Commons people: additive manufacturing enabled collaborative commons production (by design)

Abstract

ABSTRACT"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret MeadIn a post industrial age the current model of mass manufacture characterized by integrated organizations and economies of scale, a new production paradigm is emerging. Due to technology advances especially in the field of additive manufacturing (AM) small scale decentralized production is again a possibility. Where once the tools to produce goods were seen as large capital investment beyond the means of most small enterprises, it is now possible for individuals to access tools that are capable of producing consumer goods. This shift had led to the emergence of a social phenomenon that until now was bound to the digital world. Networks of individuals are coming together to collectively design, develop, manufacture and distribute goods through a network under the banner of the open hardware movement. This paper presents a case study of one such network designing and distributing open source prosthetics using a collaborative approach enabled by AM technology. It takes a contemporary definition of commons production as a framework to describe the network and assesses the role AM technology plays within it. Moreover, it discusses the potential role for design (both as a discipline and a profession) within this emerging socio-industrial system.

Sustainable Design Futures: An open design vision for the circular economy in fashion and textiles

“…In previous research Smith (2008) that is convenient for users to access; the designs can be redistributed and there are no restriction from selling or giving away the work; the designs are reusable so the design object must allow for any modifications and derivative works, and the work must avoid any technical restriction or technical obstacles that restrict the access, redistribution or reuse. In their recent paper on collaborative commons, Smith and Mortati (2016) refer to open hardware as a movement that 'allows a lateral network of developers to collaborate on the design and manufacture of real world goods'. One of the benefits to an open design approach is that a lateral network of individuals can work on the development of goods and their manufacture can happen locally.…”

Digital Maker Networks. Benefits, barriers and opportunities for re-localised UK manufacturing for the future

“…The areas are designed to build small digitally networked manufacturing 'nodes' at the local level. Open innovation projects such as the e-nable network use digital networks to move data ad manufacture at the super local level using digital manufacturing technologies (Smith 2015). Recently, the IKEA design team visited the Barcelona Fab Lab to experiment with new forms of making and distribution (Nesta (a), 2016).…”

“…The research connects to the authors work researching distributed manufacturing networks for rural and island communities and enabling innovation for manufacturing. (Smith 2015: Smith & Mortati 2017. …”

Optimal configurations of Minimally Intelligent additive manufacturing machines for Makerspace production environments

“…The reasons for AM’s proliferation and success in these environments include the democratization of the manufacturing process through a fully digitized Design & Manufacture (D&M) pipeline; the ability to support a wide variety of designs and material combinations; and the ability to be deployed in a wide variety of environments and locations (Ford and Despeisse, 2016; Smith and Mortati, 2017; Rautray and Eisenbart, 2021). Their small footprint and capital investment have also enabled these environments to deploy multiple machines, providing them with a step-change in production capacity.…”