Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Also in early 2010, Peter Semmelhack, founder of Bug Labs (a company that produced
an open source modular system for building devices), approached Alicia Gibb and asked
her if it would make sense to hold a meeting about open source hardware:
Peter asked if I thought a bunch of people would want to come together and
hear all the issues and complications of manufacturing open source hardware
and doing business as an open hardware company. He was thinking 20 people
and I told him we could get 300, it would be an entire conference. And so I star-
ted planning the Summit—but it was only on the sides of manufacturing and
business. When Ayah and I later joined forces, she brought the legal side to the
Summit. On January 18, 2010, in an email to Gibb, Peter came up with the
name “Open Hardware Summit.” Then Peter and I sat down with Dale
Dougherty and the decision was made to have it happen in conjunction with
Maker Faire. (Gibb, personal communication)
These two parallel efforts converged in June 2010 when Bdeir and Gibb joined forces
to organize the first Open Hardware Summit (OHS). The Summit took place in New York
City on September 23, 2010. Approximately 320 people attended, with their numbers be-
ing limited simply because the venue could not hold more. Thereafter, the Summit be-
came an annual event. The second edition of the Open Hardware Summit, chaired by
Gibb and Bdeir, had 350 attendees and 22 speakers plus breakout sessions and demonstra-
tions. As the open source hardware practice and community continued to grow, so did the
event. Its 2012 edition, chaired by Catarina Mota and Dustyn Roberts, saw close to 500
attendees and 42 speakers. Topics covered at the conference ranged from electronics, 3D
printers, and airplanes to biomedical devices, neuroscience, and fashion.
In the meantime, a group of stakeholders had continued to iterate the open source hard-
ware definition, with large contributions from David Mellis and Windell Oskay, and made
version 0.3 public on July 13, 2010 (Freedom Defined n.d.). Through feedback and contri-
butions from the public, and over a period of several months, the definition continued to
be discussed and refined.
In December 2010, Nathan Seidle sent an email to the Summit's mailing list proposing
the adoption of an open source hardware logo created by SparkFun's designer. Seidle
wanted to somehow indicate on SparkFun's products that they were open source; a logo/
stamp was needed for this purpose. Bdeir suggested that the logo created for the Open
Hardware Summit be used instead, and Jonathan Kuniholm proposed that the OHANDA
logo be adopted. A long discussion ensued not just on the topic of the logo, but also on the
status of the definition and the need for greater cohesion among open source hardware
stakeholders. Eventually, the OSHW Definition 1.0 was released on February 10, 2011
(Bdeir 2011a) and endorsed by the majority of those involved. It was also decided to hold
