[Discuss] Economics Re: Free Hardware

Sat Mar 28 02:12:29 UTC 2015

On this topic, thought you all might like these

(very well-put together! not dry at all)
http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510298/ted-radio-hour

> MARCH 20, 2015
> What Is Original? (R)
> Even the most original ideas are essentially remixes. When is copying
> flattery, when is it thievery, and when is it sheer genius? In this hour,
> TED speakers explore how sampling, borrowing, and riffing make all of us
> innovators. Sampling music isn't about "hijacking nostalgia wholesale,"
> says DJ Mark Ronson. It's about inserting yourself into the narrative of a
> song while also pushing that story forward. Filmmaker Kirby Ferguson says
> nothing is original and that our most celebrated creators steal ideas — and
> transform them into something new. Clothing designs aren't protected by
> copyright --and the industry benefits by being more innovative, says
> Johanna Blakley. People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!"
> moments. But writer Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different
> story.

(a bit dry, but more technical)
http://techtv.mit.edu/genres/19-engineering/videos/31109-how-to-open-source-the-creative-process-democratizing-innovation-product-design-and-development-and-t

The creative process is a combination of engineering and design decisions,
> experimentation, iteration, integration, informed decisions, and luck—all
> of which hopefully culminate in a marketable artifact. The creator, with
> all the tools and knowledge available to him or her, is often presumed to
> know best. But, that's not always the case. In this webinar, SDM alumnus
> Ali Almossawi will discuss the benefits of expanding the creative process
> through open-sourcing on the Internet, where there are more creators, fewer
> industry gatekeepers, and endless opportunities to engage directly with
> users. He will: describe a model for open-sourcing the creative process and
> how it can be used to build a self-sustaining product or business; outline
> the key players—often a combination of professionals with expertise in
> technology, business, and/or design; discuss what is needed for team
> members to work together effectively—and the pitfalls to avoid; provide
> examples of failure, success, and failure leading to success; and offer
> next steps that can be adapted and applied across all industries.

