Creative Industries Convention 2011
CIS.doc # 04
Open Design English Contributors
–
Armin Medosch Cory Doctorow Manfred Faßler Lev Manovich Paul Atkinson Gerin Trautenberger Hannes Walter
–
Yochai Benkler Georg Russegger Ronen Kadushin White Elephant Garmz Patick Dax Evan Jones
–
Markus Beckedahl Andrea Goetzke Bre Pettis Mark Frauenfelder Ponoko Wienett Peter Troxler
9
7 8 3 9 0 2
7 4 8 0 3 4
Kiss#2: Collage of 340 pictures under CC-by license (page 21) Artist: Evan Jones
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 5
Contents
Contents/ Theory
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Contents
Contents / Practice page 04
Introduction Eberhard Schrempf page 11
Ronan Kadushin Products in a Networked Culture
page 16
Lev Manovic Who Is the Author?
page 13
Open Design Now Why Design cannot Remain Exclusive
page 18, 20 page 04
Introduction Christian Buchmann
Paul Atkinson Ghosts of the Profession
page 15
White Elephant Balloon Light
page 22
page 06 – 07
Gerin Trautenberger Creative Commons Basics
Open Design page 10
page 17
Armin Medosch Open Design as a New „Design Culture“
Garmz Crowdsourcing
page 24
Hannes Walter Designer and a Little More
page 19
Cory Doctorow Love the Machine, Hate the Factory
Yochai Benkler Today Innovation is Coming from All Directions page 28, 30, 32, 34, 36
page 14
Manfred Faßler Where Is Open?
page 21
Georg Russegger Aleatory Design Models
– Imprint:
– Concept of publication:
Publisher: Creative Industries Styria GmbH CEO: Eberhard Schrempf Marienplatz 1, 8020 Graz, Austria T: +43 316 890 598, E office@cis.at www.cis.at Graz, February 2011
Gerin Trautenberger & Patrick Dax, Microgiants GmbH Andreas Hirsch, andreas-hirsch.net Project Management: Barbara Tscherne Translations: Otmar Lichtenwörther Proofreading: Otmar Lichtenwörther Graphic Design: moodley brand identity Print: Medienfabrik Graz
ISBN No.: 978-3-902748-03-4 Distribution: Verlag Neue Arbeit, 1070 Wien
Fluid Forms Intelligent Design by Means of Creative Coding and Open Source Software
page 26
page 12
Evan Jones How the Images Are Created
– This publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Austria License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/at/
IHRE IDEEN WERDEN GRÜN.
page 23, 25, 27
Markus Beckedahl / Andrea Goetzke Creative Commons in Open Design page 29
Bre Pettis The Future of Working At Home page 31
Mark Frauenfelder Do It Yourself Innovation page 33
Ponoko The Factory of the Future page 35
Wienett Handwerk 3.0 page 37
Peter Troxler The Proliferation of Fab Labs
Ökologisch nachhaltiger Druck bei der Medienfabrik Graz: • Verwendung von FSC und PEFC zertifizierten Papieren • Klimaneutrale Produktion durch CO2-Kompensation Unserer Umwelt zuliebe!
Medienfabrik Graz Dreihackengasse 20, 8020 Graz Telefon: +43 (0) 316 8095-0 www.mfg.at
Seite 6
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 7
Introduction
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Introduction
Eberhard Schrempf CEO OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES STYRIA GMBH
Christian Buchmann Head of Department for Economy, Europe and Culture, Provincial Government of Styria
Nothing has changed the role of the designer as radi-
location of Styria, and beyond Styria’s borders. In ad-
cally as the digitization of the technological and com-
dition, local producers can benefit from open design by
municative interfaces. Not even twenty years ago the de-
means of a wider product range that can be produced at
signer was only responsible for shaping a product or for
a local level.
the graphic design/illustration of an entire magazine. The rest of the process – from the initial idea to distri-
Since they were founded in 2007 the Creative Indus-
More economic growth through innovation takes
bution – was reserved to other specialists. But today the
tries Styria have been dealing with all new forms of
center stage in our new economic strategy “Steiermark
new role of the designer is not only restricted to one sin-
design and the collaboration of designers. Not only col-
Open design is indeed one of the most radical develop-
2020”. Only by means of innovation we can generate va-
gle step but ranges from the strategic product decision
laboration between creative people has been of interest
ments in the field of the creative economy. This radical
lue creation, growth and jobs in Styria. In the frame of
and the design process right up to product or customer
to us but also the collaboration between the Creative
innovation is an important source of inspiration for
the new economic strategy “Steiermark 2020” the crea-
communication.
Industries Styria and traditional business. In this re-
both economy and society and it facilitates the further
tive economy – as a main crossroads – will be of special
development of traditional businesses and economic
importance. What we aim for is to create new jobs by
Open design and open source are comparatively
inspiration making topics of future relevance available
sectors. Thus not only modern and communicative ent-
implementing creative ideas.
young concepts of creation and production. The key
for the public at large.
repreneurs benefit from this innovation but, in the long
spect the Creative Industries Styria acts as a source of
question is as follows: What can product, communica-
run, traditional business too profits from the changed
Thus this open design initiative by the Creative Indus-
tion and service design as well as fashion and architec-
The Creative Industries Styria will deal thoroughly
economic environment.
tries Styria is a useful supplement to the strategic guide-
ture learn from the open source movement? Creative
with subjects such as Creative Commons, open source
lines of the Provincial Government of Styria. Open de-
Commons, Linux or the collaborative tools of Web 2.0
and open culture as well as the changed role of the de-
The creative industry is regarded as a forerunner
sign is a new motivating force for all those who are in-
show how collaborative working and living can work. In
signer in a digitized value-adding process. The Con-
when it comes to using technological innovation and it
terested in a future-oriented Styrian economy and thus
the process innovative forms of work and production are
vention 2010 on the subject of „Designing the Creative
is a pathfinder for fundamental social changes. These
enabling a closer interlocking of innovation design
created which are based on exchange at eye level. The
Societies of the Future“ with the controversial theorist,
changes encompass all areas of life and are by no means
and economy.
traditional boundaries between product, customer and
writer and blogger Cory Doctorow as keynote speaker
production are disappearing. The Internet doesn’t only
opened up thematic fields we can use as a starting point
facilitate the distribution of digital works but also of
in 2011, for both our Convention and this CIS.doc on the
construction plans and patterns for material products.
subject of open design. On the occasion of the Conven-
restricted to the creative sector. The paradigm shift that has been accelerated by digitization and digital commu-
nication is no longer a science-fiction story but is already
a close look at these promises. What we aim for is exa-
happening. Today we are still witnessing the beginnings
mining open design with its possible future potential in
of these fundamental changes and can thus determine
mind and sounding it out with regard to potential fields
Hence open design is a current development within
theory – i.e. a novel working method or even an innova-
the direction these developments should take. Just like
of application for designers, but also for entrepreneurs
the creative economy that is to encourage open collabo-
tive business model.
in the times of the invention of the printing press even
and consumers. Hence keeping track of these new devel-
ration among creative minds and the exchange of ideas.
the most brave forward thinkers cannot foresee the
opments and giving possible stimuli for new innovation
Moreover, open design holds the potential for the Sty-
further development of the phone, the Internet and
is of great interest for the Provincial Government of
rian creative economy to open up new perspectives and
social networks.
Styria.
market opportunities both right here, at the business
Open design promises a lot and it is necessary to have
tion 2011 we examine if open design is more than just a
Open Design
Seite 09
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Open Design Put to Good Use
Introduction
which is expressed by one‘s choice of the tools and materials. Last but not least, we could win over Cory Doctorow to allow us to publish his essay “Love the Machine, Hate the Factory” in German language.
“
In 2010 and, first and foremost, in the Creative Convention in February, CIS emphasized the theme of “Designing the Creative Societies of the Future“. This vol-ume of the CIS.doc series might be seen as a continuation of our topical focus on open source and Creative Commons (CC). Along with up-to-date open design theory it also presents concrete examples and projects which make use of open source and describe collabora-
What can product, communication and service design as well as fashion and architecture learn from the open source movement?
”
tive work among creative people. With regard to its content this publication can be di-
Gerin Trautenberger
vided into two separate fundamental strands. On the one hand it presents examples, applications, tools and models and, on the other, it introduces theoretical ap-
Creative Commons, Linux or the collaborative tools of Web 2.0 show how collaborative working and living can work. Standardized interfaces, the simple exchange of files and communication at eye level between all participants facilitate new forms of working and production for creative people. Today the World Wide Web doesn’t only facilitate the
distribution of digital works but also of construction plans, patterns and plans for material products. In the this CIS.doc and on the occasion of the Convention 2011 Creative Industries Styria examines if open design is more than just a theory – i.e. a novel working method or even a new business model.
proaches and information on open design. The new de-
The third block, with contributions by Frauenfelder,
sign of the CIS.doc publication also aims at fulfilling the
Kadushin, White Elephant and presentations of wienett,
requirements of additional presentation formats such as
garmz (fashion), crowdsourcing as a business model, Po-
iPad and Internet. Beside a theoretical part this reader
noko and Bre Pettis from Makerbot, and Evan’s graphic
also provides an overview of the present debate on the
work, deals with projects and the tools and methods
subject of open design. In addition to this it also contains
employed in open design, and introduces select Good
a practical part, a cross-section of all current trends and
Practice examples. These examples illustrate the band-
projects using the open design method in their day-to-
width of the topic with contributions ranging from con-
day work.
crete application examples to business cases and discussions of various other aspects of open design. The fourth
Moreover, our open design publication consists of four
Part shows two examples where open design is used by
thematic blocks. The first block of articles (Manovich,
designers. The Hackchair by Ronen Kadushin and the
Faßler, Walter, Russegger, Benkler) aims at ex-plaining
Balloon-lamp by White-Elephant are published under
altered processes with regard to authorship and the
creative commence license (cc-by-sa) and can be used
paradigm shifts related to this. Collaboration on the
free by everyone.
