“Lars Zimmermann ist ein Designer, Künstler und Aktivist für Open-Source-Hardware. Er hat eine Reihe von gemeinnützigen und gewinnorientierten Projekten gegründet und mitbegründet, um die Rolle von Open-Source-Hardware für nachhaltige Entwicklung und Kreislaufwirtschaft hervorzuheben und zu beschleunigen.”
Und ich bin gebeten worden, einen Vortrag über das Ökosystem von Lego bzw. mit Lego kompatiblen Klemmbausteinen zu halten, um zu zeigen, wie eine Open Source basierte Kreislaufwirtschaft funktionieren kann.
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Offene Klemmbausteine
Lego ist ein perfekte Metapher für eine Open Source Circular Economy – eine Ökonomie also, in der alles nachvollziehbar gestaltet ist aus vielseitig einsetzbaren und immer wieder verwendbaren Bauteilen.
Open?
Wie ist Lego open? Spätestens seit 2008 ist aller Schutz für die Klemmbausteine ausgelaufen. Seither haben eine unglaublich Vielzahl von Herstellern den Markt betreten, die ebenfalls Klemmbausteine herstellen – die Systeme aller Hersteller sind miteinander kompatibel. Verschiedene Firmen tragen also zum selben modularen Bausystem bei.
Die meisten Anbieter kommen aus China. Ein Beispiel für eine deutsche Firma ist Bluebrixx, ein wichtiger Player kommt aus Polen und heißt Cobi.
Zirkulär?
Wer käme auf die Idee Lego wegzuwerfen?
Lego ist vielseitig nutzbar. Wenn man den Flughafen nicht mehr braucht, baut man sie zurück und macht daraus einen Park.
Ökosystem
In den letzten Jahren ist rings um den Klemmbaustein, wie wir ihn von Lego kennen, ein unglaubliches Ökosystem entstanden. Dieses Ökosystem bringt die Welt des Klemmbausteins voran und bereichert sie. Durch dieses Ökosystem, wird der immer wieder andere Einsatz von Klemmbausteinen und deren Leistungsfähigkeit enorm erhöht. Und all das funktioniert besonders gut, weil Lego auch schon vorm Fallen der Patente viele Elemente von Offenheit hatte.
Ich gehe einfach mal durch dieses Ökosystem und zähle eine ganze Reihe Elemente auf. Die Liste ist lang. Aber nicht erschöpfend. Zwischendrin ziehe ich immer mal Querverbindungen.
(Hinweis: Ich werde diese Folien noch in einen richtigen Artikel mit Links und Bildern verwandeln. Update via Newsletter.)
Lego Ideas – Open Innovation bei Lego. Fans bauen MOCs(My Own Creation), bei Erfolg stellt Lego die her.
Bauanleitungen von Lego frei herunterladbar. Alle Bauanleitungen von allen Legomodellen aller Zeiten, können kostenfrei als PDF heruntergeladen werden. Setnummer eingeben und losbauen!
Bricklink. Ist ein globaler Marktplatz für Einzelteile von Lego. Verschiedenste Anbieter sind hier aktiv. Jeder Stein hat ein Profil. Ich kann hier Teilelisten importieren z.B. von eigenen Sets oder alten Legosets und die Platform erstellt mir den günstigsten Preis fürs “Rebricken” des Sets und bestellt alles aus der Welt für mich zusammen mit einem Klick. [Link: Der Held der Steine erklärt Bricklink]
Rebrickable. Hier kann man als User alle Lego-Sets auflisten, die man hat. So weiß die Plattform automatisch, welche Legosteine ich habe. User laden hier ihre MOCs (My Own Creation) hoch. Manche erstellen dafür Anleitungen mit Teilelisten. Ich kann diese Teilelisten bei Bricklink importieren und mir also die Steine für ein MOC zukommen lassen. [Link: Der Held der Steine erklärt Rebrickable]
Es gibt z.B. “alternative builds” für komplexere Legomodelle, die man hat. Beispiel. Andere helfen einem bei der Umnutzung.
Man kann hier die Farben ändern der Steine, um z.B. den Prozentsatz der Steine, die man für ein MOC schon hat, zu erhöhen.
Wie viele Steine? Fun Fact zwischendrin: Wieviele verschiedene Sorten Legosteine gibt es? Viele. Aber man hört, dass Lego den aktiv produzierten Teilezoo immer so um die 6000 Stück hält, “um das Gefühl eines modularen Baussystems nicht zu verlieren”.
Bauanleitungen machen (Stud.io) – Von Lego gab es lange den “Lego Digital Designer” (LLD) – eine kostenfreie Software, mit der man selbst digital Bauen und Anleitungen erstellen kann. LLD wird nicht mehr unterstützt, weil es jetzt andere leistungsfähigere und ebenfalls kostenfreie Softwares gibt, mit denen man digital bauen kann und dann eine Anleitung inklusive Teileliste (importfertig für Bricklink!) erstellen kann. Das geht super leicht. Ich hab das neulich gemacht. Und vom googeln nach dem Namen der Software bis zum fertigen PDF (Also Suche, Installation, Tutorial, Bauanleitung zusammenpacken, PDF fertischnüren) habe ich 100 Minuten gebraucht! Also die Frage der Dokumentation ist praktisch geklärt. Das Bauen mit virtuellem Lego hat praktisch genauso viel Spaß gemacht wie mit richtigem Lego!
Rechtliche Fragen. Manchmal kommt die Szene ins Stocken. Und zwar dann, wenn es plötzlich doch noch Steine gibt, die geschützt sind. Die Minifiguren unterliegen (noch) einer 3D-Marke. Die MOCs sind geschützt vom Urheberrecht. Dann verbringt die Szene viel Zeit damit, etwas über Schutzrechte zu lernen. (Beispiele hier -> weiter unten eingebettete Videos)
MOCs werden produziert. Nicht nur die Firma Lego selbst, sondern auch andere Marken suchen sich Fan-MOCs und bringen diese dann als professionelle Sets heraus. Manchmal mit Einverständnis der Designer, manchmal (noch) ohne. Da ruckelt sich gerade einiges ein – rechtlich und technisch :-). Beispiel Qualität | Beispiel “geklaute MOCs”
Fandom: Es gibt unglaublich viele Lego-Youtuber. Weltweit und auch in Deutschland. Der größte Kanal hat 430 000 Abonnenten. Die verschiedenen Kanäle haben verschiedene Ausrichtungen
Manche zeigen historische Sets
Andere erstellen MOCs
Andere berichten von MOCs und erstellen Videos mit Fotos oder von Conventions
Andere bringen (tägliche) News
…
Fandom: Es gibt auch viele Blogs und Messenger-Newsletter und Lego-Conventions, wo sich Fans treffen und gemeinsam Bauen und Erfinden und zum Ökosystem beitragen oder darüber berichten.
Die Fotoplattform “Flickr” spielt eine größere Rolle.
Fandom: Es gibt in der Szene auch richtige Stars wie z.B. JK Brickworks – der erstellt technisch interessante meist bewegliche MOCs und erklärt dann auch immer, wie man die Nachbauen kann. Wissen über die Möglichkeiten des Systems wird so von außen eingetragen und vermehrt.
Second-Hand-Märkte – Selbstverständlich spielen Gebrauchtwarenmärkte und allen voran Ebay und vor allem Ebay-Kleinanzeigen eine wichtige Rolle! Man kann hier “Konvolute kaufen” (Lego kann man prima waschen, es ist dann wie neu, und alle wissen das) aber auch alte Sets. Die meisten Legosets verlieren über die Zeit nur geringfügig an Wert (es ist also eine Wertanlage), einige werden sogar richtig teuer, wenn sie EOL (End of Life) sind – bis hin zu tausenden von Euro. Damit ist Lego sogar in gewisser Weise “ein billiges Hobby”.
Umnutzung von Lego! Man kann den Rahmen sprengen und Lego auch anders einsetzen als für Spielzeug. Beispiel 1 | Beispiel 2
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OK. Und wie geht es Lego bei alledem. So viel Konkurrenz auf dem Markt plötzlich? Die Antwort ist: Fantastisch! Sie sind der größte Spielzeughersteller der Welt. Haben alle überholt. Und hatten im ersten Halbjahr 2020 ein Rekordwachstum. –
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Open Circular Hardware?
Und was hat das ganze jetzt mit Open Circular Hardware zu tun?
Wie ich sagt, wenn Produkte open und zirkulär sind, wirft man sie nicht weg und man kann sich ähnliche Ökosystemen aus Informationen, Plattformen, Zusammenarbeit und Akteuren denken.
Daran arbeiten wir bei Mifactori. Wie kann man Produkte so designen, dass sie sind wie Lego – open & circular & modular? Wir haben viele Beispiele auf unserer Seite und theoretische Betrachtungen der Methoden, die wir dafür ansetzen.
hoffentlich seid ihr alle gesund und produktiv geblieben. Wir waren es. Und es gibt ein paar gute Neuigkeiten.
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1 FINALIST
Wir sind unter den Finalisten beim Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitspreis Design mit der Vision “Open Circular Design”. Ein schöner Erfolg soweit. Ein paar mehr Infos dazu gibt es hier → https://mifactori.de/deutscher-nachhaltigkeitspreis-design/
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2 NEUE OPEN DESIGNS
Wir haben die Herbst- und Winterwelle für neue Open Circular Designs gestartet. Bisher sind zwei neue Produkte erschienen umfänglich dokumentiert. Eines davon kann man zuhause direkt nachbauen ohne Werkzeug und Einkauf. Viel Spaß.
Der “Schöneberger Hocker” ist 100% modular, leicht zu produzieren und lässt sich sogar in einen Stuhl umbauen. Link → https://mifactori.de/schoeneberg-stool/
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3 VIDEO-TALKS
Der Fokus unserer Arbeit hat sich im letzten Jahr leicht verschoben. Im Herbst konnten wir bisher auf 2 Konferenzen dazu sprechen. Beide Vorträge wurden gefilmt und stehen im Netz. Ein Talk ist in englischer einer in deutscher Sprache. Gern mal reingucken.
Wirklich nachhaltige Gestaltung kommt um die Gestaltung von Schutzrechten nicht herum. Oft stehen Schutzrechte der Nachhaltigkeit von Produkten im Wege. Leider gibt es bei offener Lizenzierung physischer Produkte viele Missverständnisse, die das Feld blockieren. Wir haben darum eine umfassende interaktive FAQ dazu erstellt, die viele Fragen klärt. Gern lesen.
Vor ein paar Tagen haben wir die erste Phase unseres Bildungs- und Aktivismusprojektes “Kreislaufschule” abgeschlossen. “Darin wandeln Schüler*innen über eine Reihe von kreativen und aktivistischen Projekten ihre Schule Stück für Stück, Ressource für Ressource in eine nachhaltige Kreislaufschule um.”
Eine gute Dokumentation mit vielen Anleitungen und Hinweisen dafür, wie andere Schulen auch zu zertifizierten “Kreislaufschulen” werden können, findet sich hier → https://mifactori.de/kls/
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6 BAUHAUS KLIMAFABRIK
Wenn Covid uns kein Bein stellt, beginnen wir auch diesen Herbst wieder ein Bildungsprojekt mit Kindern. Diesmal heißt das Projekt “Bauhaus Klimafabrik” und darin werden Kinder eigene nachhaltige klimafreundliche Produkte entwickeln.
Die Präsidentin der europäischen Kommission Ursula von der Leyen hat vielleicht unseren Projektantrag gelesen, denn vor ein paar Wochen hat sie die Gründung eines neuen europäischen Bauhauses angekündigt. Warum das eine gute Idee ist, steht (auch) in unserem Antrag dazu.
(Ps. Wir suchen noch nach Designer*innen, die das Projekt mitgestalten wollen als Gast. Gern melden.)
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7 KLEINIGKEITEN
a) Instagram & co! Für diejenigen von euch, die Spaß haben an visuellem Content, wir bespielen gerade unseren Twitter- (@mifactori) und Instagram-Account (@mifactori) mehr. → https://www.instagram.com/mifactori/
b) Praktikum. Für den Winter suchen wir eine Praktikantin oder einen Praktikanten. Wie ein Praktikum bei uns aussieht, steht hier → https://mifactori.de/jobs/
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OK. Das war es für heute. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come! In ein paar Tagen werden wir alle wahrscheinlich mit der Abwahl Trumps ein großes Geschenk bekommen. Und für die Zeit danach, haben einige Pfeile im Köcher, um nachhaltiges Design bzw. nachhaltiges Leben in Städten und auf dem Land generell voranzubringen im Kleinen und vielleicht auch etwas Größeren.
Hello dear fellow readers. I hope you all stayed healthy and productive. We did. And there are some news to share.
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1 FINALIST
We are among the finalists of the German Sustainability Award Design with the vision “Open Circular Design”. A great success so far. You can find a bit more information on that here → https://mifactori.de/deutscher-nachhaltigkeitspreis-design/
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2 NEW OPEN DESIGNS
We have started the autumn and winter wave for new open circular designs. So far two new products have been released and are well documented. One of them can probably be reproduced directly at home without tools and shopping. Have fun.
The focus of our work shifted slightly last year. So far in autumn we have been able to speak at 2 conferences about it. Both lectures were filmed and are available on the net. One is in English the other one in German. Feel free to have a look.
Truly sustainable design cannot avoid the question of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights often stand in the way of sustainability of products. Unfortunately, there are many misunderstandings out there when it comes to open licensing of physical products. We have therefore created a comprehensive interactive FAQ that clarifies many important questions. You are welcome to read it.
Title: “Why are Creative Commons non-commercial licenses not open source and a big problem for hardware and product design, FAQ” Link → https://mifactori.de/non-commercial-is-not-open-source/
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5 CIRCULAR SCHOOL
A few days ago we completed the first phase of our education and activism project “Circular School” (“Kreislaufschule”). “Through a series of creative and activist projects, students transform their school bit by bit, resource by resource, into a sustainable circular school.”
A good documentation with many instructions and suggestions on how other schools can also become certified “circular schools” can be found here → https://mifactori.de/kls/
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6 BAUHAUS CLIMATE FACTORY
If Covid doesn’t stop it we will start another educational project with children this fall. This time the project is called “Bauhaus Climate Factory” and in it children will develop sustainable climate-friendly products.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen may have read our project application, because a few weeks ago she announced the founding of a new “European Bauhaus”. Why this is a good idea is stated in our application.
(Ps. We are still looking for designers who want to participate in the project as guests. Send us an email).
