Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The process of crowd funding a project can lead to better OSHW pro-
jects, and vice versa. The necessity of having to pitch your project to
would-be backers forces you to distill the project down to its most cru-
cial elements. The platform provided by crowd funding means that
there are many like-minded individuals checking out your project. In
our latest Kickstarter project, we made the schematics to the Mi-
croView immediately available for download. Soon after, one of our
backers identified an issue with the circuit and provided a fix that we
were able to incorporate into the shipping product. As they say, starting
is easy and finishing is hard. Having backers is a great motivator, as
they'll be sure to tell you off if you don't post regular updates, and
really let you know about it if you don't ship!
Sponsoring, Grants, Donations, Public Research
In keeping with the rationale for the “ethical bonus” of open source hardware, it may be
possible to fund some kinds of initiatives through donations or grants. There is often a
public interest or promise to “make the world a better place” that is considered worthy
of funding. Large companies may sponsor such efforts by partnering with smaller open
source hardware projects. Jobs in public research could be dedicated to developing open
source hardware. The more that the advantages and values of open source hardware for our
communities are realized, the better democracy and the environment will become, and the
harder it will be to justify enormous public research funds being devoted to closed source
innovations. The more we work on developing examples that show and explain how open
source is good for the public, the easier it will be to support open source hardware projects
with public funding, grants, and donations in the future. For more information about the
benefits of open source hardware projects in research, refer to
Chapter 16
.
Anecdote: Open Source Hardware in Public Art
Brandon Stafford
The realm of electronics, like the Arduino and its ecosystem, has dom-
inated the open source hardware efforts of the last decade. Despite the
success of the Arduino, most electronic hardware is still proprietary.
Large hardware companies are reluctant to open source their designs
because they see the blueprints for their designs as a source of advant-
age over their competition. If their competitors knew exactly how to
fabricate their designs, they could replicate everything, without having
to pay any engineers to come up with the designs. Additionally, virtu-
