Notes from the Open Design Definition workshop at OKFestival 2014 in Berlin

[openp2pdesign]

From https://pad.okfn.org/p/Open_Design_Definition_workshop

This is a read only archive of pad.okfn.org. See the shutdown announcement for details.

At the recent OKFestival in Berlin, where over 1,000 open-everything enthusiasts and experts gathered for 3 days in the charming Kulturbrauerei, a workshop was held by the Open Design & Hardware Working Group to expand the Open Design Definition that had been booted in the months leading up to the festival. The idea with the workshop was to take a major step towards finalizing a first version for publication (v1.0) and also involve more people in the process.

In the rather compact 1-hour session we were joined by approximately 25 people, who all contributed valuable inputs throughout the process lead by Peter Troxler with support from Sanna Martilla and Christian Villum (Massimo Menichinelli, who initiated the idea to have a workshop at OKFestival unfortunately could not make it).
First step was to develop an Open Definition checklist inspired by the Open Source Hardware Association's Quick Reference Guide. Participants went into small groups to brainstorm important criteria for the checklist and these criteria (on post-it notes) were then placed on a big wall and organized into clusters. The result of this was compared with what was already in the draft of the Open Design Definition and afterwards voted on by placing dots in a yes/no column, followed by a short reflection on the reasoning. Lastly, participants divided into three groups to discuss items to include as "must" criteria and items to include as "may" criteria -- again inspired by OHSWA work.

The notes from each of these phases in the workshop can be seen below. They will now be transformed into tasks and added to the Open Design Definition github repo and subsequently the work to amend them will commense.

Further discussion is encouraged! Did we leave out something important? Is there something in the notes that you want to comment on? Feel free to get in touch on the working group discussion list: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/opendesign

BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

Facilitator Contact Details

https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/opendesign

Peter Troxler - @trox
Sanna Martila - @sannamarttila
Christian Villum - @Villum

Open Design Definition Workshop

http://okfestival2014.sched.org/event/c5c22ace4a70347007024e87f3216b2f

##Twitter tag
#ODdesign #OKFestDesign

Participants: pre-event, to get in touch with each other (feel free to add your Twitter handle)

Agenda + pre-festival materials, resources, instructions

Current text of the definition:
https://github.com/OpenDesign-WorkingGroup/Open-Design-Definition/blob/master/open.design_definition/open.design.definition.md

What we aim to produce:

1. Open Design Checklist -- modelled after: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wVf7mg9S-65-nogCe-7unxh-RXKguNEAuorHLMSZvvw/edit?usp=drive_web
2. Open Design must / may -- modelled after: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B77E1A6_Czy1Q3JJNEc4TTVHb3M/edit
3. Difference between OD Checklist + OD must / may and OD Definition

AT THE FESTIVAL

Session agenda and schedule:

14:00 Welcome, introduction, situating the Open Design definition in the open (x-)definitions ecosystem; overview of the session

14:10 Develop an OD checklist inspired by the Open Source Hardware Association's Quick Reference Guide [http://www.oshwa.org/2014/06/13/oshw-quick-reference-guide/]

Participants went into small groups to brainstorm important criteria for the checklist; these criteria (on post-it notes) were then placed on a big wall and organized into clusters (see "1 Checklist brainstorm clusters" below).

14:30 Check with OD definition: what’s in there, what not.

Participants voted per checklist cluster item by placing dots in a yes/no column per item, followed by a short reflection (see "2 Checklist items and votes" below)

14:35 OD must / may

Participants divided into three groups to discuss items that must be included and items that may be included (see "3 Must/May" notes below)

14:55 Summary : what are the to dos for refining the definition (create “issues” etc.)

Work tasks are now to be put into the Open Design Definition github repo as issues: https://github.com/OpenDesign-WorkingGroup/Open-Design-Definition
We'll put up a blog post on the Open Design & Hardware Working Group blog: http://design.okfn.org/
Further discussion is encouraged! Feel free to use the working group discussion list: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/opendesign

15:00 close

Participants - name, contact (if you want to leave it), number of attendees

Approx. 25 people participated in the workshop

Notes from the session

(somebody needs to clean up etherpads itiot non respecting newlines ... what an abysmal tool ...)