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7 LITTLE THINGS
a) Instagram & co! For those of you who enjoy visual content, we are currently feeding our Twitter (@mifactori) and Instagram (@mifactori) accounts more. → https://www.instagram.com/mifactori/
b) Internship. We are looking for an intern for the winter. How an internship with us looks like is described here → https://mifactori.de/jobs/
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OK. That’s it for today. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come! In a few days we’ll probably all get a great gift when Trump is voted out of the White House. And for the time after that, we have some arrows in your quiver to accelerate sustainable design and sustainable on a small scale and maybe also a bit bigger.
ich bin Lars Zimmermann – Designer, Künstler und Aktivist aus Berlin. Ich führe im Moment ein Design Studio für Open Circular Design & Nachhaligkeits-Aktivismus namens Mifactori und ich arbeite immer mal in der Bildung z.B. als Gastprofessor für Design.
Ich bin gebeten worden, hier einen Vortrag zu “Open Source Kreislaufwirtschaft” zu halten. Ich fange bei “Open Source” an, gehe dann zur “Kreislaufwirtschaft”, danach zur theoretischen Verbindung von beidem und schließlich zu praktischen Beispielen dafür. Nach hinten raus wird’s bunt und praktisch. Bleiben sie dran.
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Los geht’s.
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1. Open Source-Software
Frage:Wer von ihnen hat schon ein vages Bild davon, was Open Source ist?
Ein guter Startpunkt, um die Geschichte von Open Source zu erzählen, ist dieser Mann: Richard Stallmann in Insiderkreisen gerne als RMS abgekürzt (heute, früher).
RMS arbeitete als junger Mann am MIT Ende der 70er und Anfang der 80er Jahre und erzählt aus dieser Zeit gern die Printer-Geschichte. Sie hatten in ihrem Labor einen Xerox-Drucker, der immer gern kaputt ging. RMS hatte die technischen Fähigkeiten zur Reparatur bzw. für notwendige Anpassungen. Aber der Source Code war geschlossen und machte das unmöglich – RMS wurde zum “Gefangenen” der Software. Die Geschichte von Open Source-Software beginnt also mit einer Reparatur-Geschichte, wenn man so will. *
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1985 gründet er die Free Software Foundation – eine Stiftung für freie Software. Freie Software heißt dabei nicht kostenlose Software, sondern das “frei” wurzelt im Wort “Freiheit”. (Not free as in free beer but in freedom.)
Und freie Software räumt Freiheiten ein! Man darf sie studieren, kopieren, nutzen, verändern und weiterverbreiten. Und all das darf man auch kommerziell tun. Selbstverständlich braucht man dafür den Source Code.
RMS entwickelt selbst freie Software und viele andere beginnen damit ebenfalls. Dabei ist eine Sache wichtig: die Lizenz! Die GNU General Public License. Software unterliegt dem Urheberrecht, welches man automatisch erhält. Deshalb ist Software immer “unfrei” bzw. “geschlossen” geboren (born closed). Als Urheberrechtsinhaber*in muss ich aktiv werden, um dieses Urheberrecht “loszuwerden” und anderen rechtlich die Möglichkeit zu geben, meine Software frei zu nutzen. Die GNU Public License ist nun ein Lizenzvertrag mit der Öffentlichkeit bzw. mit jedem Menschen auf der Welt. Sie räumt die oben genannten Freiheiten ein und stellt dabei aber auch Bedingungen. Eine davon ist besonders – die Copyleft-Bedingung. *
Copyleft Logo
Sie besagt, dass alle meine Software verwenden dürfen – sie dürfen sie z.B. als Baustein in ihre eigenen Softwareprojekte einbauen – aber nur, wenn sie die daraus resultierende Software unter die selbe offene Copyleft-Lizenz stellen – zu freier Software machen! Ein brillanter Hack. Das Urheberrecht wird gegen sich selbst gewendet. Ein Freiheits-“Virus”, der Stück für Stück mehr Software “infiziert”.
Copyleft wird von vielen als wichtiger Treiber für die Verbreitung freier Software gesehen – heute haben wir damit mehr und mehr Probleme, aber ich steige jetzt nicht in Lizenzprobleme ein.
Freie Software wird ein grosser Erfolg. Die Vorteile dieses offenen Entwicklungsmodells treten schnell hervor. Man kann in grossen dezentralen Verbünden Software oft schneller und günstiger entwickeln und die Software ist dabei von höherer Qualität. “Given enough eyeballs all bugs are shallow.”
Das wohl erfolgreichste Softwareprojekt, welches so entwickelt wird und das sie alle schonmal benutzt haben und wahrscheinlich schon heute genutzt haben, ist Linux – der Linux-Kernel. → erklären
Frage:Wie funktioniert die Entwicklung? Was glauben Sie? Wer zahlt dafür? Arbeiten die alle umsonst? Was ist ein Fork?
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Der ökonomische und technologische Vorteil freier Software liegt Ende der 90er Jahr offen da. Aber es gibt etwas, dass ihn für manche noch aufhält. Es ist die politische Agenda dahinter – “das Gerede über Freiheit” – und ein Beharren auf der Copyleft-Klausel. Also tun sich 1998 ein paar Akteure zusammen und erschaffen ein neues Wort – “Open Source” und gründen dafür die “Open Source Initiative”. Hier mal → in den Worten der Wikipedia.
Und Open Source-Software wird ein gigantischer Erfolg. Heute finden sie überall Open Source-Software. “Open Source ate the world”. Wenn sie heute einen Mercedes kaufen, sind da Millionen von Code-Zeilen Open Source-Software drin. Wenn Sie ihr Netz anschalten und eine Seite im Internet aufrufen, ist mit sehr hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit an vielen Stellen Open Source-Software beteiligt.
OSS macht die Welt der Softwareentwicklung schnell und innovativ und Software flexibel und anpassbar – hält sie einsatzfähig. Wenn sie von einer kleinen Softwarefirma Spezialsoftware kaufen, verlangen sie nach Open Source!
Und Open Source Software schafft Vertrauen. Unsere Corona-App ist Open Source. Warum?
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2. Open Source-Hardware
Schnell kommen Menschen auf die Idee, dieses Prinzip auch auf die Entwicklung von Hardware anzuwenden – für physische Objekte also. *
Aber Open Source-Hardware stößt schnell an Grenzen. Es gibt einfach starke Unterschiede zwischen Open Source-Software und Open Source-Hardware. Welche sind es, was denken sie?
– Bauteile zusammenbauen mit Zeit, Werkzeug, Platz, Energie und Fähigkeiten.
– Lizenzierung: Die Lizenzsituation rings um Hardware ist fundamental anders als die rings um Software. Die Lösungen von Open Source-Software sind nicht übertragbar. Infos dazu → hier.
– Dokumentation: Die Dokumentation von Hardware ist vielschichtiger und umfangreicher und Zeit-intensiver – sie ist anders gelagert.
– Standards: Computer funktionieren überall auf der Welt gleich. Für Hardware haben wir verschiedene gewachsene Ingenieurschulen, verschiedene Messsysteme (imperiales vs. metrisches System), verschiedene lokale Lieferanten und Produzenten für Teile und Materialien und so weiter. Das macht es schwierig, das, was auf der einen Seite des Globus gebaut wurde, auf der anderen Seite nachzubauen.
So funktioniert Software – Herunterladen und direkt nutzen, die Maschine ist schon gebaut. Hardware funktioniert so nicht. Den Übersetzungsschritt in Atome muss man noch machen.
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Open Hardware sollte versuchen, so einfach wie möglich überall baubar zu sein. Aus diesem Grund sind digitale Fabrikationstechniken wie 3D-Druck, Laser-Cutting und CNC-Fräsen so wichtig bei Open Hardware, wo man eine Datei herunterlädt, die Maschine neben dem Schreibtisch anwirft und dann nur warten muss. Aber man kann nicht alles mit diesen Werkzeugen produzieren. Darum hat die Open Source-Hardware-Definition auch diese Passage:
Hier wird über das Design selbst gesprochen und eine Antwort auf die Frage gegeben, wie man Hardware so designen kann, dass sie an vielen Orten mit möglichst geringem Aufwand kopiert werden kann. So soll die dezentrale Zusammenarbeit an der Entwicklung und Nutzung von Open Hardware unterstützt werden.
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Fazit zu Open Source: Open Source will andere produktive Praktiken des Umgangs mit Produkten ermöglichen als einfach nur deren Kauf und Konsum. Prinzipiell alle können offene Produkte egal ob Software oder Hardware affirmativ oder kreativ weiter be- und verarbeiten. Open Source ist ein Handlungsermöglicher und fördert dezentrale Zusammenarbeit.
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3. Kreislaufwirtschaft
Frage:Wer von ihnen könnte Kreislaufwirtschaft beschreiben?
Kreislaufwirtschaft ist eine Idee, die es schon länger gibt als die Idee freier Software. Sie tritt unter verschiedenen Namen auf z.B. als Kreislaufwirtschaft, Blue Economy, Cradle to Cradle, Zero Waste, Industrial Symbiosis und anderen. Auf europäischer und globaler politischer Ebene hat sich der Begriff “Circular Economy” momentan dafür durchgesetzt. All diese Strömungen setzen unterschiedliche Schwerpunkte, teilen im Kern aber die selbe Idee von Kreisläufen.
Es geht darum Müll zu reduzieren und damit den Druck auf die Umwelt zu verringern. 40% des CO2 Fußabdrucks eines/r Deutschen (Mirror) stammt von Konsumgütern. Also die Gründe sind nicht Nahrung, Heizung, persönlicher Stromverbrauch, Mobilität oder Wohnen, sondern Spielzeug, Kleidung, Möbel, Bücher, elektronische Geräte usw. Wieso ist das so?
Kreislaufwirtschaft ist ein Weg, die Atome möglichst lange in Gebrauch (im Kreis) zu halten, um beispielsweise weniger Ressourcen neu gewinnen zu müssen und weniger neue Produkte zu produzieren, was beides unter anderem sehr viel Energie und Umwelt verbraucht.
Das geht mit verschiedenen Strategien. Wir gucken uns mal ein paar an, die direkt über die Produkt-Ebene sprechen. Es geht um Produkte mit denen diese Dinge leicht möglich sind:
→ repair
→ reuse
→ refurbishment
→ recycling
→ surviving climate change
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Hier ist ein Grafik, die in den letzten Jahren populär war, wo diese Kreisläufe mal dargestellt sind: Diagram | Diagramm Mirror
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Fazit: Bei der Kreislaufwirtschaft geht es darum, neue und andere produktive Praktiken im Umgang mit Produkten zu ermöglichen als einfach nur deren Produktion, Verkauf und Konsum; – mehr und andere Handlungen von Reparatur bis Recycling ausgeführt von mehr Menschen.
. . .
… hey, das war doch genau das, was Open Source auch wollte ↑ – andere produktive Praktiken im Umgang mit Produkten ermöglichen …
(Closed Source möchte anderen vor allem jedwede produktive Handlung verbieten – Closed Source ist damit der natürliche Gegner der Kreislaufwirtschaft?)
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5. Open Source-Kreislaufwirtschaft?
Wiederholung von oben:
“Open Source will andere produktive Praktiken des Umgangs mit Produkten ermöglichen als einfach nur deren Kauf und Konsum…”
“Bei der Kreislaufwirtschaft geht es darum, neue und andere Praktiken im Umgang mit Produkten zu ermöglichen als einfach nur deren Produktion, Verkauf und Konsum…”
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Ja! Auf dieser abstrakten Metaebene – also wenn man von ganz weit oben bzw. ganz weit weg guckt – macht diese Kombination sehr viel Sinn. .
Zoomstufe 1
Die Freiheiten von Open Source (studieren, kopieren, modifizieren, verbreiten) sollten die Handlungen einer nachhaltigen Kreislaufwirtschaft (reparieren, wiedernutzen, umnutzen, aufbereiten, recyclen usw.) gut unterstützen oder ermöglichen.
In der Kreislaufwirtschaftsdebatte redet man sehr gern über Transparenz als Grundvoraussetzung dafür und Open Source ist auf Transparenz gebaut.
Das perfekte Paar also!? .
Aber ich bin Designer und Künstler, ich mag “abgehobene” Theorie, aber bin an der Wirklichkeit noch mehr interessiert. Darum lassen sie uns diese Annahme mal testen und uns dafür Stück für Stück reinzoomen bis hinunter auf die praktische Ebene. .
Zoomstufe 2
Unsere zweite Zoomstufe sind nochmal fiktionale Geschichten über einen Motorroller – einen angenommenen Open-Source-Motorroller. Der ist theoretisch leicht zu:
repair ?
Frei zugängliche Konstruktionspläne sollten die Reparatur vereinfachen. Wenn die notwendigen Teile und verwendeten technischen Lösungen und Tools zudem offenen Standards folgen und leicht verständlich sind, dürfte der Reparatur kaum etwas im Weg stehen.
reuse ?
Wenn ich in den Designdateien oder der Konstruktion selbst sehen kann, wie die Teile heißen und wie sie platziert werden und mit anderen Teilen zusammenarbeiten, sollte einfacher sein, die Teile in anderen Designs wiederzuverwenden.
refurbishment ?
Wenn das Design offen ist, ist es einfacher, fehlende und defekte Teile zu bestellen oder herzustellen und dann zu ersetzen.
recycling ?
Wenn ich in den Designdateien sehen kann, welche Materialien in welchen Mischungen verwendet werden und wie sie zusammengesetzt wurden und schnell getrennt werden koennen, wird das Recycling einfacher.
surviving climate change ?
Welche Stadt ist smarter? Die “smart city” mit technisch extrem ausgefeilten und hoch-vernetzten Straßenlaternen? Oder die Stadt mit offen dokumentierten, zugänglichen, leicht verständlichen Straßenlaternen gebaut aus Standardteilen? Wenn ein → Sturm auf die Infrastruktur der Stadt trifft – welche Lampen sind vor Ort leichter zu reparieren? Wenn sich die → Küstenlinie verschiebt – welche Lampen lassen sich leichter demontieren, abtransportieren und in einer anderen Region neu aufstellen? Klimawandel heißt vor allem Anpassung und Flexibilität, dauernder Umbau. Offenheit hilft uns dabei – denken sie an die Druckergeschichte von oben ↑ wo Geschlossenheit die Anpassung des Druckers an die Situation verhindert hat.
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FAZIT ?
Ich würde sagen, die Idee hat den ersten Test auf Zoomstufe 2 erfolgreich überstanden und ist vielleicht sogar noch etwas stärker geworden.
