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Openness Discussion

The Openness Discussion is a tool that was created in 2016 by Lars Zimmermann. The core is to allow people to understand quickly the core questions that come up, when you want to set up an open source (hardware) business.

This page contains:

1. The Openness Discussion Tool
2. Example for a Desk Manufacturer
3. Example for WordPress
4. Example for Arduino

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1. The Openness Discussion – Enabling Ecosystems

Open Source Hardware is about enabling people:
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“ …design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design… “

(oshw defintion)
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When this works – when people start to carry out these activities – a rich ecosystem of actors might emerge. People doing more than just buying and consuming your product but carrying out all kinds of creative and commercial tasks with it. This ecosystem is something you need to understand.

This allows you to spot potential risks. But also potential advantages and possibilities. And to understand how you need to support this ecosystem.

This page here is displayed during lectures. So the explanation of the tool will be spoken words. For those who only read this page – you can go to the version shared in 2016. It has 9 videos explaining the tool in depth. The script of all videos is also shared there.

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The tool was also used and remixed ↑ by the Danish Design Center for their Remodel Project. In case you like this version better download it there.

But here is the version we will use in the course. The tool consists of 6 fields each asking one question. The answers together paint a bigger picture. Let’s go !

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↓ The Tool


1. OPEN UP

What assets has your company? What elements has your product? Can you make it open? (Video)


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Description

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Description

2. ACTIONS ENABLED

What stakeholders do you involve, what can they do with the opened assets and elements?  (Video)


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Description

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Description

3. YOUR BENEFITS

How can you benefit from these stakeholders making such actions? (Video)


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Description

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Description

4. STAKEHOLDERS BENEFITS

How can these actions benefit the stakeholders themselves? (Video)


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Description

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Description

5. EXCHANGE CHANNELS

In what channels (virtual, physical) are these actions happening, and what gets exchanged there? (Video)


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Description

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6. INCOME SOURCES

Plug into the exchange streams! What income sources could these actions enable for you? (Video)


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Description

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Description

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Examples

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Example 1 Desk Manufacturer

(also as image)


1. OPEN UP

What assets has your company? What elements has your product? Can you make it open? (Video)


Manufactured Desks*

The desks produced in the workshop

Building Plans**

The plans for the desks

Workshop***

The space and machines used to produce the desks

2. ACTIONS ENABLED

What stakeholders do you involve, what can they do with the opened assets and elements?  (Video)


Consumers*

People who buy the desk

Resellers*

People who sell the desk

Educators** 

For example People who teach carpentry or product designs use your plans for teaching

Designers & Innovators**

Use and Build on your Designs

Manufacturers** 

Produce and Sell copies of your design

DIY Hobbyists***

People come to your workshop to use your machines to make desks themselves

3. YOUR BENEFITS

How can you benefit from these stakeholders making such actions? (Video)


Sell Desks* 

You sell your desks

Open Innovation**  ***

Students, Designers and Innovators come up with interesting new solutions for and with your desk you can Leverage

Marketing/Attention**  ***

People work with your design and share what they did with it

Bigger Network**  *** 

You meet people in the workshop and also on the net that have an interests in your work and understanding of it

4. STAKEHOLDERS BENEFITS

How can these actions benefit the stakeholders themselves? (Video)


Buy Desks* 

Buy and consume desks

Sell Desks*

Sell desks

Create, Share & Sell Designs**

Sell desks

Education**  ***

learn from the designs and the open communication around it

Bigger Network**  ***

Meet likeminded People online and offline, Get visible

5. EXCHANGE CHANNELS

In what channels (virtual, physical) are these actions happening, and what gets exchanged there? (Video)


Shops*

Desks & Money → Online & Offline shops (Your Own or/and someone Elses)

Website**

Knowledge → Where is your Building plan shared?

Forums***

Knowledge & Attention → where do people meet, discuss & collaborate

Workshop Space***

Knowledge & Attention → where people meet and exchange

Trainings***

Knowledge & Attention → Where people meet and learn

6. INCOME SOURCES

Plug into the exchange streams! What income sources could these actions enable for you? (Video)


Sell Desks*

Sell Desks

Tickets For Trainings**

Sell tickets for trainings or other teaching

Usage Fees**

Usage fees for the tools in your workshop

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SUMMARY: While making the desk and carpentry open the business changes. It becomes a PLATFORM for different actors to do something. This creates value that potentially can be transformed into income streams.

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Example 2: WordPress

WordPress is an open source blogging & website software and “a billion dollar company”. It runs more than 30% of all websites today. And it was and is this successful BECAUSE it is Open Source, not DESPITE of it. Let’s have a look:

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1. OPEN UP

What assets has your company? What elements has your product? Can you make it open? (Video)


Software To Use 

You can download wordpress from several sources for free and install it without technical skill wherever you want

Software Source Code

The core software of wordpress is open source.

2. ACTIONS ENABLED

What stakeholders do you involve, what can they do with the opened assets and elements?  (Video)


Customers 

Can set up websites using wordpress on their own servers, Hosters or wordpress.com

Professional Hosters

Can offer easy wordpress hosting – One Click Installations – Making it easier for customers to have Website

Web-Designers

Can Use wordpress to make websites for their clients

Developers

Can Add plugins to the system to create better websites for customers. They might share code back as open source or not

Theme Designers 

Can add new themes to the wordpress ecosystem – Closed, open or half open – And sell them or their services around them

3. YOUR BENEFITS

How can you benefit from these stakeholders making such actions? (Video)


Open Innovation/Better Product

Many professions contribute Code or Opportunities to the ecosystem making the Core product more useful

Sell Hosting  

People want wordpress because it is strong but need a place to host their page. WordPress does this too.

