Thesis on the viability of open source development for the design of physical objects

[Erik]

The beginning of the abstract:
While open source software development has been studied extensively,
relatively little is known about the viability of the same development
model for a physical object's design. This thesis addresses this
deficit by exploring the extent to which this model is viable for the
development of physical objects. It starts with a review of the
relevant literature on open source and user innovation communities
followed by a case study and survey of the RepRap community.

This community develops a digital fabrication system that can 3D print
a large share of its own parts. This allows for a decentralized
community to independently produce physical parts based on digital
designs that are shared via the internet. Apart from improving the
device, dedicated infrastructure was developed by user innovators.

The survey reveals substantial adoption and development of 3D printer
technology, comparable to the larger vendors in the industry. RepRap
community members are spending between 145 and 182 full-time
equivalents and have spent between 382,000 and 478,000 dollars on
innovation alone. At the RepRap project's 6 month doubling interval,
it is entirely feasible that its adoption and disruptive levels of
innovation will exceed that of the incumbent industry. Within the
community there is a higher incidence in modifications of hardware
than in software, and, surprisingly, hardware modifications are
expected to be relatively easier for others to replicate. The level of
collaboration is also higher for hardware than for software.

Through Thingiverse, a web-based sharing platform originating from the
RepRap project, 1,486 designs of physical objects in the last 6
months. Also, more than 10,000 objects, ranging from household objects
to robotics platforms, were independently manufactured by its members'
machines. While already substantial, this level activity exhibits
similar exponential growth characteristics.

Many RepRap community members possess a fabrication capability that
the average person does not have access to. While this does limit the
present day generality of the case study findings, there are many
reasons to expect a high likelihood of personal access to digital
fabrication in the near future. The rapid development and adoption of
increasingly affordable, yet more powerful and valuable fabrication
technologies and the anti-rival logic of open design allow user-
dominant collaborative development to have significant implications
for the provisioning of goods in society.

Finally, I provide a discussion of the implications and make
suggestions for further research.

It is in the cloud here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44555887/On-the-viability-of-the-open-source-development-model-for-the-design-of-physical-objects-Lessons-learned-from-the-RepRap-project
The PDF can be found, and downloaded from: http://bit.ly/ErikOSHW or
http://thesis.erikdebruijn.nl/master/Latex/ (source code and notes are
included)

Reply to: the...@erikdebruijn.nl

[Ton Zijlstra]

Thanks Erik, dank je wel!

-------------------------------------------
Interdependent Thoughts
Ton Zijlstra

t...@tonzijlstra.eu
+31-6-34489360

http://zylstra.org/blog
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