Wenn man den Geschichten genau zugehört hat, kamen dabei noch ein paar Zusatzdinge zum Vorschein. Auch nachhaltige Produkte bzw. Kreislaufprodukte müssen anders gestaltet sein, um Kreislaufpraktiken zu ermöglichen. Auch sie müssen leicht zugänglich sein und aus möglichst vielseitig einsetzbaren Standardteilen zusammengesetzt. Dann kann es möglichst überall auf der Welt auch tatsächlich zu einem nachhaltigen Umgang damit kommen.
Kreislaufprodukte teilen sich damit ein Designideal mit Open Hardware, wie wir es von oben schon kennen:
Open Hardware kann etwas von Kreislaufdesign lernen (z.B. für das Sourcing von Teilen und Material) und Kreislaufdesign kann etwas von Open Hardware lernen (z.B. frei verfügbare Dokumentation).
Also Zoomstufe 1 bringt die beiden Welten von Open Source und Kreislaufwirtschaft sogar noch näher zusammen. Aber es ist immer noch ziemlich abstrakt und theoretisch. Zoomen wir noch eine Stufe weiter:
Zoomstufe 3
Ich bin Mitgründer und war lange Teil eines globalen Projekts namens “Open Source Circular Economy Days”. Von 2015 bis 2018 haben wir Designer, Maker, Ingenieure, Berater und andere eingeladen, global vernetzt mit der Entwicklung von zirkulären Open-Source-Lösungen zu beginnen. Das Projekt war anfangs sehr aufregend und erfolgreich. Gruppen in mehr als 100 Städten auf der ganzen Welt haben lokale Events durchgeführt (→ 2015, → 2016). Bei einer Ausgabe in Berlin hatten wir über 700 Teilnehmende, die großteils praktische Projekte umgesetzt haben – es wurden auf dem Event richtige Maschinen gebaut. Doch dann geriet das Projekt ins Stocken und ist eingebrochen.
Einen der Gründe dafür haben wir mit einem Fragebogen rausbekommen: Viele Nachhaltigkeitsakteure, die sich für das Projekt interessierten, wurden durch das Wort “Open Source” abgeschreckt. Es klang für sie wie etwas sehr Komplexes und Technisches – etwas, das für eine exklusive “In-Group-Elite” von Tech-Wizards gemacht wurde, zu der sie sich nicht zugehörig fühlten. Sie konnten keine Beziehung dazu herstellen, egal wie sehr wir uns bemüht haben, Open Source verständlich zu vermitteln und sogar zu erklären, wie man damit Business macht.
FAZIT
Was wir auf Zoomstufe 3 also lernen, ist, dass “Open Source” wohl nicht das beste Wording ist, um Designer*innen und ähnliche Akteure dazu zu bringen, tatsächlich “Open Source-Praktiken” zu verwenden. Die Unterschiede im Denken digitaler Techkultur und Nachhaltigkeitskultur sind zu groß. Zu viel, was zum Vorschein kommt, wenn man nach “Open Source” googelt, ist zu weit weg von gaengigen Nachhaltigkeitsmotiven. Die Transferleistung, nach der wir da frag(t)en, ist zu groß. “Open Source” eignet sich momentan nicht als Brücke.
Aber das zeigt nur, dass das vermittlungstechnisch – sozusagen “sozial” – nicht funktioniert. Die darunter liegende Ebene, dass die Gestaltungsweisen der Kreislaufwirtschaft und die Gestaltungsweisen von Open Source einander möglich machen und beflügeln können sollten, die ist noch nicht wiederlegt. Also versuchen wir es einfach mal mit einem Rebranding – mit anderen Worten.
In meiner aktuellen Experimentphase, in der wir in unserem Designstudio Mifactori auch wirklich solche Designs erzeugen, arbeiten wir mit anderen Worten. Wir nennen es jetzt “Open Design” bzw. “Open Circular Design”. Ob das das bessere Marketing ist, ist nicht raus. Aber damit sind wir schon auf Zoomstufe 4 gelandet.
Zoomstufe 4
Bei Zoomstufe 4 stehen wir in der Werkstatt, an der Werkbank. Nicht an irgendeiner, sondern an unserer von Mifactori. (Daran denken: Je näher man rangeht, desto subjektiver wird es!)
Und, wie läuft’s?
Beim tatsächlichen Arbeiten an wirklichen Produkten und verwandten Lösungen, fiel schnell auf, dass der Rahmen “Open Source Circular Economy” nicht wirklich instruktiv und anleitend war für konkrete Produkte. Darum haben wir nach einigen Experimenten einen neuen geschaffen und den dann in diesem Bild → und einem dazugehörigen Artikel “What Is Open Circular Design” dargelegt.
Sie sehen im Bild 9 Gestaltungsstrategien für “Open Circular Design”, die alle Open Source-Hardware unterstützen oder direkte Kopien von Open-Source-Gestaltungsstrategien sind und zugleich zirkulär. Und die gehe ich jetzt mit ihnen mal anhand von Beispielen durch.
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Simple → Hier ist ein Möbelstück von uns, Ringbein, welches einfacher wohl kaum sein könnte.
Upcycling Friendly → Ringbein macht es sehr leicht, ausgediente Materialien dafür zu verwenden. Das gleiche gilt auch für ein zweites Design von uns den Schöneberger Hocker.
Standards → Schon bei Ringbein und dem Hocker sind ausschliesslich Standardelemente verwendet. Und so ist das auch bei einem unserer anderen Produkte – unseren Open Source Lampen. Sie verwenden ausschliesslich Schrauben, die sie in jedem Baumarkt bekommen koennen: Lampen 2016, Lampen 2018, Lampen 2020. Sogar den Lampenschirm koennen sie aus Standardpapier mit einem Standardwerkzeug nämlich ihrem heimischen Desktop-Drucker herstellen (digital manufacturing at home), wie sie hier im Solutions-Posting sehen können.
Educative → Ich denke, die Produkte, die ich ihnen bisher gezeigt habe, sind so leicht zu verstehen, dass allein ihre Konstruktionsweisen technische Grundkenntnisse für das Produktdesign und Making vermittelt. Aber darüber hinaus versuchen wir auch in der Art, wie wir die Produkte vermitteln bzw. dokumentieren, Wissen zu vermitteln. Dabei ist vor allem das Solutions-Posting zu den Lampen erwähnenswert. Es zeigt einfache Standardlösungen, die alle kreativ selbst einsetzen können, um Open Circular Design-Lampen herzustellen – mit Material, welches sie schon haben. (Und wenn man an Open Circular Design arbeitet, stellt man fest, dass ein solches Produkt weniger ein fertiges Produkt ist als eine Sammlung bzw. Kombination einfacher offener Lösungen. Mehr dazu hier: “What is the final version in Open Circular Design?”)
Recyclable → Egal ob Ringbein, der Schöneberger Steckhocker oder die Hypercircularity Lamps – alle Designs sind aus unterschiedlichen Materialien herstellbar, sie sind keine “einzigartige Kombination von Form und Material”. Das heisst, man kann einfach recyclingfähige Materialien verwenden. Und diese sind den Designs so verbaut, dass sie sehr schnell voneinander getrennt werden können, was eine Grundvoraussetzung für das Recycling ist.
Open Licensed → Natürlich sind alle unsere Designs offen lizenziert bzw. sind keinerlei Schutzrechte in Stellung gebracht, die anderen die Nutzung davon untersagen. Ich erwähnte ja schon kurz oben, dass die Lizenzsituation bei Hardware grundlegend anders und leider sehr viel komplizierter ist als bei Software. Wir wir bei Mifactori das Problem aber lösen, steht hier: “Open Design – die rechtliche Seite”. | Wer mehr darüber wissen mag, der kann auch auf die im Posting verlinkte Vorlesung zum Thema klicken oder auf diese FAQ, die anhand eines Sonderproblems einiges wichtiges zur Lizenzsituation bei Open Source-Hardware erklärt. (Das scheint ein bisschen nerdig und detailreich jetzt, aber wir sind ja auf einer hohen Zoomstufe.)
Biosphere Support → Die gezeigten Designs unterstützen die Bioshäre nicht direkt, so wie etwa Dachziegel mit eingebauten Vogelhäusern es tun würden. Aber über die Unterstützung der Biosphäre denken wir bei Mifactori z.B. im Rahmen unserer Urban Interventions nach beispielsweise hier im Posting über City Hacks zu Natur in der Stadt.
Modularity → Natürlich sind alle gezeigten Designs vollständig modular – sogar in dem Sinne, dass man ohne Probleme die Teile für anderes einsetzen kann. Modularität und Open Circular-Design haben auf vielerlei Weise miteinander zu tun – genug Stoff für einen ganzen eigenen Vortrag – ich will aber heute nur einen Aspekt dafür rausgreifen: “Don’t invent a new modular system, try to use (hack into) an existing one.” | Ein noch unveröffentlichtes Beispiel dafür von uns habe ich ihnen hier mitgebracht die XYZ knots (AT).
Pre-Use → Pre-Use ist “DIY Kreislaufwirtschaft” und was es genau ist, steht hier im Pre-Use-Artikel.
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FAZIT ?
Wie sieht es auf Zoomstufe 4 aus? Ich würde sagen, es läuft gut. Die Produkte, die wir bisher gemacht haben, sind open und kreislauffähig und gewinnen ihre Kreislaufqualitäten durch ihre Offenheit.
Sie nutzen noch nicht alle Vorteile, die man mit Open Source haben kann, voll aus – beispielsweise gibt es aktuell kein Community Building – und sie sind natürlich sehr unterkomplex, d.h. sie sind wenig technisch anspruchsvoll – sie können von einer Person entwickelt werden. Damit lassen sie keine starken Schlüsse zu über komplexe technische Produkte.
Aber ein Anfang ist gemacht und wir sind damit immerhin “Finalist” beim beim deutschen Nachhaltigkeitspreis Design. Was eine ziemlich coole Sache ist, denke ich.
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Ende
OK. Ich hoffe, es war nicht zu viel. Ich freue mich über Fragen, wenn ihnen welche einfallen.
Ich freue mich auch über Anfragen aller Art. Eine Kontaktadresse finden sie hier.
Wenn sie auf dem Laufenden bleiben wollen über unsere Arbeit – und wir haben in den nächsten Monaten viel vor : -) – dann melden sie sich gern an für unseren
I am Lars Zimmermann – designer, artist and activist from Berlin Germany. I cofounded a global project on open source circular economy called “Open Source Circular Economy Days”, I run a design studio for open circular design and environmental activism called Mifactori. And I work often in education for example as a guest professor for sustainable open design at universities.
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Sustainability
And there I said it already: I am interested in Open Source Hardware – as a means to make sustainable products and enable sustainable practices around them. –
– Usually at this point I explain Open Source Hardware. But I think in this context I don’t need to spend much time on this. Open Source Hardware is Open Source for physical objects. You make hardware designs publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design. People do this in – many – different – shapes & forms.
But why is Open Source Hardware a great means to sustainability? Sustainability is about products that support:
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So: Sustainability is about enablingdifferent practices around products than throwing them in the trash. More productive things done by more people. And this is exactly what Open Source is about! Enabling more people to do more productive thingswith stuff. The core of “closed source” is to block all kinds of activities, so closed source makes sustainability hard.
Right? Yes, on an abstract meta level the combination makes sense, a perfect couple made, made for each other. But I am a designer, artist and maker who likes theory, but is mainly interested in reality. So let’s test this assumption. First step a fictional story about a motorcycle. An open source motorcycle is theoretically easy to:
repair ?
Open design files help to fix things. When parts and solutions follow accessible standards and are simple – fixing is easy.
reuse ?
When I can see in the design files or construction itself how parts need to be placed and work with other parts – it is easier to reuse them in other designs.
refurbishment ?
When the design is open it is easier to order, replace, or manufacture missing and broken parts.
recycling ?
If I can see in the design files what materials are used and how they are assembled – recycling becomes easier.
surviving climate change ?
Which city is smarter? The “smart city” with street lights that are technically sophisticated and networked? Or the city with open documented, accessible, easy to understand street lights? When a storm hits the city infrastructure – which lamps are easier to repair locally? When the coastline moves – which lamps are easier to dismantle, take away and put up in another region? Openness helps us to adapt!
…
Made to work as Open Source
OK. Our idea has passed the first test.
But if you have listened carefully you might have noticed that these stories already brought up more things to consider. Sustainable hardware needs to be designed differently to enable sustainable practices. And the same is true for Open Hardware. Open Source Hardware needs to be designed differently to enable Open Source practices.
The difference between software and hardware is striking. Computers are the same everywhere in the world. The same basic general purpose machine. So you can download Open Source Software from everywhere and start using it within minutes on your local machine. The computer it runs on is already built. With hardware it is different. You can only download the design files for a tractor. But the difficult and expensive part of sourcing parts and materials and putting them together is still ahead of you.
This is how software works, but not hardware.
Open Hardware must make an effort to make things easy to buildon site. (This is why digital fabrication tools like 3D printing, laser cutting and CNC milling are such a big thing in open hardware – but we can’t make everything with these tools). Here is what the open hardware definition states in its first paragraph about this:
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→ This is a straight up suggestion how to make your design in order to make it easier to actually physically reproduce somewhere else.
It means that a lot of common design practices and ideas become problematic. Open Source Hardware can’t just be about sharing design files under open licenses – at least if you want to make it work for global collaboration.. You need to design it for this too.
Rebrand: Open (Circular) Design
I was part of a global project called the “Open Source Circular Economy Days”. From 2015 to 2018 we asked people – designers, makers, engineers, consultants and more – to start globally connected the development of open source circular solutions. The project got a lot of excitement in the beginning. Groups in more than 100 cities across the globe signed up to do local events(→ 2015, → 2016). But then the project got stuck.
One of the reasons for this we found out through a questionnaire: A lot of people were interested in the project were turned off by the word “Open Source”. It sounded to them like something very complex and technical – something made for an elite exclusive “in group” of tech wizards they don’t felt to be part of. They could not grasp it no matter how much effort we made to explain it and to teach how to make business with it. Although the core ideas are so simple and supported by these people.
So what I learned from that is that “Open Source” might not be the best wording to get groups like Designers and related professions into making actual “Open Source designs”. So at Mifactori we switched and use “Open Design” or “Open Circular Design” in our campaign, education and design work.
I am sitting here in the Mifactori workshop. I am surrounded by prototypes for open (source) circular designs. We are going to publish them over the course of the next months. Here are a few pics from the development stage:
OK. Let’s jump → into the article explaining the methodologies of “Open Circular Design”. The key is that we set a new frame:
“Open means to leave options open for the future. Enable and keep as many different productive futures as possible; with design, through design and despite of design.”
