competitive enterprises

4.  Design for an innovative public sector

5.  Positioning Design Research for the 21st century

6.  Design competencies for the 21st century

3.  Work towards zero tolerance of infringement. This requires legislative revision, through the inclusion of a ‘Duty of Care’ for shared responsibilities on IPR protection across the digital value chain. Set up a specific EU Tribunal /Court for European IP cases and promote and increase the training of judges in national courts, in relation to the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the physical world and online.

8.  Create guidelines, codes of practice, legal frameworks and experimental spaces to promote the use of Open Design.

2  “Digital  Revolu>on”.  

“Digital  Revolu>on”  

There  are  a  few  problems  with  that  term  

•  Revolu>on  – French,  Russian,  Industrial,  …  

•  Digital  – everything  going  digital?    digital  invading  everything?  …  

“Industrial  Revolu>on”  

There  are  a  few  problems  with  that  term,  too  

•  industrial  revolu>ons  – stable  economies  

certainly  19th  century,  see  Polany,  The  Great  Transforma7on,  1944  •  revolu>on  – but  not  100  %  displacement  

or  was  that  really  a  characteris7c  of  poli7cal  revolu7ons?  

 12,800,000  results    1,820,000  blogs    17,300,000  videos  

 519,000  discussions    3,070,000  books  

Industrial  Revolu>on  

•  Neil  Gershenfeld,  2005:  Fab.  The  Coming  Revolu>on  on  Your  Desktop  

•  Jeremy  Rifin,  2011:  The  Third  Industrial  Revolu>on.  How  Lateral  Power  is  Transforming  Energy,  the  Economy,  and  the  World.    

•  Chris  Anderson,  2012:  Makers:  The  New  Industrial  Revolu>on  

•  Peter  Marsh,  2012:  The  New  Industrial  Revolu>on:  Consumers,  Globaliza>on  and  the  End  of  Mass  Produc>on  

Jeremy  Rifin  

1st  revolu>on    Automa>c  prin>ng  press    Steam-­‐powered  technology      19th  century  

3rd  revolu>on    Internet      Renewable  energy      21st  century  

2nd  revolu>on    Electrical  communica>on    Oil-­‐powered  combus>on  engine    20th  century  

hRp://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?sitelang=en&ref=85716  

Jeremy  Rifin  

[T]he  conven>onal  top-­‐down  organiza>on  of  society    

 that  characterized  much  of  the  economic,  social,  and  poli>cal  life    

   of  the  fossil-­‐fuel  based  industrial  revolu>ons    

 is  giving  way  to  distributed  and  collabora>ve  rela>onships    

   in  the  emerging  green  industrial  era.    

We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  profound  shio  in  the  very  way  society  is  structured,  

 away  from  hierarchical  power  and  toward  lateral  power.    

Ri>in  2011,  p.  36f.  

1st  revolu>on    Automa>c  prin>ng  press    Steam-­‐powered  technology      19th  century  

3rd  revolu>on    Internet      Renewable  energy      21st  century  

2nd  revolu>on    Electrical  communica>on    Oil-­‐powered  combus>on  engine    20th  century  

©  2010  Kevin  Dooley,  cc-­‐by   ©  1968,  Elgin  Cou

nty  Archives,  St.  Thom

as  Tim

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©  2011  Waag  Society,  cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐nd

 

1st  revolu>on    Automa>c  prin>ng  press    Steam-­‐powered  technology      19th  century  

3rd  revolu>on    Internet      Renewable  energy      21st  century  

2nd  revolu>on    Electrical  communica>on    Oil-­‐powered  combus>on  engine    20th  century  

©  1907  E.A.  Thomson  BuRe-­‐Silver  Bow  Public  Library     ©

 2009  mars_discovery_district,  cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐  sa  

©  2011  adafruit,  cc-­‐by-­‐nc-­‐sa  

•  Icon  steam  engine  >  conveyor  belt  >  3D  printer  

•  Actor  capitalist  >  management  consultant  >  maker  

•  Structure  pa>archical  >  hierarchical  >  lateral  

•  Supply  Chain  colonial  >  global  >  con>nental  /  regional  

•  Transport  railway  >  automobile  &  air  travel  >  ???  