Distributed Company Culture  

WordPress has more than 1000 employees located in more than 40 countries working all remote No Need for Headquaters

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→ More see “6. Income sources”

4. STAKEHOLDERS BENEFITS

How can these actions benefit the stakeholders themselves? (Video)


Get Websites

People get cheap and powerful websites that are highly adaptable to their needs

Sell Websites & Themes

Designers and Developers can make a living selling powerful websites, Themes or Plugins to customers

Learn 

I personally use wORDPRESS and I learned so much about it because whenever I had a problem I found answers on the web – even code to copy

Sell Hosting

I pay my hoster  because he offers me simple wordpress hosting

5. EXCHANGE CHANNELS

In what channels (virtual, physical) are these actions happening, and what gets exchanged there? (Video)


WordPress Website & Forums

WordPress hosts Forums and a website where you can download WP, Host It and Ask Questions or Share things like knowledge, Themes Or Plugins

Other Websites and Forums

Designers run their own websites that allow to download Themes, Plugins, Have Discussion or Share documentation and Tutorials About WordPress. YouTube is full of wordpress tutorials

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→ Basically WordPress is all over the web

6. INCOME SOURCES

Plug into the exchange streams! What income sources could these actions enable for you? (Video)


Income

How does WordPress makes Money → Article Listing income sources (Backup: Mirror.PDF)

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Take aways:

I. As you might have understood by now: The core of Open Source Companies often is that they enable others to do business – and that some those businesses have an incentive to contribute something open back to the ecosystem! It is not a problem, that others use your work it is what makes it work or makes it better.

II. WordPress is a platform for many different stakeholders. And the Openness makes it stronger for everyone – creating synergies between almost all actors on the platform.

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Example 3: Arduino

Arduino is probably still the largest open hardware platform in the world. There is so much to say about it and why it works BECAUSE it is Open Source and not DESPITE of it. I will just name some of the elements.

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1. OPEN UP

What assets has your company? What elements has your product? Can you make it open? (Video)


Hardware To Buy

Buy Arduino from Ebay, Amazon and many other stores.

Hardware (Design Files)

The Hardware is Openly documented where that was possible.

Hardware (Design itself)

The Hardware is designed to make it easy to access it and play with it. For example it has a USB-Port. Good Open Source Products Make it very easy to work with them.

Software 

The software to talk to the arduino is Open Source

Arduino Projects  

There are plenty of Arduino Guides and Arduino projects you can copy And build upon

2. ACTIONS ENABLED

What stakeholders do you involve, what can they do with the opened assets and elements?  (Video)


Hobbyists, Artists, Designers

Tinker with the arduino

Companies & StartUps

Build prototypes with the arduino Or hack their factories, Farms and so on.

Resellers

You can get your Arduino from many different Sources – Amazon, Ebay, Local Hardware Stores, Smaller Online shops and so on

Manufacturers

There are many clones of the arduino out there. They sell direct copies or improved Versions of the Arduino

Teachers

People use arduino in schools or in workshops for all kinds of things

Ad-on Manufacturers 

There are a lot of companies selling things to combine with your arduino – for example shields

3. YOUR BENEFITS

How can you benefit from these stakeholders making such actions? (Video)


Open Innovation 

Countless stories of Knowledge Creation and sharing. Remember the LilyPad Story I told above ↑ – or Think about the shields I just mentioned. All of these Things make Arduino a better stronger more useful Product

Attention & Free Marketing

There is a lot Happening, so many people know about the arduino and talk about it everywhere. I have never seen an arduino ad

Sell Arduinos

Or course Arduino sells arduinos

4. STAKEHOLDERS BENEFITS

How can these actions benefit the stakeholders themselves? (Video)


Sell Arduinos

Resellers Can Sell Arduinos

Sell Services Or Compatible Products

There are many ways to leverage the Arduino and its open vibrant ecosystem for other companies – Consultancies, Professional Prototypers, Start Ups and more

Solve Problems Quicker 

Designers, FArmers, Hackers … they all can use the arduino to solve their problems and build something cool cheaply.

Tech & Learn

Information is there making teaching and learning hardware design much easier.

Collaborate

Plug Into an ecosystem of developers that like to collaborate and share and become a part of it. It is also a Social Group sometimes. Online and Offline events happen.

5. EXCHANGE CHANNELS

In what channels (virtual, physical) are these actions happening, and what gets exchanged there? (Video)


Shops 

You can get Arduinos almost everywhere – online and offline.

Arduino Forum

A lot of Knowledge about Arduino is shared and discussed on the arduino Forums – Several Millions of Posts

The Web

But the Knowledge exchange is not limited to the arduino forums. You can find code, instructions and Tutorials everywhere on countless websites and platforms. A Search engine  is your portal…

Books

There are a lot of books teaching to use Arduino. Most of them not endorsed by arduino.

Workshops, Hackathons, Events +

You can learn about ARduino in many workshops and hackathons or similar events. Some hosted by Arduino itself – the majority is just distributed everywhere and set up by other actors

6. INCOME SOURCES

Plug into the exchange streams! What income sources could these actions enable for you? (Video)


Sell Arduinos

People tend to buy the original – at least at the beginning

Sell Trainings

education is something we pay for

Sell Consulting

Prototype for customers using the Arduino and its ecosystem

Participate In State Funded Research

Arduino is part of several research projects – with its knowledge and community it is a great partner