Open for interaction, open for change, open to make it, open to…
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And from there we describe 9 methodologies for Open Circular Design that all support Open Source Hardware or are direct copies of Open Source Hardware methodologies!
Let’s have a quick look, what are these methodologies and how do they support Open Source Hardware practices? If you are on this page right now you can scroll up to the pictures of our designs ↑ to compare to what you hear.
Simple → Things that are simple to understand and make are open to more people. You get closer to “everyone”.
Educative → Designs that teach core design concepts in whatever way enable more people to work with hardware designs.
Standards → Standard parts are often easier to source and support mutual understanding and collaboration.
Modular → Modularity enables reuse of parts and that helps with sourcing of parts and modification of designs.
Recyclable → Recycling is a longterm game of sourcing parts and materials. Sometimes recycling can even be done by you already.
Upcycling Friendly → Designs that make it easy to incorporate already used parts or stuff from the trash make sourcing parts easier.
Pre-Use → Pre-Use is a technique to creatively repurpose and therefore source parts you already have. But you leave them intact so they can still full fill their initial purpose – in case you need to source for that again.
OK. I think it became clear Mifactori is not just a studio for open source circular products and interiors. We are also in campaigning and education. I teach sometimes as a guest professor at universities and over the years we became convinced that sustainable design needs to think about activism – you can’t separate both worlds.
Summary / Take Away
Open Source Hardware faces the same problems as sustainability. How to design products that are quick and easy to make and change. If we bring these two worlds together they can inform each other in order to make progress in both of them.
wir waren etwas lazy. Aber nicht mit Arbeit. Nur mit Newslettern : – )
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1 WEBSITE-RELAUNCH
Die Mifactori-Webseite ist relaunched! Vieles ist brandneu, alles grundlegend aufpoliert. Kommt vorbei und seht euch die Service-Angebote, Referenzen, Artikel und Statements zu nachhaltigen Produkten und Kampagnen und nachhaltiger Bildung und Stadtentwicklung an.
2 SCHLÜSSEL-ARTIKEL: Was ist Open (Circular) Design
Wir haben einen neuen Schlüssel-Artikel zu “Open Circular Design” geschrieben, der bereits eine Weile online steht und gut geklickt wurde. Auch wer uns schon eine Weile kennt, wird darin Neues finden. Mit diesem Artikel legen wir den theoretischen Bezugsrahmen für unsere Produkt- und Ausstattungsarbeit der nächsten Jahre bei Mifactori.
Es wird noch viel passieren in den nächsten Monaten. Das Studio steht voller Prototypen, die wir demnächst abdokumentieren werden. Wir haben außerdem den Zuschlag für ein größeres Projekt zur Entwicklung nachhaltiger zirkulärer Produkte erhalten, welches im Herbst beginnt. Außerdem haben wir ein paar kleinere Design-Aktivismus-Kampagnen in Vorbereitung. Und auch beim Webseiteumbau sind viele kleinere Dinge entstanden, die wir demnächst mal etwas hervorkehren werden. Dranbleiben lohnt sich also.
Aber jetzt kommt erstmal der Sommer.
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5 ANDERE SEHR GUTE NEUIGKEITEN
Was ist außerhalb von unserer eigenen Arbeit in der Welt von Open Circularity noch passiert? Einiges. Hier ein paar Dinge die wir unbedingt erwähnenswert finden:
I. Inkscape – das fantastische Open-Source-Vector-Programm, welches wir seit vielen Jahren nutzen und lieben, ist jetzt offiziell herunterladbarer in Version 1.0. Wer es noch nicht kennt, jetzt ist ein guter Moment zum Einsteigen. Link → https://inkscape.org/
II. “Licht Luft Scheiße” ist da! Die Publikation zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung ist jetzt bestellbar. Die Publikation ist die umfassendste Archäologie der Nachhaltigkeit, die man sich vorstellen kann. Die Ursprünge der vielen hundert Bausteine, aus denen heute unser Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurs besteht, sind hier leicht zugänglich gemacht. Ein massives Werk! Unbedingte Empfehlung. Link → https://adocs.de/de/buecher/monografie/licht-luft-scheisse-perspektiven-auf-okologie-und-moderne
III. Eine Reparatur-Norm: Es scheint jetzt eine europäische Norm für Reparierbarkeit zu geben. Viele NGOs haben zusammengearbeitet und mit viel Ausdauer lobbyiert. Schließlich mit Erfolg. Sehr gut! Link → https://ifix.gd/2TrUhoh
IV DIN-Spec zu Open Source Hardware: Die DIN-Spec-Norm zu Open Source Hardware hat die erste Phase abgeschlossen und steht im Moment zur freien Kommentierung online. Wenn nichts weiter schief geht, haben wir also auch bald eine Norm für Open-Source-Hardware, die zwar noch nicht europäisch ist, aber mit geringerem Aufwand dazu ausgebaut werden kann und wird. Das sind ebenfalls sehr gute Neuigkeiten. Gemeinsam mit der Norm zur Reparatur und einigen anderen Normen aus den letzten Jahren macht sich das europäische Normenwerk bereit, den Wandel zu einer nachhaltigeren Welt aus Produkten zu unterstützen! Die Mühlen mahlen. Und bald mit besseren Mahlsteinen 🙂 Link 1 → https://www.beuth.de/en/technical-rule/din-spec-3105-1/324805763 | Link 2 → https://www.beuth.de/en/technical-rule/din-spec-3105-2/324805750
IMAGE CREDITS: Das Ausgangsvisual für diesen Newsletter stammt nicht von uns sondern von Bruno Vellutini und wurde von ihm auf Flickr unter der CC-BY-SA-2.0-Lizenz veröffentlicht. Das Bild begleitet uns schon lange und es war das erste Bild, welches jemals auf die Mifactori-Seite geladen wurde. Darum haben wir es passend zum Relaunch als Vorschaubild ausgewählt.
Dem Wunsch von Bruno Vellutini folgend steht dieser Newsletter deshalb unter der CC-BY-SA 2.0 Lizenz und nicht wie gewöhnlich unter CC-BY 4.0
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/ ENGLISH VERSION /
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Hi,
we’ve been lazy. But not with work. Just with sending newsletters.
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1 WEBSITE RELAUNCH
The Mifactori website has been relaunched! Many things are brand new, everything has been thoroughly refurbished. Come by and see our service offers, references, articles and statements on sustainable open circularity for products, education, urban development and campaigns. It is not utopia. It is 2020.
We have written a new key article on “Open Circular Design” which is online for a while now and is well clicked. Even if you know us for a while you will find new tings in it. With this article we set the theoretical frame of reference for our product and interior work for the next few years with Mifactori.
A lot will happen in the coming months. The studio is full of prototypes which we will document soon. We have also received the go for a major project in which we will develop a couple of sustainable circular products. The project starts in autumn. We have a few smaller design activism campaigns in the pipeline. And the website redesign has resulted in some smaller things that we will be highlighting soon. So stay tuned (or tune in).
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5 OTHER COOL THINGS?
What interesting things happened in the world that are relevant for Open Circularity? A lot. Here are a few things we love to share:
I. Inkscape – the fantastic Open Source Vector program we have been using and loving for many years is now officially downloadable in version 1.0. For those of you who don’t know it yet now is a good time to get started. Link → https://inkscape.org/
II. “Licht Luft Scheiße” (“Light, Air, Shit”) is here! The publication for the exhibition of the same name can now be ordered. The publication is the most comprehensive archaeology of sustainability imaginable. The origins of the many hundreds of building blocks that make up our sustainability discourse today are made easily accessible here. A massive work! Highly recommended. Link → https://adocs.de/de/buecher/monografie/licht-luft-scheisse-perspektiven-auf-okologie-und-moderne
III. A repair standard: There now seems to be a European standard for reparability. Many NGOs have worked together and lobbied with persistence. Successfully! Very good! Link → https://ifix.gd/2TrUhoh
IV. The DIN Spec standard on Open Source Hardware has completed the first phase and is currently online for your comments. If nothing goes wrong we will soon have a standard for open source hardware which is not yet a european but can and will be developed into it This is also very good news. Together with the standard for repair and some other standards from the last years the european body of standards is getting ready to support the change towards a more sustainable world of products!Link 1 → https://www.beuth.de/en/technical-rule/din-spec-3105-1/324805763 | Link 2 → https://www.beuth.de/en/technical-rule/din-spec-3105-2/324805750
IMAGE CREDITS: The source visual for this newsletter was not created by us but by Bruno Vellutini and was published by him on Flickr under the CC-BY-SA 2.0 license. The image has been with us for a long time and it was the first image ever uploaded to the Mifactori site. That’s why we selected it as a preview image for the the website relaunch.
Following the wish of Bruno Vellutini this newsletter is therefore published under the CC-BY-SA 2.0 license and not as usual under CC-BY 4.0
English version translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
wir hoffen, euch geht es allen gut. Wir haben einiges Neues für euch:
(1) NEUE LAMPEN
Ein bisschen hat es gedauert und verschoben haben wir es auch. Aber jetzt ist es soweit: Mifactori hat 11 neue Open- Circular-Design-Lampen entwickelt und umfassend dokumentiert für Circularity und dezentrale Produktion. Die Dokumentation erstreckt sich nicht nur auf die 11 publizierten Lampen, sondern auch auf eine unendliche Anzahl anderer Lampen und Open-Circular-Design-Objekte. Kommt vorbei, schaut die Lampen und alles dazu an.
Bei der Entwicklung kamen Fragen zu Open Circular Design. Z.B. was ist z.B. die finale Version einer Lampe, die für Remix, Re-Use & Substitution angelegt ist? Zu dieser und anderer Fragen gibt es einen neuen kurzen Theorietext mit Erkenntnissen und Strategien inklusive Business Models.
Und bleibt dran, das ist nur der Anfang. 2020 wird viel passieren. Die Wand in unserem Studio hängt voller Ideen und die Regale sind gefüllt mit teils schon fertig entwickelten neuen Produkten.
/ ENGLISH VERSION /
Hello,
we hope you’re all well. We got lots of news:
(1) NEW LAMPS
It took a little while and we postponed it too given the current situation. But now the time has come: Mifactori has developed 11 new Open Circular Design lamps and documented them extensively for circularity and decentralized production. The documentation covers not only the 11 published lamps, but also an infinite number of other lamps and open circular design objects. Come by, have a look at the lamps and everything about them.
During development interesting questions and problems regarding Open Circular Design came up. For example, what is the final version of a lamp designed for remix, re-use & substitution? For this and other questions there is a new short theory text sharing insights and strategies including business models and so on.
And stay tuned, this is just the beginning. A lot will happen in 2020. The wall in our studio is full of ideas and the shelves are filled with new products projects in different stadiums.
This is a course on Business Models for Open Source Circularity. In its core is a tool you can download and use for a brainstorming and business model mapping session. The tool is explained in 9 videos. The scrips for the videos are online as well in case you prefer reading.
The series was first published in April 2016 with a few additions and updates added later. The updates are posted above the original series. We suggest to start with a quick look at the updates and then dive into the original series.
Update 3 (November 2018)
After about 3 years of work with the tool I learned enough for an iteration. There are things I’d like to add mostly specific things about circularity or sustainability. I would probably add another box about the design of the product explaining that it needs to be openness and circularity friendly (or hacker friendly) because it is simple, modular and based on common available standards. Also it needs to be added that some “roles” are already set with circularity: You will use Openness to enable repair, reuse, refurbish, redistribute, recycle.
Here is a slideshow of the latest talk I gave about it (in german) that reflects some of the changes I’d make. (Download pptx file here; correct fonts are “Vollkorn” & “Poppins”)
The Danish Design Center created the Remodel project taking 10 danish companies on to the road to Open Source. They created a packet of tools to help the companies to understand and plan for Open Source. All tools are available for download and use here. And our tool was included. But the the Danish Design Center made a few minor changes and added a better design.
We presented the tool in a talk at the Disruptive Innovation Festival 2017. The session was recorded and has a quick summary of everything. Some images from the talk are added below into the original series.
I am Lars, Lars Zimmermann. I am an Artist & Economist. And one of the founders of the Open Source Circular Economy Days. This is the first video in a video series about “Open Source Business Models for Circular Economy” – which is one of the questions of the “Open Source Circular Economy Days”.
What is the “Open Source Circular Economy Days”?
The “Open Source Circular Economy Days” – or in short, the “OSCEdays” – is a global community, (event) and organisation to support the building of a sustainable circular economy, by using and exploring the collaboration methodology of Open Source.
For this video series here you can find several resources, like the full script, images, links and a tool I will talk about by following one of the links shown at the beginning of this video. In this first video I will introduce you to the core idea of the “Open Source Circular Economy Days” and also a little bit to “Open Source.”
Ok. Let’s start.
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OSCEdays CORE Question & Idea
What is the Core-Idea of the “OSCEdays”?
When we talk about a “Circular Economy” we talk about the idea of an economy without waste! It is different from our current – linear – economy. Where we take resources make products and then throw them away as garbage!
In the Circular Economy everything is designed and organized in a way that our products can be repaired, reused, refurbished, and fully recycled. We save resources. Because the materials in our products are the resource base for future products of the same quality. The circular economy works in evolving symbiosis with our biosphere – protecting it and growing its potentials.
But when we take this idea and compare it with the world today. It quickly becomes clear that almost everything in our current economy has to change for this. And not just the designs of our products and services. But also the collaboration methods we use to make and distribute them.
Many people in Circular Economy often talk about “transparency”. We need a lot more transparency to make our economy circular.
But the next minute they start to talk about “trading secrets” and the “need to hide knowledge” in today’s economy. So transparency isn’t really an option.
And here is where **Open Source** comes in! Because in Open Source we have transparency. It is transparent how things are made. And there is also a number of successful businesses and products! That are successful BECAUSE not DESPITE they are open.
What can the circular economy learn and adapt from this? This is the question.
But to sum it up: It basically means to have “Building Plans” in the public. It is openly visible how things work and how to make them work. Things are shared to enable others to study, use, modify, make and distribute them – also commercially.
In the world of software Open Source is very successful in many areas. And areas outside of software are also catching up.
Open Source has a clear Definition, a growing community, and a good number of successful businesses.
But there are also misconceptions out there about Open Source. Like “it is all DIY” – Do It Yourself – or “Everything Is For Free”. It’s not! On the contrary: In software Open Source is foremost a collaboration method between experts and professionals that are paid for their work.
And Open Source really made and makes a difference for our economy and in this world:
The Open Source Software “Linux” is probably the most important and most used software in today’s world. Wherever you are watching this right now it is pretty likely that very close to you is one or more devices running Linux.
Like this one. Or this one.