#OKFestDesign

==1 Checklist brainstorm clusters==

Shared resources
Do you provide files or other sources/info that make it possible to reuse your desing?
open sourced design
version control for design, e.g. github
are source files available? (OK: xcr/psd, svd, indd, sla, blender, sfd, ufo, vfb | Not enough: jpg, png, pdf, stl, ttf, otf, eot)
online availability
publish online
is distribution unrestricted (in an open platform)?

design easily reproducible
free to modify

always upgradable

free to use
maker vs. consumer -- eco system?
should have multiple uses
cradle to cradle

open specifications

promote
market?

open methods- & tools-spec's
apply an open license (cc-by, cc-by-sa)
is our design licensed with an open license that allows reuse?
open license
select license
select an open license
are the materials used in the final product open/openly licensed?
copyright -> cc
is it copyleft
GNU license

you should learn in early life
used in health to improve life

is the source documented to facilitate derivatives?
attribution of precedence or descendence
are sources clearly documented & attributed?
versioning -> documenting on progress
include documentation
are production methods/tools documented?
has the process been openly/publicly documented
well documented
documentation
document your work
do you provide instructions on how to replicate the design?
open documentation
best practice example
open process
access to modificatio
free to download to use
downloadable
design set should be open as a whole (complete design set) available to all

ergonomic
collaboration & critique possible & enocuraged
communication community
cooperate with others, work should be transparent to others
process open and participatory?
collaboration = open source
documentation

==2 Checklist items and votes==

Y = Yes, part of the definition v.0.3
N = No, not part of the definition v.0.3
ø = undecided

Docu = Source (Y = 21 | N = 0)
Documentation = Instructions (Y = 19 | N = 3)
Collaboration / Community (Y = 9 | N = 11)
License (cc, ...) (Y = 21 | N = 0) Promoting / Marketing (Y = 4 | N = 16) Repository (Y = 4 | ø = 1 | N = 16)

==3 Must/May==

• majority agreed
  ** minority opinion
  *** more discussion needed

(1)
MUST
License that allows free use, modification, replication
Source file -> for modification, replication | -> open format
Documentation of process for replication
Non-proprietary formats ??? ***
MAY/ENCOURAGED
Consider sustainability & ergonomics **
Require attribution and/or share-alike *

(2)
MUST
Open licence
Shared/accessible/online
"blueprint", documentation (which tools to use, and how)
source/raw
MAY
docs for the whole process *
collaboration *
open format ***
dissemination, design in use **

(3)
MUST
Must be documented

• with a clear license
• must respect license
  Clear specification for reproduction
  Must not restrict future use *** {relation to formats}
  MAY M
  ay be collaborative *

from discussion: - grades/degrees of openness (1-5 star ...)

Media

Pertinent photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/89487639@N00/sets/72157645915389592

Christian's photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50900958@N03/
And three videos:
https://vimeo.com/101637864
https://vimeo.com/101637865
https://vimeo.com/101637867

AFTER THE FESTIVAL

Note from thoughts after the workshop.
I think it is extremely important that open design encourages environmentally sustainable design principles. This was for example Cradle-To-Cradle, a rather closed off set of design principles which is more of a designer movement today (and could definitely need some help opening up for more critical & curious eyes). What it does is however to make use of resources in an efficient way, I would call it the Open Source use of Materials where you reuse physical matter like it was code, sometimes for the same purpose (recycling) or sometimes for something similar or entirely different (upcycling).

Something else that was never brought up & was a little bit of a gorilla in the room was the common notion that design starts from the user perspective. Who is the user and what are the needs? I think this framework seem to start more from the designer's own view. It is important to have the user in mind in order to ensure that whatever process, documentation or design that is done, it is done with the user perspective and adapted to fit the user.
/Mattias, OKFSE

thanks for that ~trox

What did you learn and/or make?

How/what could you teach others?