[Discuss] the significance of oshw

Tue Nov 5 21:07:05 UTC 2013

On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:56 PM, alicia <amgibb at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think OSHWA's a great spot for testimonials - we can put it under the
> Research tab?
>

Perfect!

>
> *[I'm really nervous I might sound like a jerk with this next statement,
> but I'm going to say it anyway] *As an American, I think I've been around
> capitalistic thinking for so long, it's hard for me to think outside of the
> standard reasons you listed. But I would very much like to hear Eric Pan's
> thoughts on this, or other people coming from different cultures, but
> especially China, because as I've had more and more conversations with Eric
> and other folks too, it strikes me that (possibly due to not having patent
> law until 1984) Chinese folks have a default mindset on sharing rather than
> the default mindset American's have on protecting. And apologies for making
> broad statements, there are people in both nations that have opposite views
> too. But I've started to go on a bit of a soapbox when I hear the mindset
> American's have of "China ripping stuff off" and I think its a vast
> misunderstanding of cultural norms, and that China has been more closely
> tied to doing things in an open source fashion for a greater part of
> history, and that American's get taught to stop sharing after kindergarten.
> (I have slides on oshw and kindergarten too<http://www.slideshare.net/aliciagibb/alicia-gibb>.
> There's a talk on it as well, but you can't see the pictures in the video.)
>

Oh yes, this is a very interesting point. Perhaps we can ask everyone to,
if they want, also state where they're from so we can better think about
cultural differences!

>
> Getting back to your question though, I love to see and hear about people
> using things differently than I would have (very much linked to the hacker
> mindset) - discovering how people use hardware differently than oneself is
> extremely powerful education and mind-opening. I think kids are great at
> this, a one year old who hasn't had a cupcake before, thinks of eating a
> cupcake very differently that you or I, scale that up to building with
> Legos, using electronics, ignoring physics, etc. <-- That's also not
> specific to oshw, but oshw helps when you can make the way YOU want to use
> hardware a reality rather than conforming to a business / culture's way of
> using hardware.
>

Yay, first testimonial!

>
>
> Alicia
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 1:19 PM, Catarina Mota <catarina at openmaterials.org>wrote:
>
>> Awesome!
>>
>> Michael: you can either just post your testimonial on this thread, or
>> email it directly to me if you prefer.
>>
>> Gabby: that's a great idea! Same thing: either send to the list or to me
>> and I'll start a page on oshwa.org (if no one has objections to that).
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:14 PM, gabriella levine <
>> gabriella.levine at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I know also there have been a number of amazing and inspirational talks
>>> about the importance of OSHW, none of which are archived in one spot -
>>> would this be such a place for this , also?
>>>
>>> Yes I agree that this could be cool and I'm definitely interested. I can
>>> get you a few lines of text, video, and photos if that would work.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 3:08 PM, Catarina Mota <catarinamfmota at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I've been thinking about the real significance of open source hardware.
>>>> We spend a lot time discussing how to do OSHW right. We usually explain its
>>>> advantages by saying that it allows people to copy, modify, and transform
>>>> hardware, which leads to faster development and better technologies. But I
>>>> think there is more to it than that. In some recent conversations, a few
>>>> people mentioned the sense of empowerment and liberation that comes from
>>>> creating and modifying technologies, which makes me think that there are
>>>> deeper cultural implications here.
>>>>
>>>> So I was thinking that it would be nice to compile a series of
>>>> testimonials about what people perceive as the personal, practical,
>>>> political, cultural, social or economic advantages and disadvantages of
>>>> open source hardware.
>>>>
>>>> If OSHWA agrees, we can create a page for these testimonials/opinions
>>>> on oshwa.org. Or, if for any reason, that is problematic, I can find
>>>> another place to publish them. I just think that it's important to put a
>>>> more human face on our outreach efforts (rather than just publishing
>>>> technical and legal information).
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone want to contribute? There's no structure, just whatever you
>>>> want to say about this topic. If you post your opinions on this list I can
>>>> collect, compile and publish them (on oshwa.org or somewhere else).
>>>> Hopefully this can also trigger an interesting discussion :)
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Catarina
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> discuss mailing list
>>>> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
>>>> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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