>ANDROID PHONE & MP3 PLAYER
The whole web is based in its critical infrastructure on Open Source. And also big companies with incredibly sophisticated software like Facebook for example would not be possible to this extend without Open Source. There is Open Source everywhere in Facebook.
Without Open Source the web would probably be where it was . . . I don’t know, maybe ten years ago?
So can we take this methodology to enable the building of a Circular Economy? To make quicker progress with it? Or maybe to make it possible at all?
This is what the “Open Source Circular Economy Days” are for to figure out. With a global community.
And one of the riddles we have to solve is Business Models. What are working “Open Source Business Models for Circular Economy”?
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Business Models
It is true. Bringing Open Source to new areas is often not trivial. You need to be creative! Because “Open Source Business Models” is not what we are teached around every corner in our present world. So in this video series I like to share a little bit of my perspectives on “Open Source Business Models.” The goal here is not to give an exhaustive overview. It is to seed some ideas insights and clues into your head. To enable you to engage in your own creative process.
In the next 2 videos – number 2 and number 3 – I will share some core ideas and examples I want you to be aware of. And starting with video number 4 I will present you a tool. Called the “Open Platform Design Flowchart”. This tool is supposed to help you to understand and ask some key questions when designing an Open Source Business.
VIDEO 2
Circularity & Brands, Everything Open?
NOT ALL NEEDS TO BE OPEN SOURCE – ONLY THE PARTS NECESSARY FOR CIRCULARITY
The first idea I’d like to share is: You may not need to Open Source everything! Maybe it is enough if you open up just the parts that need to be open to enable circularity.
It is true. Not even in the world of open source Software everything is Open Source. People write Open Source Software using “closed source” software languages for example.
Or let’s say you are building a piece of Open Source Furniture maybe a desk. The tools you will use and the materials – the wood and the bolts for example – will much likely not be open source. But everyone can see you are using standard tools and standard materials. And everyone can get those and build the Open Source desk.
And here in our context of the “Open Source Circular Economy Days” the question is always:
What parts of the product or process need to be Open Source to enable circularity?
Think about Superman for a minute. And imagine an action figure – a toy – of Superman.
Superman – the character – is owned by Warner/DC. It is closed and copyright protected. But that is not a problem for an action figure of Superman.
Let’s imagine for a minute. That this action figure is circular. It is made from a “magical” material that is fully recyclable.
Then this fact needs to be Open Source. It needs to be Open Source that the material is used here in this action figure. And the material itself also needs to be Open Source. As the whole process for the recycling.
That would enable the recycling and circularity of the action figure! Because it could be recycled everywhere by everyone capable to set up the recycling process.
Everyone would be enabled to reshape the material. But only Warner/DC can make another Superman out of it. And sell it as Superman. Because Superman is a closed brand owned by Warner/DC.
PROTECTED BRANDS
And this is the moment to mention that in Open Source trademarks are still protected! They are important as always! Because when the building plan is open for everyone it still matters who actually turns the bits into atoms. Who makes the physical object? How is the quality? Is it warranted? And who is responsible in court when the toaster sets the house on fire?
Brands are important to communicate trust and responsibility. And to make a difference.
>PICKS A TOOTHPASTE FROM UNDER THE TABLE
Here is another hypothetical example: Imagine you have a fantastic machine in your factory that is able to draw the Brand on this Toothpaste Tube in less then a second. That process does not necessarily need to be Open Source to enable the circularity of the Tube.
But it should be Open Source how people can wash away the ink win it back and reuse it or biodegrade it. And the ink itself should be Open Source too. So others can reuse it.
The best case scenario is that you have used the ink in the first place because it was Open Source.
But again branding itself and the maybe sophisticated process to paint it on the tube can remain closed and yours – can remain your competitive advantage.
Bottom line: Find out what parts need to be Open Source to enable circularity. And open them.
This was the first key idea I wanted to share.
“NOT DESPITE BUT BECAUSE OPEN”
And here comes the second:
Find a way to structure your company product or project in a way that it is successful BECAUSE it is Open Source not DESPITE of it.
What do I mean with this? If you chose the Open Source road new possibilities pop up. For collaboration and innovation for example. Try to make those work for you.
We will talk about this more in the later videos.
But the key point to take away now is: Open Source is not necessarily a “gift” or “charity” to the world. In Business Open Source is sometimes an even “aggressive” strategy for growth or competition!
Let me give you an example.
Google developed Android as Open Source to be able to catch up with Apples Iphone. Because Android was Open Source it enabled a lot of companies to contribute to it and to use it. Resulting quickly into an ecosystem with even more apps then Apples App Store. And Google placed its Google Play Store right into the middle.
Android is the most spread computer operating system in the world today. By far!
Another example is Tesla Motors – the famous manufacturer of electric cars. A while ago they opened up their patents. Why? Electric Cars need a huge infrastructure around them. They need chargers and pit stops available everywhere. No company in the world can build this alone. So opening up the patents enables an ecosystem of commercial actors to build this infrastructure. And the stronger this infrastructure gets the more people can use electric cars. The potential customer base for Tesla Motors grows.
These were just 2 examples of how companies can be successful BECAUSE they are Open Source! Not DESPITE of it.
Ok. In this video I shared 2 key ideas to keep in mind when designing an “Open Source Business Model for Circular Economy.”
1 – Not everything needs to be Open Source to enable circularity and
2 – Structure your company in a way that Open Source is an ADVANTAGE.
The advantage though often lies in the possibility of growing an ecosystem. An ecosystem you can benefit from. Some ecosystems can be described as Platforms.
And this is what I am going to talk about in the next video. Platforms. I will also introduce you to 2 successful Open Source Companies. And I will use these examples in the later videos again and again. To make things understandable.
See you in the next video.
VIDEO 3
Examples, Platforms, New Products & the Future of Ownership.
PLATFORMS / ECOSYSTEMS
Idea Number One: Platforms or Ecosystems.
Successful Open Source products often work as platforms. They enable other actors to do something. An ecosystem with different in-ter-de-pen-dent actors emerges around the core product. And all contributions make the platform stronger and more useful for everyone.
There has been written a lot about platforms. Some people tend to think that in the future everything that can become a platform will become a platform. As platforms are a fantastic way to collaborate. And openness can be the perfect enabler for healthy platforms.
I will give you two examples for open source platforms. One is software the other is hardware. And I’ll refer to this examples in the later videos again and again.
I’ll talk about WordPress and Arduino. If you know them already you can skip the first third of this video. If not stay with me.
Example: WORDPRESS
The first example I’d like to talk about is WordPress. WordPress is an open source software to create blogs and websites. You can just download the software install it and you have a basic website running within minutes.
[Wordpress & Automatic Logos]
WordPress is incredibly successful. 24% of all websites today are built with WordPress. 24%! If you have followed the links with the resources for this video you have just been at one.
How could WordPress become so big? Because it is Open Source! There is an incredible rich ecosystem of commercial actors around WordPress constantly growing the system decentralized. If you decide to hire a web designer to set up a professional website for you there is a good chance this person will set up a WordPress page for you.
The Web designer will download the software install it and because it is Open Source will be able to make all sorts of customizations for you. And maybe this person will also share this customizations with the WordPress Open Source community. To get feedback fame new partners new customers or whatever.
There are thousands of Open Source “Themes” and “Plugins” for WordPress everyone can just download install and run.
They are contributed by independent companies. And with every contribution WordPress becomes stronger and more useful – allows thousands of professional web designers to do their jobs better! The core product “Wordpress” gets better all the time.
The name of the company behind WordPress is **Automattic**. And they make money in a lot of different ways benefiting from the ecosystem: They sell web hosting support premium accounts they run ads and do a bunch of other things you can find out about by clicking on the link provided in the resources for this video.
This is an Arduino. A product of an Italian company. And maybe the biggest Open Source Hardware Platform in the world today. It is a microcontroller.
If you are not familiar with electronics let me briefly explain, to you, what this thing is.
>HOLDS ARDUINO INTO THE CAMERA
You have here, on one side, Inputs, where you can plug in all kinds of things, like for example, a sensor for temperature.
And on the other side, you have all kinds of outputs, where you can plug in actors, for example a motor with a fan.
The middle part has a programmable chip. You can program it, and say things like: If the temperature sensor on the right says, it is 30 degrees please turn on the motor with the fan on the left side. This is what an air conditioner does. So you have built an air conditioner. And you can add a rule like: if the heat goes up to 60 degrees or higher, please turn off the motor, so the air conditioner does not set itself on fire.
A microcontroller like this is part of every “semi-intelligent” machine in your home – there is one in your washing machine, in your micro wave and so on and so on.
The difference is, that the Arduino is Open Source.
The hardware is Open Source. And the software needed, also.
And the most important thing is, that the whole culture, established around the Arduino breathes Openness!
If you go to the Arduino website, and visit the Arduino forum there, you’ll find over 1 Million entries, where people shared solutions, and ideas, on how to use the Arduino.
People, everywhere in the world, build all kinds of crazy projects, using Arduinos: From making plants doing phone calls, to satellites, to cars, to drones, to air conditioners, to wearables … the list is endless, really.
Hobbyists and Professionals use the Arduino.
I encourage you, to do an internet, image, search. Type in “Arduino Projects”. And you’ll get an impression, what is possible and happening.
And many, of those people, share, what they are building, and how they do it.
This means: If you want to build an irrigation system with an Arduino, you go online and find hundreds of projects, that already did it. And you can learn from them, and maybe even download existing source code. You will be much quicker. And you’ll be able, to do a lot more. Because you can benefit, from this – Open Source – ecosystem, and its culture.
There are a lot of Hobbyists and Maker projects, using Arduino. But also professionals. My guess is, that the majority of all this new “internet of things” start ups today, build their first prototypes, with Arduino. Benefiting, and, often also contributing, to the ecosystem.
And every contribution, makes the core product – the Arduino – ever more useful, for everyone.
But this is just the first part, of the story – software and use cases.
The second part is, that a lot of other hardware companies, get involved with the ecosystem, by providing hardware, to combine with the Arduino. The openness of Arduino makes this, easy for them.
An example for this are “shields”. A shield is something, you can stick on top of the Arduino, to give it new powers. For example: A regular Arduino comes without WiFi. But you can buy a shield, from another company, put it on top of the Arduino, and add WiFi.
All these ideas and products, added to the system! Arduino, could not do this alone. But every contribution makes the system stronger. Arduino an ever more useful tool.
And Arduino is selling Arduinos.
So here, we have a product, that really exists and works – commercially – BECAUSE it is Open Source. The whole different it makes, the whole product it is, it is, BECAUSE it’s Open Source.
Update (Nov 2018). Here is a simple map of the Arduino platform ecosystem made with the tool that is introduced below. It is in german. You can find more context on this image here.
ENTIRE NEW PRODUCTS
And this leads directly into the next core idea, I want to share.
And this is: That many products, need to be reinvented, to work as Open Source products.
A lot of the products, we are using today, will business wise, not make sense as Open Source products! It won’t make sense, to just publish the plans, change the license and go on with business as usual. As my great colleague, Sam Muirhead, always says.
Products have to be made, to work as Open Source products. You’ll need to connect them differently, to a different kind of ecosystem! For some areas, this will mean, they have to be entire different products. So they are products, that benefit from openness.
But luckily, for the Circular Economy, it is the same! We have to reinvent, the products, along with the ecosystems around them, to make them circular. So why not do the Open Source part and the Circular Economy part, in one rush?!
And maybe, and this is the belief of the “Open Source Circular Economy Days”, we NEED to make them “Open Source”, in order, to make them circular.
Example: MIFACTORI
I want to give you another example. Or concept.
Last autumn I slowly started to develop my own hardware company. It is called Mifactori. We develop Open Source circular furniture and other objects. For some activities, we are inspired, by a project called Open Structures.
What we do, is, we use a 3cm Grid, in all our designs. This grid is derived from a toy.
Whenever we drill holes, into something, it follows the measures, of the 3cm Grid. The same grid, is in all parts, we produce, for every object, we make. And this means, they all fit together. Always. For an, infinite number, of constellations. This means, you can win back, the parts, of one design, and reuse it for another. Everything is modular, and reusable, for an endless number of different things.
We call the 3cm grid the Berlin Grid. Because a 3 looks like a B.
>PAINTS A MIRRORED “3” IN THE AIR FROM TOP TO BOTTOM THEN BACK FROM BOTTOM TO TOP AND ADD A STROKE TO TURN IT INTO A B.
Here you can see some early prototypes and products.
But the key thing is: We open the grid. And all the parts we make.
We invite and enable others to copy our solutions and ideas. And to use the same grid in their designs. They can benefit from us. And if they publish what they do, we can benefit from them.
And here comes the interesting thing: The more people, use the grid, the more manufactured parts, become available. And this results into: **A network effect in the parts!**
We experience, this here, in our little laboratory already. Every time, we make a new part, the number of things, we can do, with all the others, grows!
You probably know this from Lego. Every time you add new bricks, to your collection, more and more complex things become possible, with the bricks you already had.
When several people and companies here in Berlin, or anywhere, use the same grid – everyone wins! Including our customers. Because the products, they have in their homes, grow in possibilities, all the time. With every contribution. New ways to use, hack, improve or resell the parts, are born.
All our products become richer. Enabled through a whole, decentralized, open ecosystem of independent innovators.
/
You might say now: Hey, but one day, the market is full! Then you will compete with each other.
And I say: Yes. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. Truth is: I wish, we come this point!
Because it would mean, the ecosystem has become big, strong and useful for all kinds of commercial actors. And if the ecosystem has grown that much, Mifactori has probably grown, a lot with it.
And I think, that with the network effect, in the parts, this market might have, much more possibilities, than we expect. It might be much bigger. And on a side note: I like to think, that this kind of, openness enabled network effects, is the key road towards a circular economy.
And to make a last remark on this: With the growth of the ecosystem, we at Mifactori will probably have learned a lot, about smart and elegant uses of the Berlin Grid. Our experience will give us, a good head start. Our brand will be placed. And if not. What is the point of us being in the market?!
– If you produce pants with pockets you are not alone. There are thousands of other companies producing pants with pockets. You compete with them, but not on the fact, that your pants have pockets. But on other levels, like quality, communication, reach and so on. And, I, am willing, to engage, in this kind of competition with other companies, using the Berlin Grid. Especially with, the circular dynamics, we are in, then, together.
>SMILE; SHORT BREAK TO BREATHE
IRRATIONAL FEARS TO BE OPEN
Most fears people have when they think about opening up, are irrational! Not thought through.