Internet requires new skills from all participants and entails clear consequences with respect to authorship,
This publication is meant to be the description of and
rights of use and sharing of works. Open source soft-
a starting point for a new development which is still in
ware and Creative Commons are attempts to simplify
its infancy today. The examples, theories and projects
communication among creative people and to respond
described herein still have to be negotiated and do not
to present-day requirements by means of technological
claim to be exhaustive or finalized. For these reasons we
and socio-cultural changes. These multifaceted aspects
placed a great deal of value on inclusiveness when we se-
are examined in the second block of articles. The con-
lected authors, examples and projects and thus avoided
tributions written by Medosch, Troxler, Trautenberger,
exclusion.
Fluid Forms, Beckedahl/Götzke describe ideas and the use of open design at work as well as the newly cre-ated aesthetical forms of expression for designers. Open design and open source are not only tools and methods but have brought forth a clear and recognizable aesthetics,
Gerin Trautenberger Microgiants
Seite 10
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 11
Armin Medosch
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Biography Armin Medosch is a freelance writer, media artist and theorist who has already participated in many Internet projects. Since 2007 he has worked on thenextlayer, a collaborative research platform on the subjects of art, politics, open mind and open source software.
Ronen Kadushin
RELATED LINKS thenextlayer.org/blog/2
Armin Medosch
Products in a networked c u lt u re.
Photo: Ronen Kasushin, Vague chair
Biography
Ronen Kadushin is an Israeli designer and design educator living in Berlin since 2005. He developed the open design method, where the designs of his products can be downloaded, copied, modified and produced, much as in open source software.
In today’s market-driven culture, industrial designers commit themselves to producers in order to realize their creativity. Producers, with the power to control all aspects of a product, are the gate-
and 1968, such basic approaches to a
keepers of design creativity, deciding what and how products are
new design culture were developed at
“
the Ulm School of Design. Initially,
W hat is open Design ?
the Ulm School adhered to the Bauhaus principle of the “Gute Form” (i.e. good form or good design), which expresses an object’s function. Yet from 1957 a new team under the direction of Tomás Maldonado from Argentina
available to consumers. This situation begins in Industrial design education systems that train designers to integrate into an indus-
DESIGN IS AN OPEN-ENDED PROCESS
trial production scenario and accept that producers have the right
Enter the open source method, one that revolutionized the soft-
to regulate design and indoctrinate their set of values and ends.
ware industry, created a viable economy, and gave birth to a flour-
Fresh approaches and radical views are marginalized as they do
ishing social movement that is community-minded, highly creative
not conform with the dogmas of the Church of Industrial Design.
and inclusive.
”
But other creative fields that found their products in phase with
A revolution in product development, production and distribu-
the realities of the Internet and information technology (fields such
tion is imminent due to the Internet’s disruptive nature and the easy access to CNC machines. Open design is a proposal to make this
Armin Medosch
as music, communication design, animation photography, text, etc.) are experiencing an unprecedented flood of freely available crea-
happen. It’s aim is to shift Industrial Design to become relevant in
tive content. Industries that once dominated these fields and have
a globally networked information society.
pursued a more modern and more raThis term has no fixed meaning yet.
dical program. As Maldonado’s colle-
Open design is a concept, a proposal.
ague Gui Bonsiepe analyzed in a book
On the analogy of open source soft-
which was published a few years ago,
ware this could mean: Give us insight
artistic creativity was not supposed
into building plans and construc-
to simply accept the existing world of
tion principles so that a new colla-
products uncritically but to keep an
borative design culture can emerge.
eye on the bigger picture. What was
Moreover, open source also means re-
called for was “social imagination”. In-
moving the barrier between consu-
dustrially produced objects are a prod-
course, it would mean to overtax them
mers and producers. What motivates
uct of social relationships and create
to make the designers alone respon-
open source programmers is the fact
themselves social relationships again.
sible for all these considerations. Mal-
that they use the jointly created pro-
Instead of modifying the outward ap-
donado and Bonsiepe saw them as team
grams themselves too. Thus the pro-
pearance of a given product design can
workers who moderate the processes.
duct “software” turns into a process
contain a social outline. Defined like
Their dictum was not to put up with
shared by many – the programmers but
this, open design questions the context
what was given but to “create unrest”.
also the testers, the authors of bug re-
a product is embedded in. Which raw
In this sense open design is a commit-
ports and manuals, in short, the enti-
materials are required? Which work-
ment to change the world. Back then
re lively community. In line with this
ing procedures with which machines,
the Ulm School of Design failed due to
open design might mean to free oneself
which hierarchies and chains of com-
the narrow-mindedness of the funding
from the notion of the product as an
mand? How are the people involved in
authorities. Today both the technologi-
already finalized thing and to see de-
the process? And how do we eventually
cal and the social framework are much
sign as an open-ended process. Alrea-
get rid of the produced things without
more favorable for the realization of
dy 40 to 50 years ago, between 1955
any negative environmental impact? Of
such a program.
not adapted to this reality are quickly becoming redundant. Designing and producing with this method have an effect not only on the characteristics of the object itself, but also on its modification possibilities and transformation potentials into other products. It suggests a new model for an unbiased marketplace for all to take part. And it empowers the designer to freely pursue creative expressions, realize them as industrially repeatable products and have the ability to globally distribute design.The presentation will be accompanied by a product making demonstration.
RELATED LINKS ronen-kadushin.com
Seite 12
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Cory Doctorow
Seite 13
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Open Design Now
Biography Cory Doctorow is a Canadian blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons.
Photo: Joi Ito, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
RELATED LINKS craphound.com de.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Steampunk steampunkmagazine.com
Cory Doctorow Love the Machine, Hate the Factory
We’ve heard a lot about how scary the in-
cally every industry saw massive increases
day could take it easy without holding up
dustrialrevolution was — the dislocations it
in productivity thanks to their work.
a production line. On good days, the work
wrought on the agrarian population of the
Open Design Now Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive
could fly past without creating traffic jams
The book Open Design Now – Why Design Cannot Remain Exclu-
Open Design Now – Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive. A book by Creative Commons Netherlands, Premsela und Waag Society. With articles amongst others from Paul Atkinson, Michel Avital, Caroline Hummels, Ronen Kadushin, Andrew Katz, Joris Laarman, Bert Mulder, Jost Smiers, Pieter Marleen Stikker, John Thakara, Peter Troxler; BIS publishers, Amsterdam. Pictures from Peter Troxler
early 19th century were wrenching and ter-
But all this gain was not without cost. The
farther down the line. For every gain in ef-
sive documents the current state of open design from a variety of
rible, and the revolution was a bloody one.
“unscientific” worker personally worked on
ficiency, scientific management exacted a
perspectives—art history, information and design research, business
From that time, we have the word Luddite,
several tricky stages of manufacture, often
cost in self-determination, personal digni-
and legal, arts and design, education, and political science.
referring to uprisings against the machines
seeing a project through from raw materials
ty, and a worker’s connection with what he
that were undoing ancient ways of living
to finished product.
or she produced. For me, the biggest appeal
Open design as the collaborative creation of artifacts by a dis-
of steampunk is that it exalts the machine
persed group of otherwise unrelated individuals has been growing
and disparages the mechanization of hu-
since the nineteen sixties and since then the Cult of the Connoisseur
Open design could also become relevant to other domains. Govern-
man creativity (the motto of the excellent
or specialist has had to give way to the Cult of the Amateur - those
ment projects striving for participation and citizen empowerment
and free SteamPunk Magazine is “Love the
who know themselves what is best for them. Open design builds on
could benefit from an open design approach. The world´s bigger prob-
Machine, Hate the Factory”). It celebrates
generative principles that include major features such as open access,
lems such as depletion and wasting of natural resources, population
the elaborate inventions of the scientifically
reconfigurability and reproducibility, and cover all four aspects of
growth, consumerism and wide-spread poverty may find novel so-
managed enterprise, but imagines those
design: object, process, practice and infrastructure. Parts of this in-
lutions through open design. Eventually, making itself, being at the
machines coming from individuals who are
frastructure are copyright tools, ensuring the four freedoms of open
core of open design, could become a way of material and conceptual
their own masters. Steampunk doesn’t rail
source (use, study, redistribution of copies and of modifications), ma-
exploration and creation of novel understandings and critical solu-
against efficiency — but it never puts effici-
nufacturing tools like the self replicating MakerBots, and fabrication
tions.
ency ahead of self-determination. If you’re
laboratories as places for making and sharing that become the libra-
going to raise your workbench to spare your
ries of open design.
and working. But the troubles of the 1810s were only the beginning. By the end of the century, the workplace was changing again. Workers who’d once again found their lives being dramatically remade by the forces of capital, through a process called “scientific management.” Scientific management (which was also called Taylorism, for its most prominent advocate, Frederick Winslow Taylor) was built around the idea of reducing a manufacturing process to a series of optimized simple steps, creating an assembly line where
“
Finally, we’ll be able to work like artisans and produce like an assembly line.
” Cory Doctorow
back, that’s your decision, not something
opendesignnow.org petertroxler.net
The consequences of this development are enormous, not only for the design profession. End-users of designed products will have to
Designers are starting to adopt open design practices for them-
decide to which extent they want to get involved in the design proc-
selves. The position of design literacy is changing when confronted
ess, or if they simply want to follow the decisions a designer has made
Here in the 21st century, this kind of ma-
with digital tools and media. Yet collaborative work combined with
for them. Designers and even more so their clients will have to decide how closed they can keep a design project or if they can retain desi-
imposed on you from the top down.
workers were just part of the machine. He or she could choose how to sit, which tool
RELATED LINKS
Taylor, Henry Ford, and Frank and Lillian
to use when, and in what order to complete
nufacture finally seems in reach: a world of
individual autonomy, as in open source software development, has
Gilbreth used time-motion studies, writ-
the steps. If it was a sunny day with a fine
desktop fabbers, low-cost workshops, and
not been common practice in design. Current educational models
gning for themselves at all. Open design is happening here and now,
ten logbooks, highspeed photography, and
autumn breeze, the worker could choose to
communities of helpful, like-minded ma-
need to be reformulated to reflect the flexibility, openness, and con-
and design cannot remain exclusive between the arts, science and
other empirical techniques to find wasted
plane the joints and keep the smell of the
kers puts utopia in our grasp. “Finally, we’ll
tinuous development of open design.
the media.
motions, wasted time, and potential log-
leaves in the air, sav-ing the lacquer for the
be able to work like artisans and produce
jams in manufacturing processes. Practi-
next day. Workers who were having a bad
like an assembly line”.
