Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
stone in the growth of the movement.
Another way the movement will continue to mature is by gaining more traction in vari-
ous fields. The open source hardware movement started in electronics but has quickly en-
compassed several other fields in industry. This trend continues to grow each year and
covers more standards and further thinking through the necessary source files. User gener-
ations also affect societal norms on transparency and openness, which may cause more
companies to open up in the future. Younger generations tend to have a different comfort
level with openness and transparency than older generations do. Businesses built by mem-
bers of younger generations could look much different from businesses built today.
Looking to the Future
There are several ways in which open source hardware can move forward. The following
ideas to make the open source hardware movement stronger have come from the commu-
nity:
Laundry label for hardware.
The laundry label concept was brought to
OSHWA's mailing list by Tom Igoe and Catarina Mota. The laundry label concept
is a labeling system that would provide specific attributions for each piece of hard-
ware. Such labels would be similar to those found in clothing that instructs you
how to care for it. The laundry label concept is different from the open source
hardware logo. The logo simply states that the hardware follows the Open Source
Hardware Definition. The laundry label might contain information such as how to
recycle the parts of the hardware, which pieces and design files are open and
which are closed, which software includes libraries of the parts, and which parts
need to be verified again by a standards entity, such as the FCC, after alteration.
For resellers, the label might contain the amenities associated with a product, such
as whether it has a 3D design file to accompany it. An example of this practice is
Open source hardware repository.
Creating and managing a repository is no
small task, but it has been requested by many that the Open Source Hardware As-
sociation create one. The community understandably prefers that the repository be
held by a nonprofit organization that would not benefit from closing the reposit-
ory's intellectual property. It may take a while for the community to determine
what the core functions and features of a repository would be, but it is certainly
worth starting the conversation.
