Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Creation of OSHWA
As the 2011 Summit came to a close, it became apparent that an organization was needed
to house the Summit websites, financials, and general business. Gibb held a meeting at the
Brooklyn-based hackerspace NYC Resistor and brought in several open source hardware
companies to determine whether a business league or an educational nonprofit organization
would be more appropriate. Together, the group chose to implement a 501(c)3 educational
nonprofit organization. In the interest of the community, the role of OSHWA was expan-
ded to take on other activities in open source hardware, such as housing the definition in
multiple languages, providing information about standards, assisting the setup of interna-
tional branches, educating the general public on what open source hardware is, collecting
and publishing metrics on the movement, and encouraging projects to be open for the areas
of education and economic development. The organization is intended to be built for the
community, by the community, with a rotation of board members and leaders every two
years.
The first task of OSHWA, aside from setting up the infrastructure of the organization,
was defending the open source hardware community mark (also known as the OSHW or
gear logo) that had previously been selected by community vote. An email from the pres-
ident of the OSI was sent to Gibb informing her of infringement of the OSI logo and ask-
ing for immediate removal of the logo. OSHWA worked with the community to reach an
agreement with OSI stating that the logos are used in different fields and, therefore, are
different enough to avoid confusion between the two and infringement of OSI's trade-
mark. OSHWA further chose not to trademark the open source hardware community mark
because it's available for use to anyone whose products have followed the definition and
existed in that format for three years.
OSHWA has identified five purposes to serve the community:
1.
Organize conferences and community events.
2.
Educate the general public about open source hardware and its socially beneficial
uses.
3.
Organize the open source hardware movement around shared values and principles.
4.
Facilitate STEM education through the use of open source hardware conferences
and other events focused on open source hardware.
5.
Collect, compile, and publish data on the open source hardware movement.
Since the incorporation of OSHWA, the definition, its translations, and variations of
the open source hardware logo are now housed on the OSHWA website. OSHWA created
a community-based Best Practices document and an OSHW Quick Reference Guide in-
cluded in
Appendix A
(or downloadable from
www.oshwa.org/open