Seite 14
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 15
Manfred Faßler
Creative Industries Convention 2011
White Elephant
White Elephant RELATED LINKS white-elephant.at
Biography
Manfred Faßler is Profes-
sor at the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main. In his research and teaching he mainly deals with the evolution of the media and media-integrated knowledge cultures.
balloon light
Manfred Faßler
market for a slowly emerging global
The lamp is suspended in midair; its base turns from a static element
creative middle class, an open market
into merely a counterweight that prevents the lamp from flying away.
for patent-free ideas? It seems that this
If you unplug it, it rises to the ceiling and waits there for someone to
much-trumpeted openness with re-
use it with its dangling cable. All elements used are easily available in
gard to the use of algorithms, product
DIY stores or on the Internet. The construction manual is published
ideas or blueprints has become some
under a CC:BY-NC-ND license:
kind of design testing market, beta
would be convenient and cost-efficient for many, as the actual costs for infor-
openness close again, when are the
minent open country of networks and
source) software projects used in
at least thought about pioneering, the
economic and professional life? Open
RELATED LINKS
highly straining act of founding new
must be consumable outside the mar-
uni-frankfurt.de/fb/fb09/kulturanthro/ staff/fassler_home.html
worlds. It’s still worth reading J.P.
ket, it must be creative barter busi-
Barlow’s “Declaration of Independence
ness. Yet how is creativity, and thus
in Cyberspace” in order to understand
design, conceived in this respect? Is
visions of open networks at that time.
the message “Eat as much as you want
Where something was going to happen,
from the web cake of OPEN, put your
was evident: right ahead, who knows.
copyrights in the dungeon of economic
And today? That’s why I’m asking once
rules of life and enjoy the Schlauraf-
again: Where is OPEN? What is invent-
fenland of OPEN”? Or does “open”
Not at all, I hope. After a couple of years
ed, designed and maintained? Do we
imply more than the uncontrolled
in Internet, media and communication
aim for an aesthetics of change-sensi-
consumption of other people’s chair,
research one may ask the following:
tive openness beside self-organization,
cupboard or software visualization
Where actually, and what actually, is
a kind of concept or project aesthetics?
ideas, hence coherent and interrela-
legend, a paradise, a post-revolutionary utopia, a Serious Game, an office, a
8) Generously foam the plug-in sleeve with PU foam holding the tubing with one hand in order to adjust its position if necessary.
9) A the foam hardens cut off a 2cm piece from the tube coupling and seal it with hot glue. 4) Stick the piece cut off from the cap Then drill a small hole on the lower end and hang up the key ring. through the lower part of the lamp holder from inside and also insert the 10) Let the foam harden overnight and cut off tube of the pen as far as possible until the excess hard material with a Stanley it is clamped force-fit and flush. knife on the next day without damaging the 5) Pull the cable through the tube and clip cable or the tubing.
Yet one question remains: When does
prices] and open [changeable in use]
this new country called “Open”? Is it a
3) Cut off the felt pen 2 cm under the tip using a saw and remove the core. Cut off its cap 1 cm away from the lower end using a Stanley knife.
mation cannot be calculated anyway.
early nineteen nineties backed the im-
Is this a stupid question?
lampholder
mation products and product infor-
FOSS projects (free [without market
1. Where is open?
1) Open the lampholder and remove the 7) Place the unit consisting of cable, lamphol- existing cable der and tube centrically arranged in the 2) Cut off 2 meters from the electric cable, plug-in sleeve and fix it with duct tape on a remove insulation and clamp it into the durable surface.
first hand openness. A testing market
dation of the late nineteen eighties and
Where is open?
Construction Manual:
design; or, as a individualistic gesture:
the lampholder. Attach the flat plug to its 11) Cautiously pull the balloon over the fini loose end and quickly test it with the shed lamp, inflate it with helium and plug it candle lamp. in – done.
6) Cut off 10cm of aquarium tubing and plug it into the plug-in sleeve together with the unit consisting of cable, lamp- holder and tube.
illuminant 40W
lampholder E14
ted creativity? If this is the case – and
2.
some websites seem to integrate this To begin with: There has never
idea –, we need concepts dealing with
fanfold of networked individualism?
been so much openness! Yet this is no
the material, concrete, practical and
Renaissance opened up a small door
answer to our questions. Not even if
theoretical closure of this openness,
towards well-proportioned aesthetics.
we refer to participation, interactivity,
with the transition from an idea into
Who walked through it, entered the civ-
tit for tat or collaborative work. First
a product, no matter if it is a commu-
il society. Industrial design of the late
and foremost it is about self-com-
nity, content or a chair. Project Poïesis
nineteenth and early twentieth century
mitment. Free access to everything
must enable project aesthetics.
opened the gates of functionality and
digital and available in the matrix of
everybody was taken in by its alleged
online/offline is to be arranged and
forms. The Electronic Frontier Foun-
maintained. So is this rather a free
Biography White Elephant was founded by Tobias Kestel in Graz in 2005 and was joined later by Florian Puschmann. The White Elephant DesignLab specializes in the field of Product Design and Experimental Design. Experimentation and Exploration of materials and their excitability by external influences is an important resource of inspiration.
tube Ø 9mm, slightly tapered (e. g. from felt pen)
PU foam
pipe end, plastic or bamboo Ø 40mm aquarium tubing Ø 6mm inside two-core 230V cable plug, Ø approx. 7mm key ring
to be continued on page 32 All pictures from White Elephant under cc-by-sa
Seite 16
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 17
Lev Manovich
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Biography RELATED LINKS manovich.net
Lev Manovich
Lev Manovich is a Russian American media theorist, critic and artist. He currently teaches as a professor for visual arts, art and theory of the new media at the University of California, San Diego and at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. His book The Language of new media has been translated into several languages and is commonly regarded as the first comprehensive description and theory of contemporary new media.
RELATED LINKS garmz.com useabrand.com
Garmz Photos: www.garmz.com
Who Is the Author?
Crowdsourcing
„Today innovation is coming from all directions“, says law scholar Yochai Benkler elsewhere in this publication. The two fashion start“The new media culture involves a number of new
ups garmz and useabrand impressively illustrate this thesis. They
models of authorship, which all entail different forms
use new technologies to open up and democratize the selection, pro-
of collaboration”, writes the media theorist Lev Ma-
duction and distribution mechanisms of the fashion industry. It seems that the online platform, which was launched in summer
novich in his text “Who is the Author? Sampling/Remixing/Open Source”. But according to Manovich collective authorship is not a specific characteristic of the new media – histo-
The principle behind this is called crowdsourcing and is used in
2010, touched a nerve with its concept. The uploaded sketches have
many other economic sectors too. Here the creativity and the skills
already been rated more than 30,000 times. By the end of the year
of Internet users are integrated into processes that have formerly
garmz had already 6,500 users from more than 200 countries. First
been reserved to specialists.
products are available in the online shop, which has been available
Photo: www.manovich.net
ry teaches us that it has always been the rule rather
since early December 2010. Along with production and distribution
than the exception. The romantic model of the “lone
„Fashion shall be no dictatorship“, says useabrand head designer
the company also helps its designers organize their online market-
individual author” only takes up little space in the
Anna Rihl. She calls her Vienna-based startup “Mo-demokratie“
ing activities in social networks.
history of human culture.
(mo-democracy). Users can upload their sketches to the online plat-
Yet the new media offer new variations of earlier forms of collaborative authorship. In the wider context of a contemporary cultural economy, says Manovich, it is in the new media – which can be regarded as the avant-garde of the cultural industry – where new models of authorship, new relationships between producers and consumers and new distribution models are tested.
“
Remixability is becoming the key feature of a digitally networked media universe.
form and they are also involved in the decision making process as to
By means of crowdsourcing concepts garmz might also be able to
what is going to be produced and what not.
estimate the demand for different fashion items and thus minimize market risk. “By including the users in the process we can also
perspectives. The new cultural modularity – where cultural objects are de-
While at useabrand the ideas and sketches of the community flow
create stronger ties to both the platform and the brand”, says Klin-
signed from discrete samples results
into the label’s collections the startup garmz, which was also foun-
ger. “garmz helps customers realize their requirements and thus
in the future possibility of combining
ded in Vienna, wants to help young designers to take their first
even niche products get their market”. Or, as prominently placed on
cultural objects with one another like
steps in the industry.
the company’s website: “Good night, fashion industry. Good morning, designers.”
Lego bricks regardless of their materiality and medium.
The designers present their sketches on the online platform and the users can rate them and comment on them. Then garmz produces
Among other things, Manovich refers to the remix as
”
While the traditional definition of cul-
first prototypes of selected fashion design. If sufficient demand is
an example for this. Combining, appropriating and
Lev Manovich
tural modularity – as it was used by
apparent, the items go into serial production and are distributed
designers, architects and artists – was
worldwide via the company’s own online shop. Garmz fully assumes
tegrative element of all human culture. Most human
weblog entry – all this follows the same
restricted to a limited vocabulary, the
the financial risk and the shares the revenues with the designers.
cultures, as Manovich writes elsewhere (remixabili-
principles, says Manovich: “Both put to
new modularity does not draw upon a
ty essay), developed from integrating and modifying
practice remixability.”
previously defined vocabulary anymore
“Concepts such as open innovation or user innovation enable us to in-
rearranging content is something constant and an in-
but any cultural object can become a
volve several parties directly into the creation of an item and thus to
In his highly acclaimed book The Lan-
component of another cultural object
see already at an early stage the strengths and weaknesses of a pro-
guage of New Media Manovich re-
– hence we will be able to subscribe to
duct”, garmz co-founder Andreas Klinger explains. “The designers
mation on the Internet enable new possibilities of col-
cognized modularity as an essential
modules – in much the same way as we
get feedback already at the design level and can thus bring the pro-
laborative remixes: No matter if designers integrate
basic principle of the new media. It is
subscribe to RSS feeds today. Remixa-
duct to the market together with the future customers without ta-
historical or cultural forms into their work and mod-
the combination of modularity and re-
bility is becoming the key feature of a
king any risk.”
ify them or if texts are linked with one another in a
mixability that brings forth exciting
digitally networked media universe.
forms and styles derived from other cultures. Digital technologies and the rapid growth of infor-
“ Fashion shall be no dictatorship ”
Seite 18
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 19
Paul Atkinson
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Fluid Forms
Biography
Biography
Paul Atkinson is an industrial designer, design historian and design educator. He is currently a Reader in Design at Sheffield Hallam University. He has spoken at a number of international conferences around the world and has had articles published in a number of international design journals.
