Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
16.
Building Open Source Hardware in Academia
Joshua M. Pearce
“It's mine but you can have some
With you I'd like to share it
'Cause if I share it with you
You'll have some too”
—Raffi, “The Sharing Song”
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Excerpt from “The Sharing Song” written and performed by Raffi, courtesy of Homeland Publishing.
Open source hardware (OSHW) is a powerful tool for academics to improve their perform-
ance in research, teaching, and service. This chapter discusses the world of academia for the
non-academic and then details methods for professors to improve their performance with
the use of open source hardware. First, examples and preliminary studies on the use of open
source hardware in research show the benefits of (1) substantial pre-peer review in the de-
velopment of background material and experimental design, which leads to (2) improved
experimental design and laboratory hardware design (often with radically reduced econom-
ic costs, superior performance, and customization). Such improvements foster (3) increased
visibility, citations, and improved public relations, which then lead to (4) increased funding
opportunities and enhanced student recruitment as well as (5) improved student research-re-
lated training and research education. Second, examples and preliminary studies focusing on
the use of open source hardware in the classroom as part of service learning are described
that indicate students are more motivated, work harder, learn more and are left with last-
ing benefits from their experience. Finally, developing and publishing open source hardware
either as part of a research program or in the classroom is shown to be an effective method
of performing outreach on both grants and tenure applications.
