Difference between revisions of "Open collaborative design"

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[[Image:Open design two notebooks.jpg|right|Open design]]
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'''Open design''' takes the [[open source]] software development model and applies it to the design of physical artifacts and systems. Open source is now very prominent in the world of software creation. In this model networks of people connected by the internet collaborate to evolve software and make it freely available to others. Not only is the product available to use, but so are the workings of the software known as the [[w:source code|source code]]. Anyone can customize and improve open-source software, making these changes available to others encourageing rapid development times and robustness.
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== Beyond software ==
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This methodology is not limited to software. A noteable example beyond software are 'open content' projects such as Wikipedia, the well known collaborative encyclopedia which is accessible and editable by anyone with a web browser. Started in 2001 it is now the largest encyclopedia in the world, grown organically by thousands of users, and the overall quality of articles is surprisingly good. [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html]
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With a few built-in mechanisms to make sure the project doesn't dissolve into total chaos, the result is that this pool of knowledge is assembled and edited by people who want to do it. No-one is paying them to do it and no-one is telling them to do it, they do it because they want to. It feels like the right thing to do - they are contributing to something greater. Contributors' know their efforts will be used and appreciated by thousands of other people, and that others are doing likewise.
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== Applying Open Source methodology to the physical world ==
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There is no reason why open source development methods cannot be applied to machines and systems in the physical world too. The simplest method is to share information through a website on how to make things using text, diagrams and photographs. A more sophisticated way to collaborate on complex machinery and products would be to share [[Computer-aided design|CAD]] assemblies over the internet much like project teams do in engineering and product design companies, knitted together with supporting information in an open and freely structured environment, much like a wiki.
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There are certain barriers to overcome for open design when compared to software development where there are mature and widely used tools available and the duplication and distribution of code cost next to nothing. Creating, testing and modifying physical designs is not quite so straightforward because of the effort and time required to create the physical artifact.
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== Suitable CAD software ==
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It is likely that at some point advanced open-source CAD software with built-in [[w:Physics engine|physics engines]] and the ability to model [[w:kinematics|kinematics]] will aid engineers and designers greatly in this respect by allowing a lot of testing to be done virtually. The availability of user-friendly open source [[CAD]] software will be essential to this field, along with open standards for associated file formats, and file converters to extract data from models created with proprietary CAD packages.
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The virtual nature of the designs mean that far-flung people via the internet can easily work together on the same design, either working individually on various sub-assemblies of the whole or collaborating directly on the same part. The restrictions of having to finding people local to yourself with similar interests and desires becomes much less of an issue.
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== Vast libraries of component parts and assemblies freely available ==
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With enough people feeling that the priciples of [[open source]] are worthwhile reasons to collaborate over designing physical objects then vast libraries of designs for everything from components and various sub-assemblies to complete artifacts and machines will emerge, freely available for anyone to download and make use of.
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As in software, for components to be as widely re-usable in many different machine designs, they will need to be made as modular as possible. This will enable a huge reduction in duplication of effort and allow people to focus their efforts on creating new machines of increasing complexity, building on the work of others.
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To aid the re-usability of components (and more complex parts) it would be very useful within the CAD software to be able specify the vital functions of the unit, so that it can easily be warped in scale or form to better fit being incorporated into new designs while still ensuring it does it job correctly.
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== Methods of turning collaborative designs into real objects ==
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To be useful to anyone these designs need to turned into physical objects which unfortunately isn't quite as straightforward as compiling software or downloading it over the internet. See [[methods for turning collaborative designs into real objects]] for some different ways that can be used to give a design physical form.
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Revision as of 01:43, 11 September 2006

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Intro

Open design two notebooks.png
Open collaborative design involves applying principles from the remarkable free and open-source software movement that provides a powerful new way to design physical objects, machines and systems. All information involved in creating the object or system is made available on the Internet – such as text, drawings, photographs and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models – so that other people can freely re-create it, or help contribute to its further evolution. It is essentially the same principle that is used to progress scientific knowledge, however in reality it is much more open and transparent than much of contemporary scientific research.

A core element of this development model is a principle called 'copyleft' 11px-Wikipedia_logo.jpg (symbol: Copyleft.png) which is a way of applying copyright to a creative work in a way that makes sure that anyone can freely use it or build upon it - and also that derivative works inherit the same terms, ensuring anything based on the original is freely available too. This principle means that 'copylefted' items – whether they are designs, text, artwork or computer code – are effectively gifted to humanity, adding to an ever increasing universal 'commons'. Because this principle is to the benefit of everyone, it completely changes the way that many people think about contributing their time and effort to this type of project. It already works very effectively with many high profile, successful software projects, so this is not merely wishful thinking.

Open collaborative design is a nascent field that has huge potential to radically alter the way we create goods, machines and systems – not only for personal items but all the way up to components of national or global infrastructure.

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Sections

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Open Source methodology applied to physical world

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Vast libraries of machines and components

Components.jpg
With many people contributing to open design projects, as happens currently with software, a universal commons will emerge made up of vast libraries of designs for everything from components and sub-assemblies through to complete artefacts, machines and complex systems, available for anyone to download and incorporate into their own designs, or help evolve as part of a wider project.

As in software, it would be useful for components and assemblies to be as 're-usable' as possible in the sense of being able to be incorporated in many different machine designs. To aid this it should be possible to specify the vital dynamic functions of a component or assembly in the CAD software, so that it can easily be modified in shape and scale so it can be incorporated into a new design while ensuring it still works correctly.

This will enable a huge reduction in duplication of effort and allow people to focus their efforts on creating new machines of increasing complexity and building on the work of others.

One interesting side-effect of open collaboration is that it tends to lead to highly modular design. FireFox and Linux are examples of this. Modularity also leads to a high degree of reusability; someone designing a new piece of hardware or software can pick-and-mix parts of existing projects. This works well in software, but may have to be abstracted somewhat to work in physical systems where dimensions are obviously important to fit with other components.

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Open source software

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Other

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