Fluid Forms is the result of
its founder’s, Hannes Walter’s, diploma thesis on the subject of creative coding and design interfaces. Together with Stephen Williams, who specialized in algorithmic/generative product design and geometrical modeling, he founded Fluid Forms in Graz, Austria, in 2005.
Foto: http://www. flickr.com/photos/jrosenk/5328024329/sizes/o/ in/photostream/
RELATED LINKS fluid-forms.com n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com Williams and Hannes Walter in front of the “Streets Clock” Photo:Stephen Fluid Forms
Rapid Prototyped Automake bowl by Justin Marshall
Paul Atkinson
Ghosts of the Profession:
RELATED LINKS paulatkinsondesign.co.uk
Open Design and Post Industrial Manufacturing For most of our history, the design and production of goods have been carried out by individuals, without the requirement for any kind of professional frame-
determined design and the establishment of complex,
work or system. In fact, only since the onset of the
global infrastructures to distribute and sell enor-
Industrial Revolution has the design of a product be-
mous numbers of identical products – a development
come so divorced from its manufacture and a heavi-
that significantly changed the world in which we live.
Fluid Forms
Intelligent Design by Means of Creative Coding and Open Source Software
ly regulated process of production, distribution and consumption been put in place. As manufacturing
Ironically, it is the latest manufacturing and commu-
technology progressed, and world-wide communi-
nication technologies that are moving the processes
cation developed, the 20th Century saw huge refine-
of design and production away from large centralized
ments in the mass-production of goods to a fixed, pre-
systems and placing them in the hands of the individual consumer. The latest developments in desktop digital manufacture, especially 3D printing, coupled with the open distribution network of the Internet,
“ the world is changing once more. ”
mean that there is no longer a need for a design to be made in the thousands to justify the cost of its production, or for that design to be the result of professional design activity.
Paul Atkinson
to be continued on page 20
Design: Fluid Forms, Foto: Karin Lernbeiß
is created. First prototypes of chairs which is strongly inspired by nature. In
whose structure has been automatic-
Our aesthetic feeling experiences natu-
addition to this, the layer structure of
ally created by program code on the
ral forms created by evolution as har-
3D printing is actively used as a design
basis of its future user’s weight and the
monious and enjoyable. The logic be-
element. The source code for this will
desired weight distribution, and which
hind this can be simulated by program
also be publicly available sooner or la-
have subsequently been 3D printed, al-
code, which in its turn can be used for
ter, enabling other designers to pick up
ready exist.
product design. In this way a favorable
the basic logic and use it for their own
impression is automatically created.
work.
n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com makes use of this
Over time such software functions will take on more and more complex
principle as a starting point for all its
More and more frequently, program
tasks. Thus some kind of intelligent
products, which manifests itself imme-
code is becoming the logical material
aesthetics will take shape which gives
diately in a very natural aesthetics. At
for the definition of three-dimensional
form to the desired function at the
the same time the source code for the
shapes. If the code serves its purpose
touch of a button. In this respect the
products is made publicly available.
well and is made available to other
designer’s job will be increasingly to
creative coders, there is a good chance
work out the right definitions of task
Fluid Forms, in turn, uses geodata as a
that the latter combine it with addition-
and the appropriate framework condi-
starting point for very individual jewel-
al functions. So a virtual toolbox, so
tions.
ry. This too contributes to an aesthetics
to speak, for various design purposes
Seite 20
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Paul Atkinson
Seite 21
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Evan Jones
Biography
continued from page 18
Evan Jones works in Brisbane, Australia; he completed an honours degree in Mathematics at the University of Queensland. He travelled to Cambridge University on scholarship and completed a PhD in Mathematics and studied Architecture at Kings College. Evan Jones is a talented software engineer and recently he has focused on producing collages from large sets of digital images provided by flickr.
Paul Atkinson Collage of 200 pictures under CC-by flickr www.flickr.com/photos/28594411@N06/
- What happens when there are no ‘standard’, identi cal products to purchase? - What happens when the professional designer has little control over the appearance of products? - Should professionally mass-produced and non professional, individually designed products be valued differently? - Does the fact that the consumer is involved in the
Future Factories Lampadina Mutanta luminaire by Lionel Dean
creation of a product detract from or add to its value?
Evan Jones
RELATED LINKS evanjones.com.au
INTELLIGENT FORMAL LANGUAGE
I started to explore these questions through running
The boundaries between professional and amateur
two Post Industrial Manufacturing research proj-
design (or to put it another way, between designer
ects, Automake and FutureFactories. Both of these
and user) are quickly being eroded. The bar has been
systems utilize computer generated random elements
raised from “co-design” and “user-centred design”
and consumer decision-making processes within flex-
processes as now, the designer and user are essenti-
The first part of the process is to obtain
er rotations and maybe even adjust-
ten make ten or twenty images using
ible schemes defined by a designer and a craftsman/
ally one and the same thing. We are entering a post-
or create a suitable target image. This
ments to the color channels. These
various different approaches before I
maker. The results have changed the perceptions of
professional era of open design. We are far closer
is the image that I attempt to recreate
choices affect how closely or loosely
am happy with the final result.
consumers towards the products that they create and
than might be thought to a position where high-qua-
in the large scale of the collage. It usu-
the underlying image is reproduced,
the processes of design, as well as their perceptions of
lity products, indistinguishable from those produced
ally takes quite a bit of time and invol-
and on the other hand, how easy it is to
Typically I will use between two hun-
their own capabilities. The systems not only liberate
professionally, can be downloaded, adapted and man-
ves trawling image galleries for some-
view the component image. These sorts
dred and six hundred component ima-
the designer from the sterile perfection of the manu-
ufactured by anybody, anywhere, in any material.
thing suitable. A lot of images simply
of choices allow me to accentuate some
ges to create a collage. These will come
factured form, but also free the consumer from the
This not only changes the way we think about design
will not work or not be interesting
areas and make artistic decisions about
from a library of over fifty thousand
dictatorship of owning identical products. Clearly,
practice and the consumption of design, but the way
when reproduced as a collage. I also
the final image.
images from more than four thousand
Post Industrial Manufacturing systems will change
we need to teach design to future designers.
often look for specific characteristics
photographers. I developed my library
with which I can test new ideas.
This process can take anywhere be-
from Flickr images which have been
In order to maintain a significant role in the design
tween a couple of days and a few
offered under the CC Attribution licen-
and production of goods, professional designers will
After I am happy with the target
months to complete, a lot of this is just
se. So when I post my collages I also
have to lose their egos and change their role from the
image, I start matching the component
the computer processing time. For my
put appropriate acknowledgements to
design of finished products to the creation of systems
images to the target. I do this using
collages I will run anywhere between
all the artists whose work I have used.
that will give people the freedom to create high qual-
software tools I have been writing for
a dozen and a hundred matching rou-
ity designs of their own; systems which free the user
the last couple of years. Essentially the
tines.
From a purely logistical level, being
from requiring specialist skills in design, yet which
software runs through a large library
able to use the CC licensed images
produce results retaining the designer’s original in-
of potential components and chooses
When I am happy with the matching
has made the whole project feasible. I
tention. The better a particular designer’s system
the one that is closest to the underlying
between components and the target I
would have almost certainly not got
works, the more successful that designer will be. De-
image.
will then generate the final image. This
nearly as far as I have if I had to rely
signers unwilling to change risk becoming ghosts of
involves
original
on my own and friends, images. It is
the profession.
In this stage I will typically set restric-
component images and performing
also invaluable from an artistic point
tions to regions of the target image
whatever transformation that are requi-
of view, because what I can show is not
on how the matches can be made. For
red – rotations, scaling, cropping, color
just my work but a synthesis of crea-
example, in some areas I am happy to
tweaks, etc – and then layering them
tivity from hundreds of other artists. I
match larger images with little rota-
into the final image. Over the years
aim to generate synergy, something I
tions, while in other areas I may want to
I have written quite a few routines for
consider to be the fundamental goal for
allow for much smaller images, great-
doing this final rendering so I will of-
this type of work.
the meaning of design.
Photo: Automake user with printed bowl by Justin Marshall
going
back
the
Seite 22
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 23
Gerin Trautenberger
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Biography
Gerin Trautenberger,is a trained product and furniture designer and has been working as a designer, writer and curator for net culture projects since 1992. In 2005 he founded the design collective Microgiants. Moreover, he is vice chairman of creativ wirtschaft austria.
Gerin Trautenberger RELATED LINKS microgiants.com
Creative Commons Basics
Markus Beckedahl/ Andrea Goetzke Creative Commons iN Open Design
Photos: Markus Beckedahl, Andrea Goetzke
Biography Markus Beckedahl is a co-founder of newthinking communications GmbH and as such a consultant on many issues of our digital society and online strategies. In collaboration with Andrea Goetzke, who is responsible for international collabo-rations and works as a copywriter and project manager for newthink-ing, he works on projects such as “re:publica” or “Open everything”.
Andrea Goetzke works in the field of open source strategies and topics on digital cultural societies. She has managed projects suchs as the series if events “openeverything Berlin” and “all2gethernow” - a discourse on new strategies for a society rich in music and culture.