These fears, or objections, are strangely hammered into our brains: “You can’t make money if you don’t have a patent.” That’s, what people tend to think.
But look around, in your house, at all the products. Most of them aren’t patented. The chair, the shirts, the dishes, the carrots, the buckets, the bread and so on. Most of the companies, that made these, are profitable.
The problem with this fears, and unreflected objections is, that they prevent us, from having _really_ interesting thoughts and ideas. And from creating _really_ interesting new products and businesses.
It takes courage. And vision. To take action, despite of the fact, that you will hear this fears and objections, around every corner.
This video series is for the courageous and visionary.
Ok. To sum it up. Mifactori and the use of the, 3cm Berlin Grid is another example for a product, made to be Open Source!
THINGS YOU CAN STILL OWN!
But, as I just, made a more “political” bit. I’d like to add another thought here.
And this is: That Open Source will allow us, to have a Circular Economy, **where we still have the option, to OWN our stuff!**
In the Circular Economy videos and articles, provided mostly by big companies, you often hear the idea, that for the circular economy, we need to change our relationship to ownership.
“Access over ownership” is the used therm.
You will not _own_ your washing machine anymore, or your furniture, or your phone, or your clothes! No.
They will be still in your house. But they will be owned by a company. So the company doesn’t sell you, the washing machine. It sells you a defined number of washes. It does not sell you the phone, it just sells you calls. It does not sell you the hearing aid, it just sells you, sounds.
I think “access over ownership” can be smart and make sense. But, if, it were the _only_ option, we have for a circular economy, I think it would be very problematic.
But of course, I understand, that the model makes sense for big companies. Because this is the only way, they can talk about a Circular Economy, without having to talk about Open Source.
If _they_ own the washing machine in your house. They can make sure, it ends up, in _their_ factory. Where _they_ repair, refurbish and recycle it. Behind closed walls! No need, to enable the outside world to repair, refurbish or recycle. No need for Open Source.
But first of all, “access over ownership” does not work for everything.
And if it were, the only option, for the products, where it _could_ work . . .
Well.
You could take this, and transform it, very quickly, into a story, about a dark, dystopian future. I will not do this, now, here in this videos. Maybe some place else. [LINK TO DISCUSSION IN COMMUNICATION CATEGORY ON THE FORUM]
I just wanted to say, that it is, very problematic, if the only option.
And that, Open Source, would allow, to have a washing machine, that is circular, but you can still own! Because when it is transparent how to repair, reuse, refurbish or recycle it – everyone can do it. Pick the service company, _you_ like, for the job.
Ownership is something good. Because, it entails individual freedom.
In a world, less free, it would probably be, a lot easier, to create a circular economy. Top down, by force. But I think, the goal we have, is to have a circular economy, and a free society – both, at the same time.
And Open Source can allow this. – It is, about decentralized collaboration.
Ok. With this, I end video number 3.
It was mostly about open platforms. I introduced to you WordPress, Arduino and also the Berlin Grid. Now we have all core ideas together, I wanted you to understand, before we dive into the tool:
The “Platform Design Flowchart.”
That tool is supposed, to help you, to reinvent, or rediscover your project, product, service or company, as a potential open source business!
The next video Number 4, starts with an introduction to the tool.
(1) A very simple example of a filled out flowchart. The example is a carpentry. Each opened up asset unfolds new stories – creates a broader ecosystem:
Detailed written explanation for this example is available here. | There are very interesting comments on the IKEA example shared below in the comments.
(3) An example for Arduino is shared above or click here.
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VIDEO 4
Introduction to the Tool & ‘OPEN UP’
TOOL – INTRODUCTION
Ok. In the first videos of the series I shared some core ideas I wanted you to have in mind before I go to the little tool I created.
The name of the tool is “Platform Design Flowchart”.
It is made to make people ask the right or some questions about their idea product project or company in order to help them to see it as an Open Source project or business.
In the resources for this video you’ll find a graphic tool – a table.
The tool is in an early state. It is made to grow over time. I invite you to add to it in the resources. Especially to the list of examples.
Ok. I hope you have it open by now.
You see a table with six squares. Each square is about one basic question.
When you answer the questions when you fill in information you’ll paint a picture of an Open Source project or business.
This methodology is inspired by the famous Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur.
And the idea to develop it further to a tool that helps to invent open platforms I got from Simone Cicero – who has also developed a tool to design platforms that you can study on his website. The link is in the resources for the video.
If you are in general familiar with the “Business Model Canvas” this will help a bit with the tool I am going to present you now.
Each of the following videos explains one of the squares. And presents a list with examples.
I’ll start now with square one. Called:
(1) Open Up
What key assets to open up or share?
So the question is: From all the things you own or use to run your company or project what to put out in the open?
As said in video number 2 – you don’t need to make everything open. Just pick what makes sense. The tool is made to help you discover what makes sense. You can map the potential effects of opening up for every single asset.
There are a many different ways of sharing or being open. I’ll name a view examples.
Examples:
**The Building Plans or Design Files** – In Software Open Source projects share source code. Source code is basically a building plan for software. On the website GitHub [LINK] for example are hosted thousands of projects to study and contribute. When we talk about hardware possible design files are CAD files or other technical drawings. But basically all documents needed to understand and manufacture the hardware [LINK TO BEST PRACTICES http://www.oshwa.org/sharing-best-practices/]. Sewing patterns for shoes are another example.
**Bill Of Materials** – A set of design files should always include a bill of materials. A bill of materials is a complete list with all necessary parts to build something. Including the sources for the parts: Where can you buy them? This is important. Because it will make it much easier for others to really build the design. The Open Source Hardware project Open Energy Monitor for example provides a Bill Of Materials for every setup of the emon. [LINK: https://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/10137 ]
**The Entire Work Process** – In Open Source Software Projects for example when hosted on GitHub you can see next to the actual source code a lot more communication around the project. People publicly file issues – like feature requests or bug reports. These issues are discussed in the open. And often important decisions about the future of the project are made in these public threads. [SEE GITHUB EXAMPLE https://github.com/valueflows/valueflows/issues/23]. An example for a transparent workflow that is not software is the workflow of the OSCEdays Association and Board Of Stewardship. They have a fully transparent workflow. All the communication with very little exceptions – like personal data – is out in the open. You can follow it in the OSCEdays Forum [LINK http://community.oscedays.org] | In the OSCEdays Blog you can find a post about it with more explanations. [LINK https://oscedays.org/the-way-we-work-in-the-oscedays-or-what-is-open-source/]
**Recipes** – Recipes are of course also a sub group of “design files”. You can share for example the recipe for a material. Good examples for shared recipes you can find everywhere in the web. There are thousands of cooking websites. Yes. That can count as Open Source. And it does especially when the recipes are shared under open licenses like on Open Source Food.COM for example. [LINK http://www.opensourcefood.com/]
**Plans of your Workshop of Factory** – You can share information about your factory or the processes you use to build your products. Spark Fun [https://www.sparkfun.com/static/about] for example shared design files for their new factory. And in many Fablabs you can find an open source 3d printer. For example a RepRap [LINK http://reprap.org/wiki/Build_A_RepRap]. And on the website of the Fablab the information that they have one.
**Your Workshop To Use** – Fablabs [LINK https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/FabLab] and Makerspaces are popping up all around the globe. They are usually spaces where you can find machines to build “almost everything”. 3d printers or laser cutters for example. And you’ll probably find someone there who will be happy to explain to you how the machines work. And give you access to it. For a fee. That might be their business. It is an open factory or workshop.
Ok. So much for Square One.
When you think about all assets you have in your project or company you can probably think of more things to open up. You can be more specific. Which will help with the following squares.
The next video is video is number 5. And it is about square 2 of the “Platform Design Flowchart.”
And it is called “Enabled Actions And Roles.”
VIDEO 5
Square 2: Enabled Actions & Roles
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(2) Enabled Actions & Roles
What others can do with it?
The key thing about opening up assets – as we have done in square one – is that it enables others to do more with your product as just consume it. A larger variety of actions becomes available. A good way to think about this is “Roles”. You offer other actors to take on new roles.
For example: If you just _sell_ furniture you offer others to be “consumers” or “users” and maybe “resellers”. But if you open up the plans of the furniture you add the potential roles of “teachers” that use the design to teach or “designers” that creatively engage with it or “manufacturers” than can make them independently.
Probably with every new asset you open up new roles become possible. Check for all of them what roles they could enable.
If the roles then really engage an ecosystem can emerge where – if the premises are designed right – everyone benefits from everyone. Different actors contribute independently to the progress growth and stability of the ecosystem.
It is the goal of this tool to find out what roles you should enable and support in order to let a healthy ecosystem grow.
You can map out all potential roles here in this square. To gain an overview of the potential ecosystem.
In general roles can be taken by professionals or hobbyists. But of course if people can make a living with it they are more likely to take on the roles and to dedicate a lot of time to it.
In the resources for the video you can find a list with examples for roles. And you can help to grow it. Let me name a view here:
Possible Roles:
**Teachers & Students** – Last summer I met a person who owns a factory that builds computers. We were discussing Arduino [http://arduino.cc] and he said that starting this year the apprentices or students in his factory will use Arduino. It makes sense to connect to a big ecosystem of knowledge and people in education. Arduino is the better tool for “Teachers”.
**Independent Developers** – Developers or designers can work with your design and add to it. Open Innovation [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_innovation] is the term here. Maybe they just post ideas or comments somewhere. But maybe they create whole new iterations and publish them. Those you study and learn from. I told you in video number 3 about Arduino and that many people share their Arduino projects online. And that some companies build extra products to combine with the Arduino making it an ever more usueful tool. Those “independent designers” don’t “rip off” the Arduino. They contribute to the ecoystem around it.
**Contributors** – “Independent Developers” are of course also “Contributors”. They contribute to the general growth of the ecosystem. But with an open workflow you can also engage all kinds of direct contributions to your project. A famous example is Wikipedia – one of the worlds largest Open Source projects. The whole encyclopaedia is written by volunteers. This will not be the case for companies of course. In most Open Source projects most work is done by employed workers. Please. Don’t approach Open Source as “Crowdsourcing” – as getting people to work for you for free! That is not the idea! But yes the fact that you can enable third party developers to directly contribute to your core is important. Many companies contribute to the Linux kernel [https://www.linux.com/community/participate]. IBM did for example. Because they use the software in their hardware products. So they contribute to make Linux useful for them. And by that they make it also useful for others. But Linux and other open source projects allow also other contributions. Like blogposts graphics tests reviews marketing and so on. “Contributors” can be motivated by very different things. We will talk about this in square number 4.
**Manufacturers** – Open building plans enable others to manufacture and also distribute the product. Open Desk [http://opendesk.cc) for example enables a huge network of fablabs all over the world to manufacture their desks locally. Enabling manufacturers can – for example – make sense if you have a service that you want to provide for a physical object. But that you don’t want to produce ship and warrant yourself. But there are more scenarios where you can benefit from enabling manufacturers.
**Technical Supporters** – With open building plans it is easy for others to support the product. They may repair it for example or update it. Your customers will like that. Because it makes them independent. If you hire a web designer to set up a WordPress for you you will not depend on this designer afterwards. He is not the only one that can update the page. Because the source code is open. So you can hire another designer to fix bugs update the page and so on.
**Recyclers Reusers or Remanufacturers** – This is more hypothetical right now. I don’t have a real open source example for this. But of course. If your product is made for recycling reusing and remanufacturing and you are open about it people can do the job. This may result into a better and more useful product for your customers. For one thing: It might be easier to resell for them.
_
Ok. So much for the examples. They are all very general. When you dive into your specific company or project you will be able to be more concrete and to name specific businesses for example. Which is good.
Map out your partners for decentralized collaboration in an open ecosystem.
Update (November 2018): It might not be self evident but necessary to understand that when you want to support circularity with Openness a few roles are already always set. You enable repair, reuse, redistribution and recycling. And from there you start to develop the rest of your open platform or ecosystem. As described in the following:
Ok. With this in mind lets go to the next video. Video number 6. It is about the 3rd square in the tool and the question: How do YOU benefit from the roles and their actions?
VIDEO 6
Square 3: ‘Your Benefits’
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(3) YOU BENEFIT
How Do You Benefit From The Roles and Actions?
If you open up and enable an ecosystem of other actors it should be something you can benefit from. So this square is about potential benefits from going open source.
It is important to find out which benefits you want to activate for you.
Remember in video number 2 and 3 I said that you should create your project or business in a way that it works BECAUSE it is Open Source not DESPITE of it. And this has a lot to do with the benefits you can activate for you with Open Source.
I will go now through examples. In the resources for this video might be more by now.
Keep in mind that in your project or business you will probably not be able to activate all of these benefits. But some.
Ok. Here is the list.
Potential Benefits:
**Better products – with more Possibilities** – When people can add features to your product or come up with new surprising and openly available uses for it – the product gains in possibilities! Remember the incredibly rich Arduino or WordPress ecosystems or the Berlin Grid I explained in video number 3 when I was talking about platforms: Openness enabled network effects that elevate the product constantly.
**Better products – easier to Maintain** – If you have a circular machine or object in your house with open building plans it will be easier to repair or maintain it. Customers can do it themselves. Or – probably more likely – find and hire someone to do it.
**Better products – Easier to Trust** – In the world of software it is quite clear. If you really want your customers to trust the security of your software you make it Open Source. Independent experts can check and confirm then that there are no backdoors to spy on you. But also with analogue objects – when they are open repairable maintainable and so on – it is easier for customers to trust the product. Because they can control it. I trust WordPress. Because I know. Even if Automattic goes down next week. I will be able to find someone to take care of my pages. Because the source code is open. Longevity and trust is enabled.
**Better products – easier to Resell** – If the products are easier to support repair reuse and to recycle – they might also be easier to resell. The better investment for the customers. The better product. This can be a benefit for you. Especially when you take part in the whole reselling business.
**Better Product Innovation** – If you are part of an open ecosystem where people can innovate all the time and everywhere you can benefit from that. I’ll give you an example. When Arduino entered the market a lot of people started to connect it to clothing. Creating smart wearable’s. Something Arduino did not see coming. The Arduino is a bit big. And tricky to sew on. But other companies discovered the potential and created smaller Arduino clones easier to sew on. Arduino learned from that and created an own product like this. The Arduino Lillipad. A now famous tool in the fashion tech scene. Before they created it they knew there is a market for it.