•  Ci>es  crowded  inner  ci>es  >  suburbia  >  ???  

•  Social  working  class  >  middle  class  >  ???  

•  Consump>on  consume  >  mass  consump>on  >  prosumer  

•  Media  newspaper  >  radio  >  social  media,  UGC?  

•  Encyclopedia  Diderot  >  Britannica  >  Wikipedia  

•  Sooware  electromechanical  (?)  >  proprietary  >  open  source?  

•  Design  crao  >  design  >  open  design?  crao  >  design  >  co-­‐design?  

 

3  Co-­‐Design  vs.  Open  Design  

P.  J.  Stappers,  et  al.  (2011).  Crea7on  &  Co:  User  Par7cipa7on  in  Design.  In:  van  Abel  et  al.  (eds.)  Open  Design  Now.  Amsterdam:  BIS.  

PJ  Stappers  &Co  

E.  B.  N.  Sanders  and  P.  J.  Stappers,  “Co-­‐crea7on  and  the  new  landscapes  of  design,”  CoDesign,  Mar.  2008.  

Open  Design  “Defini>on”  Open Design is a design artifact project whose source documentation is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, prototype and sell the artifact based on that design.!!(…)!!Design also means the design process of developing an Open Design project.Open Design does not refer to and is not defined by a specific design process. Most of the time the design process of an Open Design project will not be documented and therefore there is no need to publish this documentation.!!(…)!

h[ps://github.com/OpenDesign-­‐WorkingGroup/Open-­‐Design-­‐Defini7on/blob/master/open.design_defini7on/open.design.defini7on.md  

From  Open  Design  Now  1.  Analogy  to  open  source  sooware  and  its  ‘low-­‐IP’  regime—freely  

accessible  blueprints  in  analogy  to  source  code,  and  the  four  freedoms  of  open  source  sooware  (use,  modify,  share,  and  fork).    

2.  Aspects  of  design  prac>ce—collabora>ve  crea>on  and  inquiry,  and  the  disappearing  dis>nc>on  between  professionals  and  amateurs.    

Open  design  promotes  the  unprecedented  sharing  of  knowledge  between  the  professional  and  amateur  designer,  breaking  down  unnecessary  barriers.  (Atkinson)    Open  design  is  a  specific  approach  to  design,  in  which  a  group  of  intrinsically  mo7vated  people  from  various  backgrounds  develop  design  opportuni7es  and  solu7ons  together  in  an  open  community,  based  on  respect  for  each  other's  skills  and  exper7se.  (Humels).    

3.  How  open  design  would  change  tradi>onal  ver>cal  value  chains  formed  by  designer-­‐manufacturer-­‐distributor-­‐consumer  rela>onships  trough  fabrica>on  on  demand  or  one  man  factories  

Rooted  in  informa7on  and  communica7on  technology,  [open  design]  gives  us  all  the  instruments  to  become  the  one-­‐man  factory,  the  world  player  opera7ng  from  a  small  back  room.  (S7kker)  The  open  design  model  diminishes  the  tradi7onal  ver7cal  value  chain  that  is  formed  by  designer-­‐manufacturer-­‐distributor-­‐consumer  rela7onships  and  offers  an  alterna7ve,  open  web  of  direct  links  between  designers  and  consumers.  (Avital)    

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1.  Differentiating European design innovation on the global stage

2.  Positioning design within the European innovation system

3.  Design for innovative and competitive enterprises

4.  Design for an innovative public sector

5.  Positioning Design Research for the 21st century

6.  Design competencies for the 21st century

e  peter@square-­‐1.eu  t  @trox  s  petertroxler