Examples The Berlin-based designer Ronen Kadushin is one of the pioneers of
RELATED LINKS newthinking-communications.de
open design. Already quite early he experimented with publishing his raw data under a Creative Commons license. This is what motivated him: “It should encourage designers to share their creativity and to create a collection of high quality products.” Thus he shares the objects he designed such as furniture or lamps online under a non-commercial CC license. Owners and users of a laser cutter can manufacture the products using the digital template, e.g. laser
The emergence of Creative Commons licenses (CC)
CC enables the creator of a work to predefine dif-
and the Creative Commons movement have to be un-
ferent licensing possibilities on a step-by-step basis.
In digital design communities Creative Commons licenses were al-
machining them from a steel sheet and manually forming the final
derstood as closely related to the massive growth of
Thus exchanging and using licenses can be simpli-
ready in use at a rather early stage, e.g. for sharing clip art images,
product. In this way computer-controlled production technologies
the Internet and the currently newly developed col-
fied significantly – and without any tedious license
graphics or photos on platforms such as flickr.com. Yet what is re-
and manual work go hand in hand.
laborative forms of work. Digitization and the easy
research or contract negotiations. So everybody can
ally interesting are the first steps out into the material design world
exchange of texts and images mark a paradigm shift
freely use a work, or the licensing rights can be re-
of real objects. More and more projects, experiments and examples
The CC-BY-NC license grants the right to use for private (non-com-
with regard to copying and the way we deal with copy-
stricted for further usage (see illustration below). Yet
for how the open source idea can be carried over into the real world
mercial) purposes if all derivative works are shared under a license
righted works.
CC also provides the possibility to specify the com-
can be subsumed under the notion of “open design”.
identical to the license that governs the original work. If you want to commercially produce the objects, you have to conclude a con-
mercial usage of a work. Creative Commons is a US-based non government organization
The creation (Schöpferprinzip, a central principle of German copyright law) of a work is in principle protected by national and international copyright law and does not need any separate registration. What is regulated there, is first and foremost authorship and not the various ways of using a work. Usage rights for a work must always be negotiated separately, often with the help of lawyers. These conditions often stand in the way of free, flexible and straightforward communication between creative people.
“ TO ALLOW ARTISTS, CREATORS, TEACHERS, JOURNALISTS AND SCIENTISTS TO SHARE THINGS IN A SIMPLE AND LAWFUL MANNER USING THE OPEN NETWORK PROVIDED BY THE INTERNET. ” Yoichi Ito
The core of copyright as we know it today is more than 150 years old. Today’s copyright too cannot keep
tract with the designer.
that has been publishing standardized license texts for copyrighted content since 2001. What is so special about it is the fact that
ronen-kadushin.com/
these licenses have meanwhile been adapted to the respective na-
Yet Kadushin mainly produces and distributes his objects in a con-
tional copyright laws in more than 50 countries and their clauses
ventional manner. Publicly sharing the designs under a CC license
and freedoms are in force everywhere. The person who takes center
is just an additional distribution channel. Along with the crea-
stage is the creator, who can grant certain freedoms to use his or her
tions of other designers his works are available on platforms such
work. With the help of a license kit the creator chooses if the work
as “Movisi – The inspirational furniture store”. The raw designs
can be used commercially or non-commercially, if it can be remixed
can be found on his website, but also on platforms such as “flexible
or not and if the same conditions shall apply for the remixes (i.e. any
stream”.
resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by the same licensing agreement) as specified in the copyleft principle from the world
Digital distribution of the designs under a CC license facilitates de-
of free software. The only condition in all six Creative Commons
centralized production and distribution. Thus the designs can be
pace with the social and technological developments
Only the use of Creative Commons or related software
licenses is the following: The creator must always be named as a
found in countries where designers otherwise would have never ex-
and needs to be adapted in fundamental ways. For
licenses, such as GNU-GPL, facilitates the creation
source. Free software with its manifold licenses has been the model
ported their products nor would have advertised for themselves. So
this reason the CC principle was developed in the
of complex collaborative projects such as LINUX or
for the idea of Creative Commons licenses. “All rights reserved” of
if somebody finds a design there and is interested in producing it, he
USA in 2001. Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at
other open source projects. But Creative Commons
classic copyright has turned into “Some rights reserved”. So crea-
or she can experiment with the design for a start and then possibly
the Stanford Law School, contributed substantially
does not only help create social works of art but is
tors can enter their works into a large shared pool of knowledge and
agree on jointly producing it with the designer.
to the implementation of the concept and today it is
also a tool for working in small groups or on/with the
creativity, and in the best case scenario, the works can be further
supported by a broad Creative Commons movement.
Internet.
processed without any further inquiry and additional agreements.
to be continued on page 25
Seite 24
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 25
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Markus Beckedahl / Andrea Goetzke
biografie
Hannes Walter Due to his childhood experience in his father’s smithy Hannes Walter has always been highly interested in the crafts. As a trained electrical engineer he discovered the possibilities of huge laser-cutting facilities when working as a 3D CAD designer. After working in product development in the footwear industry for a while he studied Media Design. That’s when he joined the real and virtual world to launch www.fluid-forms.com. As one of the two co-founders and CEO of the company he is responsible for product development and organization. For this reason he is particularly interested in digital production processes and creatively linking up different people and fields of research.
RELATED LINKS fluid-forms.com
Hannes Walter
Photo: Karin Lernbeiß
Designer and a little more
Continued from page 23
openwear.org
Markus Beckedahl/ Andrea Goetzke
Pamoyo also supports the openwear community. Openwear is a platform experimenting with new collaborative and open approaches to both the production and distribution of fashion. For this openwear worded their own license, which is similar to the CC licenses, but in addition aims at establishing an open and collaborative openwear brand. For example, you are
Software and platforms for docu-
obliged to publish a derivative design
mentation, sharing and collaborative
in the openwear community. This is
further development of designs for ob-
part of this specific agreement (http://
jects, hardware and fashion are vital
openwear.org/info/license).
tools in the open design process. A lot
http://fa-
shionreloaded.com/ Pamoyo.com
is still up-and-coming. Such software tools and platforms should, on the one
ible, aesthetically appealing and economically viable. An essential
The Berlin-based label Pamoyo in-
arduino.cc
hand, enable us to come up with doc-
element of such design systems can be found on e.g. fluid-forms.com
troduces the ideas of open design into
The Arduino project is becoming
umentation of a plan that facilitates
or n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com: the intuitive and easy-to-use user interfaces.
the world of fashion. It aims at creating
more and more popular among design-
its full reproduction but, on the other,
With their help the customers become the co-designers of their in-
sustainably produced fashion based on
ers and artists. The platform consists of
allow for the creation of derivative de-
dividual products. When the program logic, as in the case of n-e-r-
public domain patterns and designs.
hardware and software and has been
signs. Last but not least, they should
v-o-u-s.com, is published under an appropriate Creative Commons
“Live green, look good“ is Pamoyo’s
developed further as an open source
be able to handle authorship issues.
license, the open source software and open design cycle comes full
motto, and Pamoyo wants to be more
project since 2001. Its core elements are
(Which change was added by which
Within the present economic system no individual designer piece is
circle as this code can also be copied and manipulated ad libitum.
than just a fashion label. “For all those
a simple microcontroller which can be
user?)
in demand but rather a product that solves a problem for as many
As it is all about free production data the democratization of pro-
who want to create their own fashion
triggered with a rather simple develop-
customers as possible. The digital revolution has led to a total virtu-
duction plays an important role. In the current post-industrial rev-
patterns instructions are available as
ment environment. While the develop-
makerbot.com
alization where knowledge about production and forms are created
olution mass production is being replaced by individual production
to produce one’s own favourite Pamoyo
ment environment was licensed under
The Makerbot project offers another
and communicated in the form of CAD data. Let us assume some-
carried out from the living room. This can be done by open source
style; e.g. to breathe new life into the
the GNU GPL, the hardware design
outlook on future trends. The company
one wants to publicly share such a CAD file. Thus within a demo-
production machines such as makerbot.com, by online services such
worn-out T-shirt you simply cannot
was published under the Creative Com-
of the same name produces an open-
cratized design system – we can safely call it open design – the roles
as i.materialise.com or by production networks such as makerfacto-
live without” – this is how the makers
mons ShareAlike license, which grants
source rapid prototyping 3D printer.
of designer and producer, marketer and customer, blur. For this re-
ry.com or cloudfab.com.
of the label explain one of their mo-
extensive freedom of usage, so that the
With this device it is possible to pro-
tives. The goal is to build a community
CAD files can be developed further and
duce plastic objects up to maximum
At the same time platforms such as ponoko.com and shapeways.
of designers and people with a sense of
shared.
dimensions of 10x10x15 cm at afforda-
com also offer marketing opportunities for the individually crea-
style in general who are interested in
ason a redefinition of these terms might make sense. Already the act of sharing this file makes this evident. Platforms
ble prices and thus print out 3D designs
such as thingiverse.com, ponoko.com or shapeways.com are online
ted and possibly even individually produced designs. In this way
the philosophy of openness and sustai-
Arduino products are extensively
platforms that have been conceived with sharing production files
the boundaries between designer, customer, producer and marketer
nability. http://flexiblestream.org/
used at art schools for creating interac-
sold as assembly kits (and they are, by
for physical products in mind. If the file is publicly shared under
totally blur. The notion of prosumer, i.e. a term blending ‘producer’
an appropriate license, it can be downloaded and manipulated at
and ‘consumer’ has become common usage for this.
in plastic. The Makerbot printers are
tive installations and the hacker com-
the way, themselves open design prod-
When they use CC licenses for their
munity too has quickly accepted the
ucts, i.e. they are permanently devel-
pleasure. This is the starting point for collective or evolutionary de-
patterns the people behind Pamoyo
project and contributed its share to its
oped further by a community). A large
sign where various co-designers – i.e. designers rather in the sense
want, among other things, to acknowl-
success in recent years.
