Open collaborative design/Intro
The basis of this development model is a principle called 'copyleft' which is a way of prescribing the terms of use to a creative work so that anyone can freely make use of it or build upon it. Often a copyleft license will state that any derivative works must inherit the same terms as well, making anything based on the original freely available too. This principle ensures that 'copylefted' items – whether they are designs, text, artwork or computer code – are effectively gifted to humanity, adding to an ever increasing universal 'commons'. And because this principle is to the benefit of everyone, it completely changes the way that people think about contributing their time and effort to these sorts of endeavours.
Open collaborative design is a nascent field that has huge potential to radically change the way we create goods, machines and solutions – not just for personal items but potentially for all the material goods and infrastructure necessary to provide for the needs of the global population.