Thanks,
--Nancy

~~~
narwhaledu.com, educational robots <http://gfycat.com/ExcitableLeanAkitainu>
 [[<(._.)>]] my personal blog <http://www.orangenarwhals.com>,
orangenarwhals
Researcher, Postmodern Robotics Group, MIT Electronics Research Society

On Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 5:35 AM, Adriano Zianna <adriano.zianna86 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Nancy thank you very very much
> Adriano
>
> 2015-03-21 18:58 GMT+01:00 Nancy Ouyang <nancy.ouyang at gmail.com>:
>
>> Replying under a new thread title -- with respect to
>>
>>  the benefits that it can bring to companies, even at levels of strategy.
>>
>>
>> You may find these links interesting, the general keyword being
>> "shanzhai" 山寨文化
>>
>> http://www.hackedmatter.com/materials/
>>
>>
>> http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/november-december-2012/created-in-china
>>
>>> many Shenzhen factories have adopted a model of open source sharing in
>>> order to lower production costs. They have informally organized a
>>> peer-to-peer database for sharing hardware design schematics and the bill
>>> of materials (BOM), a list of materials used in manufacturing a particular
>>> product. The open sharing of these resources allowed the factories to lower
>>> production costs to stay competitive in a global market.
>>>
>>> This form of open source manufacturing has co-evolved with the formation
>>> of new production sites, including, for example, counterfeit/copycat design
>>> houses. Over the years, these copycat productions have adopted these open
>>> source processes and moved beyond simply copying popular brands such as
>>> Nokia or Apple. Today they often produce new, consumer-specific products,
>>> such as *mobile phones with additional features tailored to particular
>>> customer segments or location-specific demands.* Examples include
>>> dual-SIM-card mobile phones that support two operator networks on one
>>> device—such as the G5 phone, a made-in-Shenzhen brand for the Indian
>>> market—and phones with built-in compasses that are shipped to consumers in
>>> the Middle East, who may need to know the direction of Mecca during prayers
>>> [11
>>> <http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/november-december-2012/created-in-china#R11>
>>> ,12
>>> <http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/november-december-2012/created-in-china#R12>
>>> ].* Many of these innovations were later reappropriated by mainstream
>>> mobile manufacturers; for example, in 2010 Nokia launched two dual-SIM
>>> mobile phones.*
>>>
>>> Copycat productions from Shenzhen are often described with the term
>>> *shanzhai* ([image: intr1906_c.gif]). However, in the hackerspace
>>> community,* shanzhai now speaks to a new form of innovation based on
>>> the principle of open source manufacturing and continuous remaking*
>>>
>>
>> http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=284, which links to
>> http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/images/shanzai.pdf
>> "香烟？手机？还是香烟手机？" (yep, that's a cellphone-box-of-cigarettes and a
>> model-RC-car-cellphone)
>>
>>
>> To give a flavor of how this is viewed in China, I heard a local comment
>>> about how great it was that the shanzhai could not only make an iPhone
>>> clone, *they could improve it by giving the clone a user-replaceable
>>> battery. US law would come down on the side of this activity being illegal
>>> and infringing,* but given the fecundity of mashup on the web, I can’t
>>> help but wonder out loud if mashup in hardware is all that bad. I feel
>>> there is definitely a bias in the US that “if it’s strange and it happens
>>> in China it must be bad”, which casts a long shadow over objective
>>> evaluation of new cultural phenomenon that could eventually be very
>>> relevant to the US.
>>
>>
>> My personal favorite shanzhai story is of the chap who owns a house that
>>> I’m extraordinarily envious of. His house has three floors: on the top, is
>>> his bedroom; on the middle floor is a complete SMT manufacturing line; on
>>> the bottom floor is a retail outlet, selling the products produced a floor
>>> above and designed two floors above. H*ow cool would it be to have your
>>> very own SMT line right in your home! It would certainly be a disruptive
>>> change to the way I innovate to own infrastructure like that *
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.silvialindtner.com/
>>
>> and linked articles therein, such as
>> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/chinas-mass-production-system/370898/
>>
>>
>> You may also find perusing the archives of this list interesting:
>> http://lists.oshwa.org/pipermail/discuss/
>>
>> And well, you did ask for our personal thoughts...
>> http://www.orangenarwhals.com/2015/03/crazy-ideas-crackpottery-open-source-hardware-and-economics/
>>
>> Oh --- another thought ---
>> What my friends and I who have visited China agree on is that people here
>> (in the US) seem to be completely underestimating
>>
>>    - [the number and sheer determination of poorly paid
>>    academic/technical expertise in China]
>>
>> combined with
>>
>>    - [the co-location of manufacturing expertise, equipment, and supply
>>    chains].
>>
>>
>> Aka, in China, all the poorly paid STEM folks (that we have in the US as
>> well, see academia), are starting to find themselves in an environment
>> where they can translate their innovations and creativity into $$$.
>>
>> *This is a fundamental difference in the software and hardware worlds *that
>> I doubt some people (cough rms cough) have any idea about.
>>
>> If, in the Western English-speaking world, we just focus on *competing *and
>> lawyering our competitors, eventually other countries, because they're
>> working on more fun / exciting things and collaborating just as much as
>> they are competing, *are going to eat our lunch.*
>>
>> so let's join them instead! :)
>>
>> Thanks,
>> --Nancy
>> ~~~
>> narwhaledu.com, educational robots
>> <http://gfycat.com/ExcitableLeanAkitainu> [[<(._.)>]] my personal blog
>> <http://www.orangenarwhals.com>, orangenarwhals
>> Researcher, Postmodern Robotics Group, MIT Electronics Research Society
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 8:31 AM, Adriano Zianna <
>> adriano.zianna86 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>> My name is Adriano and I'm studyind economincs.
>>> Actually I'm finishing my studies and I'm writing the thesis. Topic of
>>> my thesis is the open source and his experiences, including the open
>>> hardware. So I wanted to ask yousome questions:
>>> What do you believe about the development of open hardware in the
>>> present and in the future, and the benefits that it can bring to companies,
>>> even at levels of strategy.
>>> Thank you so much your precious attention
>>> With Best Regards
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> discuss mailing list
>> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
>> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> discuss mailing list
> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oshwa.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20150327/8f4b62f2/attachment.html>