community of designers has gathered
of agents – work on a design and good design prevails automatically
“
edge the creative process and make
around 3D printing technology who
Each and every possible form or variant is functional, producible, aesthetically appealing and economically viable.
it visible – a process that started out
fritzing.org
share their designs and further develop
a long time before me, the designer,
Building on Arduino the Fritzing
the technology. The company-owned
and still is a long way from comple-
project at the Fachhochschule Pots-
platform Thingiverse enables users to
tion when I have completed my design.
dam – University of Applied Sciences
publish their documentation and raw
Further activities such as clothing up-
is developing software and a commu-
data and to collaboratively develop
cycling events shall encourage users to
nity with the help of which users can
them further.
reveal the producers in themselves to a
document and collaboratively develop
greater extent. Is it the designer’s role
further prototypes. Moreover, Fritzing
to sketch out or deliver finished prod-
is said to facilitate the creation of PCB
ucts or rather to provide help and ad-
layouts for professional production.
vice for other people in their aesthetic
At the same time this platform serves
suggested for this space of possibilities, which is for logical reasons
”
work and to inspire these people’s own
as a possible application scenario for
defined in a way that each and every shape is functional, produc-
Hannes Walter
creativity with his or her designs?
hands-on electronics teaching.
as it is more frequently manipulated and improved. As to be seen quite well on thingiverse.com, this system leads to mashups of multiple already well-functioning parts. For several reasons CAD files are increasingly being created with program code specifically created for this purpose rather than with full software solutions and the mouse. Depending on the type of coding this form of design is called generative design, parametric design or creative coding. Here the coder is at the same time designer and his or her code does not define any fixed product shape but a large number of possible shapes. The term meta design has been
to be continued on page 27
Seite 26
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 27
Biography
continued from page 25
Yochai Benkler is a law professor at the Harvard Law School <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University>. In his book The Wealth of Networks and the essay “Coase‘s Penguin”, among other publications, he deals with questions pertaining to Internet production and copyrights.
Yochai Benkler
Markus Beckedahl/ Andrea Goetzke
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/Fotos/joi/538158535/
„Today innovation is coming from all directions“
Photo: http://www.gutestun.com/copyme/?p=88 by GUTESTUN production Berlin
sume that there is a business model that can put the production of information and cultural goods to good use. This model is based on exclusion and paying for cultural goods. Yet this is far from being the only model.
RELATED LINKS benkler.org
fold perspectives and modes of expres-
E.g. two thirds of the software industry’s turnovers
sion, in a new form of popular culture.
are generated with services that do not depend on copyrights. In the music business the labels main-
In which ways have the new collabo-
How does this affect the economy?
ly make money with copyrights. Musicians primari-
rative modes of production changed our
Benkler: Today innovation is coming
ly make money with live shows, which have nothing
culture?
from all possible directions. Before,
to do with copyrights. When peer-to-peer networks
Benkler: The pool of people who can
innovation came predominantly from
shook the traditional copy system, the record industry
actively participate in the production
enterprises and was market-driven. To-
fell into crisis. Yet today artists have more possibili-
of information and cultural goods
day we see that significant innovation
ties than ever before, they can do what they want and
has radically widened. The industri-
comes from the periphery. Wiki, blog-
make money with live concerts or develop other busi-
al model of information production,
ging and peer-to-peer software, for ex-
ness opportunities.
which appeared in the nineteenth
ample. Today innovation does not only
century, requires a high amount of
happen within an enterprise or within
The text printed here is an excerpt from a longer in-
costs for the production and distribu-
the frame of the copyright and patent
terview on the occasion of the ars electronica, Linz,
tion of cultural goods. Due to incre-
system anymore. It develops from social
in 2008, which was also published in the ORF Futu-
ased mobility and broadcasting the
interaction and collaboration.
rezone.
distribution opportunities have been extended too. Both the cost and the
Thus a new form of competition arises
coverage have increased. Those who
for enterprises. For example, the music
had sufficient funding to create an
industry had to deal with peer-to-peer
effective production and distributi-
file sharing. At the same time also many
on system could also decide who says
business opportunities arise for enter-
what to whom with which authority.
prises. So Google incorporated Blogger. And Google’s PageRank too defines relevance primarily in terms of what is in-
The Internet has led to an inversion of
Creative Industries Convention 2011
teresting for the people.
the funding structure. Today we have a billion people who have the means to
The new modes of production also ques-
produce, store and circulate informa-
tion traditional business models, which
tion. The new productive communities
are based on copyrights. So where do
neither need a business model nor pro-
peer production and copyrights tread
prietary rights to participate in cultural
on each other’s toes?
production. This has resulted in mani-
Benkler: Copyrights basically as-
“
We are in the midst of a technological, economic and organizational transformation that allows us to renegotiate the terms of freedom, justice, and productivity in the information society.
”
thingiverse.com
* Pots and info material are permanent-
These examples illustrate that CC licenses are used for
The designs on the Thingiverse plat-
ly improved – and thus of the working
different reasons and for different uses in the field of
form are published under CC licenses.
basis for all people involved
the design of physical objects. Some share their designs
People experiment with new possibil-
* It inspires many people to work in the
in addition to traditional local production, as a source
ities of 3D printing and the creation
composting business
of inspiration for others, to advertise themselves in
of modified and technically improved
* It tackles the waste problem in India
order to maybe establish new contacts this way etc (as
works is more often than not clearly
on a much broader basis
is the case with Ronen Kadushin or the fashion label
welcome. The more people deal with a
Nevertheless there will be still enough
Pamoyo). Others aim at improving a design by means
design and check out how an object can
work on the local level.
of collaborative work, as is the case with many design-
developed a printing template eventu-
But the idea of open design also pene-
ects that are collaboratively laid out from scratch,
ally becomes. E.g. already on the home-
trates further into other communities.
like Makerbot perhaps, are not yet that widespread.
page you can find the category “Newest
OpenDrawCommunity wants to create
http://odc.betahaus.de/
Derivatives”.
a shared pool for the creation of etch templates for model railways which
What we see now are tentative first steps and open
dailydump.org
can be made available for private use
design pioneers are drawing additional attention due
Another illustrative example for the
under a Creative Commons license.
to a still small market which can easily be kept track of. But more and more young designers are taking the
use of CC licenses for open design in practice comes from a small business
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falab
philosophy behind open design, sharing and collabo-
in India. The Daily Dump offers com-
In contrast to open source software,
ration, for granted. Open design has come to stay.
posters made of Terracotta, plus plenty
where everybody can work on a com-
of information on the subject of com-
puter at home, the production of design
posting. The entire business model, the
objects always requires materials and
design of the pots, info material and all
in many cases specific tools, from sol-
sorts of other items used in the business
dering irons and sewing machines to
process, such as aprons etc, are public-
laser cutters and 3D printers. Thus,
ly available on the Internet under a CC
along with the open design movement,
license. Prospective business partners
we have also seen the emergence of
can experiment with the material; if
places where tools can be collabo-
they want to open their own shop and
ratively used. In many countries of the
enter a business relationship with Dai-
world there are meanwhile so called
ly Dump, they have to make a contract
Fab Labs, which make tools for the
with the parent company.
production of open design objects available. Open Design City in Berlin
If this business is successful it can achieve much more than only one single small composting business. So what
Yochai Bwnkler
ers of 3D printers or Arduino hackers. Design proj-
be technically improved, the more fully
can be achieved?
is one such example.
“
OPEN DESIGN HAS COME TO STAY
”
Seite 28
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 29
Georg Russegger
Biography Georg Russegger is a software developer, curator, media and communication scholar. As an artist he uses the pseudonym of Grischinka Teufl. He lives and works in Vienna and Tokyo. Currently he is Scientific Manager at Kunstuniversität Linz, AT.
Georg Russegger Aleatory Design Models
Creative Industries Convention 2011
RELATED LINKS brepettis.com
Biography Bre Pettis is an entrepreneur, video blogger and founder of Makerbot Industries. Bre is also known for DIY video podcasts for MAKE and for the History Hacker pilot on the History Channel. He is one of the founders of the Brooklyn - based hacker space NYC Resistor.
Bre Pettis
tion dispositions and cultures of inter-
In a interview with cnn, you where talking about
action, complexity design has now more
democratizing manufacturing - could you describe
than ever become a fundamental and
is one of an artificial process (Poiesis)
global requirement for humankind.
Smartject
Our mission with MakerBot is to bring the tools of
of conceiving and creating possible
Collaboration models between humans
manufacturing to the masses. We‘re dedicated to sup-
realities. But I don’t refer to “artifici-
and machines can only be perpetuat-
ality” as opposed to “naturalness” be-
ed within these data and information
cause we cannot make this distinction
structures, if access and possibilities of
so easily in a highly complex neural
modification and intervention are, as
network of invention such as the hu-
a matter of principle, laid out open for
Hybrid program consisting of subject culture and modifications of artifacts, collaboratively coupled in project dispositions
man brain. According to Herbert A.
communities and projects, so that the
Simon’s seminal work, engineering,
complexity associated to them can be
medicine, economy, architecture and
kept manageable and developable in the
art do not deal with necessities but
long run. Computerized and automated
with contingencies, i.e. contexts that
systems are increasingly being deplo-
operate with the transformation of un-
yed in order to relate human producti-
likely things into probabilities hence
vity especially to the fields of invention
frequently under conditions of aleatory
and design. To achieve this we test, de-
moments (coincidences). In this short
velop and apply smart, i.e. intelligent,
text contribution I am going to focus on
clever, ingenious, shrewd, skillful and
Most people use a MakerBot for their own satisfac-
the question how things can be (design)
elegant or resourceful methods, in or-
tion and to make the things that they need but there
with particular reference to the human
der to put the complexity around us,
are a bunch of people using a MakerBot in their busi-
capabilities and knowledge cultures
which results from computer-assist-
linked to this, which claim so called
ed operating systems and living envi-
RELATED LINKS
ronments, to good use in an innovative
datadandy.net
what you mean by that?