**Reduce Costs for Legal Issues Security Measures and Research & Development** – If you are open it can help to save money. Patents for example are expensive. And if you try to keep everything a secret – when you make all your partners sign complex secrecy agreements – and you take all kinds of measures to make sure nothing slips through your factory walls – this can all become expensive. Also if you do your innovation indoors and closed and bring a finished product to a market untested it is risky. But if you do the innovation in the open to begin with you can get constant feedback and pointers to the right direction. And maybe you picked up the idea from your ecosystem anyway. Transform customer hacks into real products. – So being in the open can save you a lot of money for different reasons. I’ll name some more in the next point. And you can use this money for other things. Nathan Seidle the founder of Sparkfun says they don’t file patents but rather use their resources to innovate all the time and being faster than everyone else.
**Reduce Costs for Collaboration Education and Recruitment** – Having an Open Source workflow can make you much more efficient. I talked about this recently in a blogpost about the way we work in the OSCEdays where we do everything in public. For example it is easier for us to onboard new collaborators. Because we don’t have to explain everything over and over again. Everything is there to pick up for those that want to get involved. Adding new people is a lot easier. Good documentation can make you also more independent from certain people – like mighty knowledge keepers. Because everyone can look up how things work. This can result into a more stable project and a better atmosphere in it.
**Reduce Marketing Costs – Viral Marketing** – People browsing the web are looking for good resources. If you provide useful information they are more likely to share it. Also if you enable a community to do interesting things – they will start to talk about it. I have never seen an official Arduino add. But so many different people told me about it. Also the more people take on the Berlin Grid the more people will explain it to their customers and communities. A decentralized marketing campaign where every company involved benefits.
**Grow Green Reputation** – The Open Source Circular Economy Days is not the only community in the world that has understood that Openness looks like the potential key driver to a truly sustainable circular world! The number of initiatives is growing quickly. And just Openness alone already has a pretty good reputation. It is connected to education democracy and freedom. All very positive concepts. And the more it gets connected to sustainability the more green reputation it entails for those who are open.
Ok. So much for some possible benefits for you. Many of them are very general. If you go in to details for your specific project product or company you’ll probably find much more specific benefits.
It is important to understand that most of these benefits are much harder or even impossible to activate with a closed source approach. So building on this potential benefits is key – or at least very interesting to think about.
Ok. So much for Square Number three. In the next Video – Video number 7 – we are going to talk about square number four in the “Platform Design Flowchart” tool. We will talk about “The benefits for the Network.”
VIDEO 7
Square 4: ‘Benefits of the Network’
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(4) THE NETWORK BENEFITS
How can the roles benefit?
In square two of the tool we listed potential roles and actors of the ecosystem.
In this square we ask for the potential benefits THEY could have from becoming a part of it. This will allow us to truly understand how to motivate them. And make sure that everything is in place for them. What is in for them?
Many of the benefits for the roles are the same as the benefits for you. When an ecosystem results into a better and stronger product this is something all parties involved benefit from – from customers to companies.
I will now list potential benefits. Again very general ones. For a specific case you will probably be able to name more specific benefits. A longer list with examples you might find in the resources for the video.
Ok. Potential Benefits for the Roles:
**They can make an Income** – In many cases this will be the strongest motivation. If they can make an income by adding to the open ecosystem or being part of it they will be able to dedicate a lot more time. And they have an incentive to deliver good quality. There are a lot of ways how people can make an income. We will talk about this in square 6 also. Sell things repair them support them recycle them and so on. Arduino is again a good example. Remember the shields I talked about in video number 3 and also the people who are doing professional prototyping with Arduinos.
**Do an existing job better** – If professionals use richer products they might be able to do their jobs faster and cheaper and deliver a different kind of quality. For example when teaching with an Arduino you have this huge and dynamic knowledge base at your disposal. And with Arduino students also learn how to use the web to solve engineering problems. The other example I gave is WordPress that enables independent web designers to set up great looking websites very quickly.
**They find a stage** – An open ecosystem comes with communication and attention. “Stages” to step on to get visibility and gain social capital. And visibility and social capital can often be transferred into economic capital. If they see you being an expert in a field they might hire you. There are many examples from the software world where companies first look at contributions someone made to an open source project before they hire. But maybe they weren’t even looking for a new employee. But found one while checking out some resources.
**They get freedom** – Open design is easier to adapt. People can make modifications. Or hire someone to do it. I already mentioned that it is easier to trust Open Designs. Because if something breaks down you don’t rely on a specific company or person to fix it. Others can do the job including yourself. A while ago I met a family that owns a factory. In this factory they have all kinds of machines running. They depend on these machines. And they say they would love to have them Open Source. Because then they could fix them faster. Currently they depend on a very expensive and very slow service provided by the manufacturer of the machines. “Open source gives people the freedom to control their technology.” As the definition for Open Source Hardware says. [LINK http://www.oshwa.org/definition/]
Ok. So much for the potential benefits of the other actors in the ecosystem. If you start to think about specific projects you’ll probably find more specific benefits. Please feel free to share them in the resources for this video.
Once you have understood the benefits for the other actors you can make sure everything is in place so they really start to engage.
And this is what I am going to talk about in the next video – in video number 8. It is about “Channels or Infrastructures for Exchange.”
VIDEO 8
Square 5: ‘Channels For Exchange’
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Introduction to the last two squares: Exchange Streams
Before I go now into square number 5 I just want to make a general remark about square 5 and 6.
Together they build a section called: “Exchange Streams”
So they are about things that are exchanged in the ecosystem. Like products knowledge trust and money.
As everyone knows a business model is not just about money. It is the whole process and structure how a company is established in and connected to a network of other actors. Retailers manufacturers designers workers customers and so on. The first 4 squares of our tool have been about this.
Now we are figuring out exchange in the ecosystem. Where does it happen? How to participate? And also where to extract value?
In a later more elaborated version of the “Platform Design Flowchart” tool this part might be more detailed. But for now it is just two questions. And the first one is:
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(5) CHANNELS OF EXCHANGE
Where is exchange happening?
Products knowledge trust money and so on is exchanged through channels.
For a physical item like a T-Shirt a possible channel is an online shop. Your own. Or someone else’s online shop for example Amazons. A local shop in the streets of your city is another channel. The shop can be fancy. Or less fancy.
Information for example is exchanged through websites or forums or workshops.
So in square number 5 we are going to list all channels that allow your ecosystem to exist. This will help you to understand it and secure it.
In general you can make here a distinction between channels that are run by you – like your own online shop – or channels run by others – like Amazon. For example: Knowledge about how to use an Arduino is available on many websites and in many workshops all around the world. But there is also an official Arduino website. And official Arduino workshops and events.
When we will talk about income sources in the next square this distinction can be important. It is often easier to extract value from a channel you run yourself than from someone else’s channel.
Let’s have a look at the channels. I will name a view examples. More you can find and contribute in the resources for this video.
One more time: I will mention very general channels. I will say “a forum” for example. But when you map out your channels you can be more specific. Not “a forum” but “the fairphone forum” for example.
Here are – very briefly – some channels:
Possible Channels:
**Websites** – for the exchange of information attention and trust.
**Interactive Websites** – like forums wikis or collaborative tools like Git.
**Own Webshops** – SparkFun for example started as a webshop and still has one.
**Webshops of Others** – Amazon is an example everyone knows. But there are a lot of other actors in the market.
**Local Shops** – again you can run your own or ask other shops to sell your products. Maybe you can get a big retail chain to add it to their assortment.
**Workshops** – workshops or other educational formats are an important channel for information and knowledge. And sometimes also for products! Many people buy their first Arduino at an Arduino beginners workshop.
**Events** – Events are good for the exchange of knowledge attention and trust. Fairs and conferences are examples. But I am sure you can think of more experimental ones too.
**Physical Spaces** – Physical spaces can be very important for the exchange of knowledge attention and trust. Open factories fablabs or repair cafes are examples. Physical spaces are often connected to events and workshops. But it can be open doors just everyday too. “Come by! And ask me anything.”
**B2B platforms or databases** – There is an endless number of platforms databases and networks for communication between professionals. I am sure you can think of some for your business.
**The product itself** – The product itself can serve as a channel in some cases. When you print URLS on it for example. Or when it is something you connect to the internet.
**Certificates or seals** – Certificates or seals can be very important for the exchange of trust. Redhat is a company that makes business with open source software. One thing they do is: They educate and certify developers. This is a valuable service. Because if a company decides to run an open source software they need an expert to maintain it for them. They will look for a certified expert. To be sure the person they hire is able to do the job. Redhat provides the service to test and certify.
Ok. So much for the examples. If you know more or have anything else to add. I am happy about your comments in the resources for this video.
And now let’s go to the next and final video in this series. It is video number 9 and its about “Value Extraction And Income Sources”.
VIDEO 9
Square 6: ‘Value Extraction (Money Income Sources)’
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(6) VALUE EXTRACTION (or INCOME SOURCES)
Where does the money comes from?
With information added to the squares 1 2 3 4 5 you have now everything in place to start to think about extracting value. Or in other words: Define revenue streams.
Some people when discussing Open Source Business Models only look for income sources. But this is the most boring part of everything. Because the income sources are no different from the income sources of other businesses. Well the only opportunity you don’t have is licensing out patents of course.
Now. The income sources are manifold. I’ll give you some examples. Smart people will be able to think of more.
It is clear that you can activate several income sources at the same time. As many companies do.
Here is the list.
Possible Income Sources:
**Sell Physical Products** – Like SparkFun or Arduino or many other open hardware companies do. High quality well made and useful physical objects will always find customers. SparkFun sells in their shop products they made themselves but also products made by others.
**Sell Services produced with Open Source** – If you provide a service like energy for example. Why not use open source hardware to produce it? This might enable you to produce it cheaper and better. Because you can benefit from the advantages of Open Source. An example for this – is the “Open Compute Project” – where companies like Facebook Google Apple Intel and others develop together data centers – as open source hardware. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Compute_Project]. Because these companies don’t compete on the level of servers. They compete on the level of quality in the services they provide using servers.
**Sell The Service – Of Individual Installations or Customizations** – You can sell extra services like customizations or installations. Everyone can find out how to install and customize a WordPress page. But for a really good looking page you’ll hire a wordpress professional. An often told story is that in the early Arduino days the founders were also hired for professional prototyping. And because they could benefit from the already growing Arduino ecosystem they were often unbeatable fast and creative. As said earlier. Open Source is not DIY. In most cases you’ll hire a professional. To set it up correctly and nice.
**Sell The Service or Meanings to use Open Source** – As I told you in video number 3 Auttomatic the company behind WordPress makes an income with professional hosting. This makes it easier for people to directly start with WordPress. Another example is I Fixit. I Fixit is a website and company that provides tutorials how to repair things for example Smart phones. The tutorials are free and open on the I Fixit website. Everyone can study them. And I Fixit makes an income by selling tools. Sophisticated tools you need to repair sophisticated devices like smart phones. Their open tutorials enable repairing. And their tools make it happen.
**Usage Fees** – Access over ownership. Rent out or lease out your products. Or your space or your machines. The web is full of open source files for objects to 3d print. And also with tutorials how to use a 3d printer. But why should you have a 3d printer in your home? So you go to your local Fablab and pay a fee to use their printer. And this is just one of many many possible examples for usages fees.
**Sell Education or Consulting** – Education and consulting is always worth something. Offer workshops trainings or individual consulting. And think about certifying the skills of people – like RedHat is doing as I explained in the video about Channels Of Exchange.
**Sell Premium Things** – Sometimes companies have a core product that is open. But they have also some extra things that are not. For example: The sewing machine is open. But a very sophisticated needle for it is not. And to share a real example: You can buy premium themes for WordPress from different companies that are closed source. They run on WordPress but they provide extra features you have to pay for. You can find a number of other premium services of WordPress by clicking on the link provided in the resources for this video. [LINK: http://www.labnol.org/internet/blogging/how-wordpress-makes-money/7576/ ]
**”Franchising”** – As I explained in Video number 2 – In Open Source the brand is still protected. It is an important asset for trust. If you take care of your brand and the quality it stands for others might want to use it. Allow them to use it after you checked the quality they produce.
**Sell Event Tickets** – Open things are a good reason to celebrate and connect around them. Provide the space and infrastructure and people might be willing to buy tickets drinks and more.
**Research Grants** – Many innovative companies are part of funded research consortiums. And it is a fact that public funders are more and more leaning towards openness. The European Union for example pushes hard towards open science. And we have good reasons to expect that in the future this will be the case in other areas too. “Publicly funded research should be publicly available” is what more and more people think and say. So going the Open Source road will raise your chances here.
**Donations** – Not a usual income source for companies. But for some projects a donation button or the use of a service like Patreon or Flattr might be a good option to generate some income.
**Advertising** – Shared resources create attention. And attention is worth something. Maybe elegant ways for advertising can be found. At Mifactori [http://mifactori.de] we provide detailed documentation for our products including a complete Bill Of Materials. In the Bill Of Materials we link to the sources: Where have we bought the parts. Nuts and Bolts for example. We received an email from someone asking us if we could imagine in the documentation of our next product to link to their page for the nuts and bolts. And they offered us money to do this. And although the communication stopped. And we don’t do it right now. I think it could be a viable option for the future. We will be transparent about it then of course.
**The Foundation or Consortium Model** – This is a bit more complex to understand than the other points before. The Foundation or Consortium Model we find several times in the world of software. One example is the Document Foundation. The Document Foundation takes care of “Libre Office” – a very well working Open Source alternative to Microsoft Word. Foundations like the Document Foundation often have large companies as members. Google for example. Those members pay large members fees. And they make also other contributions like hiring a full time developer to work on the open source project.
Why are these companies become members of these foundations? Because they have a strong interest that the software exists. Google for example has a strong interest that an alternative to Microsoft Word exists.
And the Open Source operating system Ubuntu for example has also a strong interest that an Open Source alternative to Microsoft Word exists.
As members they help to ensure that the software exists. But they don’t have to take on the whole complex project alone. Foundations help to create synergies.
Another way to create synergies are consortiums. In a consortium several companies join together to do one shared project. And Open Source can be a great collaboration methodology for this.
As part of a consortium and to a lower extend as member of a foundation you can influence the project. All in all foundations and consortiums are viable ways to fund Open Source projects.
One more thing to mention here is cooperatives. Cooperatives are also a group of people or companies that collaborate with each other not through the market. And create synergies in different ways. I’ll add more about cooperatives in the resources for the video.
*
Ok. So much for the income sources. If you know more please add to the resources.
END
This was the last video in the video series about “Open Source Business Models for Circular Economy” produced in the context of the “Open Source Circular Economy Days”.
I invite you to work with the tool I presented.
I think it became clear that it’s not going from square 1 to square 6 and being done. You have to jump back and forth between the different squares. Add things. Take things out. Add them again. And so on.