Smartifacts Semi-intelligent, multi-sensorially networked and partially automated soft- and hardware agents in media-integrated interaction environments and configurations of information
We got started hacking on 3D printers so that we could afford to have a 3D printer and then we decided to make it so that everyone could have one. Makerbot is a huge success - who is buying this machine? It‘s a mix. It‘s mostly programmers, engineers, tinkering moms and dads, and regular folks that want to live in the future. How do people use it in their business - or do people create new business opportunities by using a MakerBot?
duct and sell it. I‘ve seen everything from camera accessories to iPod docks. People also use it to make parts for other 3D printers like the RepRap and then
Proceeding on the reality of sociocul-
sell those parts on eBay. Also, when used in design
tural everyday life which is increas-
Although this starting point is marked
shops it gets used to make prototypes for mass manu-
ingly being negotiated in digitally
in principle by the linking of human
factured things.
networked,
codified
and non-human powers, it manifests
and computer-centered communica-
a shift in the material relationships,
to be continued on page 30
Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid
porting creative people so they can make anything.
ness. My favorite is when people come up with a pro-
manner.
multi-sensorial
Photo: Patrick Dax
The Future of Working At Home
My idea of design in the given context
openness for themselves.
Pre Bettis
Bre Pettis in a conversation with Gerin Trautenberger.
A small machine, ... ... not bigger than a microwave which can produce everything you need for everyday life – sounds like a science-fiction novel, doesn’t it? But already today we can see what will be taken for granted in many households in the foreseeable future. The replicator of Star Trek, which “replicated“ food and everyday consumer goods still was an idealistic thought experiment but the projects that have been underway in the DIY scene for the past three years are bringing us a big step closer to this vision of the future. Founder Bre Pettis describes the idea behind it as follows: “We want to democratize manufacturing ... and therefore we developed the MakerBot self assembling kit ...... it´s about personal manufacturing“. In another interview, which can be found on the Shapeways website, Bre Pettis outlines its differences to the two other comparable projects: “The main difference between a MakerBot Cupcake CNC and a RepRap is how much time it takes to make one. The RepRap project is an academic research project and it can take a few months to gather the materials and then put a RepRap together and then a lot of experimentation to get it to print. The MakerBot CupCake CNC is a kit and can be printing things out after a weekend of assembly with a friend.“ Along with commercially distributing the MakerBot assembly kit, the founders of MakerBot also run a platform for sharing and exchanging 3D designs – Thingiverse. With these projects the idea of independent self-supply has indeed come within reach. You can build your own home manufactory and, in addition, you can deliver commissioned work for others whenever there are surplus time and resources available.
Seite 30
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 31
Georg Russegger
Georg Russegger
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Mark Frauenfelder
Biography
“
Complexity design has now more than ever before become a fundamental and global requirement for humankind.
continued from page 28
” attention performance, attendance models and colla-
Georg Russegger
borative relations between these agents, which no longer can be classified along the lines of the traditional distinction between subject and object. It is in the reproduction of skills rather than in the replication of pro-
Mark Frauenfelder is a blog-
ger, illustrator, and journalist. He is founder and editor-inchief of MAKE magazine and
Mark Frauenfelder
co-editor of the collaborative weblog Boing Boing.
do it yourself innovation
ducts where I see the foundations of the abilities which
social and cultural codes existing de-
gain significance under the paradigm of open design.
signs are transformed in such a way
Already in 1982 Serge Moscovici noted in this respect
that they are transferred into novel
that: “manpower is modeled by skills and abilities,
versions or variants in the form of a
by a code that provides it with a leeway to work in a
reconfiguration of existing offers. This
In this context aleatory moments and
given frame”. In project-related design environments
fundamental formability is an impor-
situations, which can be cross-read
(cf. Flusser 1989, Faßler 1999) this updated open sour-
tant basis for further development and
as synonyms for combinatory coinci-
ce coding of ability models and working methods is
the creation of dynamic norms and
dences and loss of control that goes
Eventually 3D printers will become as commonplace in people‘s ho-
increasingly being transformed in a way that the pro-
standards. In the recent human design
along with them, the center action is
mes and offices as laser printers are today. But in the meantime,
ject participants’ own skills become communicatively,
history, which was and still is marked
applied in form of a ludic turn within
websites like Ponoko.com and Shapeways.com are the equivalent
collaboratively and normatively linkable and acces-
by media evolution, the shift from
creation processes – which claims a
In the last couple of years do-it-yourselfers have gained access to
of desktop publishing service bureaus. For a small fee you can send
sible, in the form of design and production processes,
highly standardized design processes
fundamental error-friendliness and
a myriad of new tools and services to help them design, prototype,
your 3D design to Ponoko.com and Shapeways.com and have them
techniques being edited and presented in line with
towards normative yet open source sys-
dynamics of modification in the pro-
fund, manufacture, and sell the things they make. Most of these
print out a model in plastic, metal, or other material. These ser-
Open Cast objectives.
tems marks a fundamental paradigm
duction processes of open design as it
tools and services are free or very inexpensive, and they hint at a
vice bureaus will also manufacture and sell your product to anyone
shift in design processes.
places its emphasis on playing or ex-
future in which individuals and small collectives will offer viable
around the world who wants one.
perimentalizing – a known innovati-
alternatives to mass-produced goods.
These basically highly dynamic forms of cooperation
RELATED LINKS boingboing.net makezine.com
Most of the things that DIYers make are funded out-of-pocket. But
and co-organization in project communities are ar-
What takes center stage in this study is
on strategy but definitely one that has
ranged by information and design programs in short-
a life form (or form of survival) which I
to be revisited in explorations for the
When I went to work in 1985 at Memorex as a disk drive design en-
for more ambitious garage entrepreneurs, websites like Kickstarter.
term or medium-term models in order to be concen-
call Smartject. As a hybrid socio-cul-
future. Here, coincidence plays a more
gineer, I designed components on a drafting table with pencil and
com allow DIYers to post requests for project funding. The next
trated in material contexts. Project sense is always
tural program of bio-neuronally and
and more important role, as it does
paper. In 1986 the company installed a CAD/CAM system, which
phase in crowdsource funding will be small scale securities mar-
marked as open (changeable, adaptable, etc) in relati-
technologically and medially coupled
in all creative processes. Or, as Klaus
cost many thousands of dollars per seat with an additional charge
kets in which individual investors will share in the profits of finan-
on to the respective know-how of the project commu-
bodies it makes use of cultural operat-
Mainzer puts it: “The interplay of
for every minute anyone used the software.
cially successful project.
nities and, due to its flexibility, it is the opposite of the
ing systems by applying the method of
contingency and redundancy enables
standardized production process because it is fueled
self-design. This self-design manifests
creativity and innovation” (Mainzer,
Today, 3D design programs like Google SketchUp, Blender, and
And finally, the Web itself has become the great enabler of do-it-
by heterogeneous skills and techniques of individual
itself in the interactive interconnec-
2007). These randomizers will show if
Alibre PE are not only much more powerful than the software I
yourself innovation. It allows communities of interest to communi-
project participants. Thus design, form and function
tion of semi-intelligent agents (Smarti-
an open design paradigm can set off
was using 25 years ago, they are much cheaper, too. (Alibre PE is
cate with each other, greatly accelerating the evolution of designs of
(with regard to the design process) cannot be separa-
facts) and multi-senso-mechatronically
the artificial introduction of changes
$99 and Google SketchUp and Blender are free.) DIYers are using
everything from amateur unmanned flying drones to cigar box gui-
ted from both: technology and medium, the software
coupled programs. So the Smartject
of perspective and thus can be used for
these programs to design everything from bicycles to chicken coops
tars. The Web also serves as an indexed surplus store where almost
becomes cultureware in the process. This suggests
by necessity provides new framework
constructively further developing de-
to model rocket components. And they are sharing their 3D designs
anything anyone would want can be found with a simple search.
that we use “open source intelligence” (Stalder, Hir-
conditions and criteria for productivity
sign processes and exploring the blind
on websites like Thingiverse.com, where other people can download
sh; 2002) in form of complexity design and informati-
and life planning which are only over
spots inherent in them. What is pre-
the designs, modify them, and then make their own versions of pro-
In the 19th century people made most of the things that they used
on design based on related knowledge cultures.
time transformed into conventions and
sently necessary for the terminological
ducts using the models.
– furniture, clothing, shelter, food. We may see a return to a world
values. Yet these values are not neces-
frame of open design is the following:
In this respect the definition of the moddr, who in
sarily subject to a logic or causality but
To design open and collaborative alea-
And the tools that they are using to make these objects are getting
be connected to other innovative individuals around the world who
modification cultures not only modifies and extends
more and more come into operation in
tory processes in such a way that ma-
more powerful and cheaper all the time, too. Do you remember when
help them realize their goals.
existing design models and systems on the basis of
the form of biographical scenography
ximum accessibility of (in)formation
laser printers, which cost $100 today, used to cost $10,000? A similar
computerized design and production environments
where individuals make many of the things they use every day, but
which must be understood as a view
offers are guaranteed, coupled with
thing is happening with manufacturing machines. Low-end laser
but also rebuilds and uses them contrary to their ini-
through the eyes of a player on his or
models of usable complexity, generate
cutters cost about $7000, compared to $20,000 just a couple of years
tial purposes, takes up an important position in open
her game – a game whose rules can be
globally connectable forms of commu-
ago. And 3D printers, such as MakerBot Industries‘ Thing-O-Matic
design prototyping. In the course of the further de-
constantly transformed as required or
nication and thus new foundations for
(a rapid prototyping machine that prints out objects in the same
velopment of existing generations of technological,
desired.
innovation.
kind of plastic that Lego bricks are made of) sell for about $1200.
Seite 32
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Manfred Faßler
Seite 33
Manfred Faßler
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Biography
4.
Ponoko calls itself „your personal factory“ and is a small, but significant manufacturer of three-dimensional products based in Wellington, New Zealand. It gained some considerable media attention because of its unique business model. Ponoko is one of the first manufacturers that uses distributed manufacturing and on-demand manufacturing.