Till you finally drew a picture that looks like something that might work.
Still you might find that figuring out and Open Source Business Model can be tricky. But figuring out new Business Models is always a bit tricky open or not. And the circular economy needs new businesses.
And if you can’t find the right angle now. What to do then?
I’d say just publish the information! This might enable others to find a working open business model. And if they found it you can probably plug in and become a part of a growing ecosystem. Enable others to do what you can’t. That is the Open Source spirit!
Start the collaboration. Be pioneers!
Ok. Thanks for watching. And one last time: Please visit the resources for this video to find out more give feedback ask questions and contribute to the discussion. Help to make this tool better.
And I invite you also to visit my personal website – Lars Zimmermann Dot De – [http://larszimmermann.de] to find similar stuff or to find out how you can support me or to partner up.
welcome to this workshop. We will gain an understanding of Open Source (Hardware) and what it means for us when developing a (sustainable) product and a product strategy/business model for it.
OK. Now after we have seen the information behind the link above we know: Open hardware is about opening up the information about how physical objects (like machines or furniture) are made in order to enable others to copy, remix and usethis work. But this does not really explain to us “why should we do this?” So let’s continue there.
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2. Open Source enables a Future Fit, Sustainable, Circular Economy
Open Source is the potential key to a really sustainable circular economy. It might help us to create a strong resilient economy that will help us to deal with the effects of climate change and create a sustainable smart economy on top. Why?
SUMMARY: Patents and closed source approaches are measures to prevent others from doing anything commercial with our products. But circularity means to enable others for this. Enable to repair, reuse, refurbish and recycle!
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Simple & Accessible is Open & Circular
Open Source might not just be about sharing design files. But it is also about designing for the open regarding the components of a product. Let’s have a look at the third sentence of the Open Hardware Definition:
“Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware.”
(More general information about Circular Design is locatedhere in another talk.)
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3. Open Source (Circularity) and Business
But how to make Business with Open Source? This is usually the first question people ask when they learn about Open Source. This highlights that people are not used to Openness (although they use Open Source Software every day). And while most people can tell you why a closed source businesses work you’ll find only a few who also have some ideas or knowledge about open source ones. We just don’t learn it in school or in the public media. But let’s have a look at it.
The truth is: Almost everything you already know about Business Models can also be applied to Open Source. You just need to gain a better understanding of what Open Source can create – what kind of ecosystem – and then create the right product for this and adjust your business strategy to that.
Let’s first have a quick look at the advantages to gain with open source and then look into how to map an ecosystem.
3.1 Two examples
To understand the stories I am going to tell you I should introduce you to two examples of successful open source ventures. One hardware and one software.
Update: There was a change with Arduino. But not because of the Open Source aspect. Because they didn’t get their trademark stuff right in their team. But for most Open Source projects it is really important to have your trademark under control. (See also below.)
Summary: Here you see two examples where projects are successful also business-wise NOT DESPITE they are Open Source BUT BECAUSE they are Open Source. And that’s how you need to think about this and plan it.
Both products: WordPress and Arduino would be entirely different products (and maybe not as successful) if they were Closed Source. It is part of their DNA to be open. A product needs to be designed to work for Open Source. Open Sourcing it should not be an afterthought, it needs to be already present at the drawing board.
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3.2 Trademarks remain closed
This is essential to understand. In Open Source you share how things are made. But your brand name is protected as always. Everyone can copy and sell your toaster. But they can’t do this using your brand. This helps you to answer a lot of questions that might pop up when you dive deeper into Open Source.
“Accordingly, persons or companies producing items (“products”) under an OSHW license have an obligation to make it clear that such products are not manufactured, sold, warrantied, or otherwise sanctioned by the original designer and also not to make use of any trademarks owned by the original designer.”
But the key is to understand Open Source is what kind of network or ecosystem or if you like to say it like that field of stakeholders you can create with it.
To explain this I created a tool a couple of years back. There is a full MOOC coming with the Tool including 9 Videos and Downloads. You can find all of this here.
In 2018 the Danish Design Center started their REMODEL program.A program to help danish companies into the world of Open Source Hardware. The program created a tool kit of design thinking like tools for these companies and process. These tools are openly available now for everyone to use. And my tool was included into this kit. For this reason we have now a nicely designed version of it available:
Ok. Then let’s have a look what to think about and plan for when you plan your open product.
Example Use (same tool just different design):
(Explain the tool also with Arduino and WordPress.)
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Conclusio/Keep In Mind
Open Source is about enabling a lot of other actors to do things with your product you might not have thought of. You might never meet this people and never exchange an email with them. But they contribute to your ecosystem/platform and make it grow. They (might) do this with their own business!
This is the kind of collaborative economy that can enable circularity.
It is the unexpected stories. Try to expect them. And support them where you want to see them happening. But let’ try to find them first.
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4. Hands On!
Ok. Let’s start with the practical part of the workshop. Build groups. Figure in your group out what already existing or hypothetical product you want to map out as Open Source. Take some workshop materials and create your own flowchart with the tool.
36th Chaos Communication Congress, Leipzig, 27. December 2019
Extinction Rebellion Berlin, Berlin, January 2019
Link
opencircularity.info/36c3
[ o°]
Hi,
thanks for the invitation! My name is Lars Zimmermann. I am a designer, artist and activist running a studio for Open Design and activism called Mifactori and have next to this a lot of other projects mostly on Circularity (Circular Design) and Open Source. And I am happy to give you an introduction to Circular Economy and ways you can work with it today.
1. Why? Because 40% of our CO2 emissions come from making stuff
Yes. 40% is just consumption (Source 2, Mirror). It is not food, not housing, not traveling, not construction. It is just stuff. Your smartphones, your pants, your toys, your books and so on.
So here is a lot to gain! This is what Circularity or Circular Economy or Circular Design can help with.
*
2. Circular Economy (Kreislaufwirtschaft)
Circular Economy is today the most popular rebrand for a set of ideas that is around for a long time and was/is discussed under different names (regenerative design, industrial symbiosis, blue economy, Kreislaufwirtschaft, ecological design and others).
It is mostly about the design of products and services and about including in your design thoughts about the afterlife and environmental impact of your services and products. With this circular economy of course also thinks a lot about the distribution and the consumption patterns. Work with nature and planet and not against it.
Is Circularity necessarily about sustainability? No. Sometimes it is even the opposite.
I’ve seen a lot of ideas from the world of Circular Economy that will even increase the consumption and destruction of our planet. Just because in runs in circles does not mean it is sustainable. (“You can sell a new washing machine every year because the old one gets recycled.” … But recycling is a very dirty and resource and energy intense process!)
Cradle to cradles famous spin is that with products like that we can keep consuming as we do today. But they don’t talk about energy! And while in the very very long run this vision might theoretically work out (when all energy is produced green) it might give us for today and tomorrow the wrong ideas!
Open Hardware/Open Design and Circular Products share a lot of the same ideas, problems and approaches! For example simplicity! More on this you can find at the Mifactori-Website.
New! Keep your eyes open! There is a DIN SPEC on Open Hardware coming! It will be the first DIN SPEC under a creative commons license (CC-BY-SA) and freely available.
6. DIY Circularity 1: Pre-Use
Circular Economy is frustrating because it says: Wait for the big boys. They have to implement it first, then you can buy it.
But there are simple things you can do. You can live a circular lifestyle already today. There are a lot of interesting approaches to this (the most famous and elaborated one is Zero Waste). And here is another I’d like to show you wich can help you a lot for your activism at Extinction Rebellion.
Quick Summary: The project proposes a rating system for modular solutions. The rating system includes questions like how common is something, how open, how sustainable to produce, how hackable, how upcycling friendly, how universal and more. The higher the score the better it is for sustainable circularity and the more you can recommend it to designers! And you can increase the rating of a system through hacking!
The project is in the phase of an open funding application right now. But I am happy if you start to work with it and its suggestions right now. Ping me if you like.
The higher a solution is rated the more it can be recommended to be used in your designs.
vielen Dank für die Einladung, ich freue mich sehr darüber, denn ich finde die FabCity-Idee sehr schön und sie bietet einen guten Rahmen, um meine eigene Arbeit gut einzusortieren.
Ich bin heute eingeladen hierüber zu sprechen:
Aspekt: Nachhaltigkeit durch modulare und digitale Fertigung
Aspekt: Konzepte und Erfahrungen für Schulbildung
Und ich will versuchen, das so gut wie möglich zu erfüllen.
Bevor es losgeht noch eine META-BEMERKUNG: Der Vortrag wird immer wieder um die gleichen Ideen kreisen und diese immer wieder neu und leicht anders illustrieren – vor allem mit konkreten Projekten. Im Kern bleibt es gleich aber die Bilder sind immer wieder anders 😉
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From-PIWO-To-DIDO-Modell
Im Herzen der FabCity-Ideenwelt steht das From-PIWO-To-DIDO-Modell:
(Post durchscrollen, das Bild aufrufen und erklären.)
Dieses Modell sowie eigentlich die ganze FabCity-Idee ist denkbar geworden mit der Verbreitung von digitalen Produktionstechniken – auch in der Stadt z.B. in FabLabs und Makerspaces. Neil Gershenfeld sagt zwar den Fablab-Technologien eine Moore’s-Law-artige Entwicklung voraus, aber selbst wenn das so eintrifft, wird das, was in FabLabs und Makerspaces mit digitaler Produktion geschieht, wohl nicht reichen, das schöne PIWO-to-DIDO-Modell Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen. Dafür braucht man mehr und andereIdeen und Techniken als Ergänzung zur digitalen Produktion und als Inspiration für diese. Vor allem wenn es um Kreisläufe geht! Und solche habe ich heute überwiegend im Gepäck – zu einem großen Teil direkt aufbereitet für die Arbeit mit Kindern und Jugendlichen!
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Make-It-Circular-Poster
Ich beginne das Kreisen um die mitgebrachten Ideen bei unserem Make-It-Circular Poster. Dieses Poster ist gemeinsam mit der Community der Open Source Circular Economy Days erstellt worden. Es begann mit der Beobachtung, dass sich Menschen in FabLabs und Makerspaces praktisch nie für Nachhaltigkeit interessieren. Im Gegenteil! Die Idee: Dieses Poster soll irgendwo in einer Ecke im Makerspace hängen, um ein paar Nachhaltikgeits- und Kreislaufgedanken wenigstens langsam in den Raum zu bringen. Schauen wir uns das Poster mal an:
(Den ersten Teil mit der Problemanalyse durchgehen.)
Nach der Problembeschreibungen folgen Vorschläge zur Verbesserung. Die sind denen zum Poster sehr ähnlich. Darum gehen wir sie hier nicht durch und schauen uns das lieber anhand von konkreten Projekten an.
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Der Palast der Projekte
Unser Open-Design-und-Aktivismus-Studio Mifactori hatte letztes Jahr ein schönes Projekt, in dem wir insgesamt 17 verschiedene Workshops zur nachhaltigen Zukunft der Stadt (zur Kreislaufstadt) erfunden haben. Alle Workshops sind in Form von HOW-TOs also Nachmachanleitungen dokumentiert. Und wir schauen uns diese HOW-TOs mal an und diskutieren ein paar unserer Poster-Ideen daran, aber auch andere.
(Die Workshops durchklicken und ein paar Schlüsselideen nennen und erklären wie beispielsweise “Structural Support for the Biosphere”, “Urban Mining” und “Campaigning”; bei Modulare Mode Weiyings Studentinnen-Projekt zeigen.)
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+ Themen & Techniken
OK. Das war jetzt schon relativ viel. Aber ich will trotzdem noch mehr nachtragen und zwar zu Themen, die man sich vornehmen kann und vielleicht sollte. Und auch zu Techniken die man sich trauen kann. Mit Kindern. Und es soll auch ein bisschen um digitale Fabrikation gehen jetzt noch.
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(1) MODULARITÄT – “Der Kreislauf des kleinen Mannes”
Vor ein paar Woche habe ich diesen Artikel veröffentlicht, der die Poster-Forderung “Mach die Reste von heute zum Ausgangsmaterial von morgen” mal für digitale Produktion etwas ausführt.
Fazit: Arbeitet mit Scraps vor Ort! Nehmt euch des Mülls aus digitaler Fertigung an. Studentinnen-Projekt von Emma Zerial: DIY-3D-Printing-Filament-ReUse. Das kann man wunderbar mit Kids machen!
Generell kann man zu Modularität wunderbar forschen. Die Frage ist wie?
(Vortrag komplett durchgehen inklusive des Modularize-It-Projekttextes und der Kriterien.)
Fazit: Auch das könnte toll sein für Kids! Wie kann man mit digitaler Fertigung Löcher überbrücken in Modularität? Physisch vor Ort zeigen: Bottle-Lab.
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(2) AKTIVISMUS – in Stadt und Schule
Bei einigen Workshops im Palast der Projekte konnte man es ja schon sehen: Man muss keine Angst haben, mit den Kids wirklich aktivistisch zu werden! Ohne Aktivismus kommen wir kaum zu von PIWO zu DIDO. Und gerade Stadt-Aktivismus für Nachhaltigkeit blüht gerade! Oder vielleicht (hoffentlich) beginnt er gerade zu blühen. Da geht noch mehr!
(Kurz die Idee von City Hacking erklären, dann Beispiele an Hand des Übersichtsbildes zeigen und dann noch ein paar Beispiele zeigen in Einzelposts – worauf soll ich mal klicken?)
Von der Stadt in die Schule! Was kann man hier machen:
→ → Kreislaufschule [LINK FEHLT]
Hierfür gibt es noch keinen Link. Aber wir entwickeln gerade ein Schulprojekt ähnlich zum Palast-der-Projekte-Projekt namens “Kreislaufschule”. Darin machen die Kids in kreativen Projekten ihre Schule Stück für Stück nachhaltiger nicht nur als “so tun als ob”, sondern tatsächlich! Jede Klasse nimmt sich einen Ressourcenstrom vor und sorgt für echte Veränderung in der Schule (Einblicke in den Entwicklungsprozess: Energie, Verkehr, Wärme). Der Prozess wird, wenn er fertig entwickelt ist, offen zur Verfügung stehen als Zertifizierung. Schulen können sich dann von Circular Berlin als “Kreislaufschule” zertifizieren lassen, indem sie einige dieser Projekte selbst durchführen – also den Anleitungen folgen im Kunst- oder naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht. Freiwillige vor! : – )
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Ende & Ad
Ok. Das war es von mir. Noch ein kleiner Werbeblock:
Falls Sie über zukünftige Projekte und Ressourcen informiert werden möchten, wir haben einen tollen Newsletter.
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