Is this the betrayal of the online
consumption of the living space didn’t
commons? No. If the creative abun-
get in each other’s way. Design subsist-
dance of inconsistency means a lot
ed on these highly prolonged asyn-
to designing web users, they cannot
chronies which were alien to or remote
exclusively refer to openness. If they
from each other. Design had his own
did, some sort of design per contin-
economy of time, although it depended
gency or design per click frequency
on the market. Yet precisely this has
would at best remain. Designers as
broken away. So talking about open-
clickworkers? It is possible that some
ness without considering the collapse
We cannot rule out that Open De-
of us think along these lines. Yet for
of temporal and perceptive borders is
sign is a real but virtual cloud of cog-
me the artistic, creative, aesthetic, po-
something I definitely cannot relate to.
nitive capitalism (T. Negri; Y. Boutang-
etic and functional decision for a de-
Moulier). Hence: How is OPEN? What
sign is not only more than all this. It
for? I have nothing against openness
is something different. It is deliberate
beyond or even against traditional
and well-justified differentiation from
hierarchies, institutions and power
ego-consuming the big web cake. Pos-
structures. Even less if it is about on-
sibly, using Web 2.0 events and product
line structures, online/offline habitats,
formats is cool, at least cooler than
neighborly web action, the intelligence
over-air-conditioned malls and sudo-
of correlations / in correlations. Yet
rific style shops. But consumption is no
this is exactly what can only very rare-
design only because design encourages
ly be found on the web pages, forums
consumption. Thus this phrase doesn’t
and blogs on the issue of openness
express any equation. Design is an op-
I guess this won’t work, as taking out products from
that I have viewed. I guess this contin-
tion, an expectation; design is billions
the open market randomness brings lifetime into
ues on all the more than one hundred
of options and expectations. Of course,
play. How can we conceive of design between the po-
million websites that call for, present,
any design plays in the world league
les of offline and online? Design as border-crossing
Not only the starting point of the value chain – such
A creator can use the digital platform to present
explain and praise open design, open
of promise, and of appearance. As op-
in a collaborative no-man’s-land, or as an interme-
as design and product development – is changed by
and sell his designs and cutting plans of a product.
access, open creativity, open whatever
posed to the big truths and grand narra-
diary? Which economies of time are thinkable? Real
the digitization and standardization of interfaces but
Customers who like a product design can pay for the
– I wasn’t able to check out all of them.
tives that emphasize the >once forever<
time/lifetime or real time = lifetime or real time plus
also the end of traditional value creation: production.
design in the Pomoko online shop and download the
But if openness is linked to creativity,
design stands for >forever for once<, for
lifetime, or real time minus lifetime? What looks
In the near future traditional manufactories and the
files. After successfully downloading the files the
or even any variant of design – thus
the moment of use and consumption.
playful at first is serious web culture. When we read
production of small series will follow rules of the game
customer can have the product manufactured by the
crosses the borderline between main-
And as we deal with a travelling cir-
about user generated content today, go in for it and
which are completely different from today’s rules.
producer of his confidence or by Ponoko. Then it is
tenance and moderated access rights –
cus here, travelling consumption, the
represent it, we are mediators of complex dynamics
it isn’t first and foremost about market
styles are subject to change. Only for
where collapse is no day-to-day event but the cri-
The present picture of productive holdings is either
and consumption anymore. Then the
this reason can design disappear and
sis of our concepts of control and design more than
marked by the craftsmanship of a family business or
Thus the radical new approach exemplified by Pono-
inventing and designing subject not
reappear in a different shape, or, rare-
apparent. Our web present isn’t marked by open-
specialized departments of medium-sized companies.
ko promises the division of design, payment and pro-
only has to differentiate him- or her-
ly, turn into a classic, beyond its initial
ness anymore but by “competing paradigms” (Nina
Within these structures traditional working tech-
duction. So a product can be designed in Europe, it is
self from others but also to make his or
promise of use. No openness can re-
Lilian Etkins). And this competition manifests itself
niques are passed down from generation to genera-
paid via Ponoko in New Zealand and it is produced in
her design distinctive, one-of-a-kind
place this. The singularity of any crea-
in all those discussions about knowledge, attention
tion or specialized production techniques become the
a local production facility in the United States.
and eye-catching. And this means:
tion of color, form, function, movement
deficits, the dumbing-down through the Internet and
unique selling proposition by means of extensive ma-
highlight it. So difference as a brand
or use is a double agent: it encourages
saving our society (an educated and well-informed
chine use in order to be able to produce standardized
merges into the claim for openness.
us to consume an offer but, possibly, it
society where reflection is encouraged). It’s about
products at low cost. These closed systems work ac-
Possibly, community as a project brand
is also the vehicle of status advantages
interpretative supremacy, patterns of regulation and
cording to their own rules and new innovative pro-
is aimed for within the FOSS struc-
within different social strata. What is
lead concepts. The battle for the virtual topologies,
duction or collaborative working models have a hard
tures. Yet this would require commu-
even more important is the fact that it
the political and economical reach, is in full swing,
time asserting themselves within these structures
nity design – not in the fashion of Se-
can evoke changes in our perception or
not only since documentation of the cyber attack
cond Life but with a similar gesture.
perhaps support socio-political pro-
on nuclear facilities in the Iran, which are run with
One project that aims to break this closed cycle is a
So the question >WHERE is OPEN?<
grams such as the architectural ideal of
Siemens software, has been available. And this has a
small startup from New Zealand named Ponoko. Po-
turns into >HOW is OPEN?<, or into the
functionalism of the nineteen twenties
considerable impact on the discussion of the aesthe-
noko call themselves digital fabricators who want to
following question: Who on the Inter-
– light, air and sun. This worked out
tics and pragmatics of openness.
offer new freedoms to creators, and new possibilities
net shuts the door, for how long and for
because the times of the social func-
which people?
tions, the designs, and the times of the
continued from page 14
3.
5. So how shall we
conceive of design in real time? Timeless?
Photos: ©Ponoko
Ponoko
The factory of the future
packaged and shipped to the customer.
of participation in the design process to buyers. to be continued on page 34
RELATED LINKS ponoko.com
Seite 34
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 35
Manfred Faßler
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Biography Continued from page 32
8. We have to
find a different approach. Consumption has moved to the top of
7.
the list of issues.
wienett is an online marketplace for local handicraft and design products. The platform was founded by Anita Posch and Martina Gruber in 2007. What wienett aims for is selling one-of-a-kind handmade and sustainable products and making them available for the public at large via sales exhibitions.
wienett
Linguistic help to describe this
What I want to propose is to eventually
was provided by Alvin Toffler, with
talk about what’s happening: about
“prosumer”, hence the merging of
consumption,
Only a quick glance on backs of books and into
“producer” and “consumer”. In his
consumption, about converging con-
digital archives reveals that we are still looking for a
book The Third Wave (1980) he respon-
sumption and performance-enhancing
coherent understanding of digital transformations of
ded with this term to the end of serial
consumption. It’s not noble lounge or
our everyday life in the information age. The unas-
mass production seeing the emergence
seminar room reflection that calls for
suming library in my office alone is filled with design
of a stronger product and market po-
the slowdown and selection of informa-
wienett was founded as an online marketplace for
- Production in the region
words such as cyberspace, smartmobs, virtual real-
wer of the consumer. In recent years a
tion streams but the consuming body:
handicraft and design created by small businesses.
- Fair working conditions
ities, intelligent environments, science of the artifi-
successor of this neologism emerged –
it is the biochemistry of perception, of
More than three years ago, its two founders, Anita
- Ecological aspects
cial, visual intelligence, networks, scaled networks,
the “produser”, a combination of “pro-
fun, of sensomotorics, of recognition, of
Posch und Martina Gruber, had the idea to create a
- Products that last
geospaces, evolutionary algorithms, post social time,
ducer” and “user”.
the dull or electrifying thought. In this
sales platform for local products. What wienett aims
- Handicraft products, i.e. handmade products
cultural evolution, artificial intelligence, glocali-
This is a response to the creative and
case switching from communication
for is selling one-of-a-kind handmade and sustainab-
- Guarantee the continued existence of the small
6.
about
experimental
Photo: Susanne Jakszus
handwerk 3.0
businesses
sation, second modernity, games, e-sports, Space In-
collaborative participation required in
to consumption means taking altered
le products and making them available for the public
vaders, homo ludens, screenagers, Interface I, II, III
user-controlled projects. In these proj-
conditions of context seriously. What
at large via sales exhibitions.
and time and time again media, communication, in-
ects information is not only dissemi-
takes center stage is learning & selec-
At the same time wienett is a community of small
formation, les immateriaux, cyborgs, weblogs, social
nated but it is provided with semantic
tive consumption. This covers the con-
businesses and creative people who jointly run and
software, Second Life. We abandon the questions that
markers. Content is created, informa-
sumption of data, information, images
further develop the online platform.
result in these terms as quickly as we consume the
tion and content is collected. They pro-
and communities. Learning is a change
terms and some of their points and learn about them.
vide the structural frame for the inter-
of behavioral possibilities that outlasts
On the basis of our experiences with wienett and in
3.0 in the frame of a project and as the title of a sales exhibition in summer 2009. What we mean with
New Crafts We, the wienett team, coined the term HANDWERK
Above all, what we learn from them, slowly but never-
temporal consumption of information.
time. It is initiated by experience and
collaboration with a large number of small-scale pro-
theless: The world’s experimental cultures cannot be
This can be found in the fields of open
observation, use and reflection. It won’t
ducers we created the manifesto Handwerk 3.0 for
HANDWERK 3.0 is the renaissance of crafts among
reduced to things, and the latter cannot be reduced to
source software, computer games, file
be immediately and easily make sense
the wienett platform in summer 2009.
the ‘neue Selbstständige’ (i.e. the new self-employed, a
materials and functions. Things are conceived, have
sharing, video hosting, photo sharing,
to everyone to hear of the consump-
term that only applies to Austria) and entrepreneurs.
programmatic and generative kinship relations to us
platforms such as Flickr, Wikipedia
tion of informational group life. But for
These include crafts such as bookbinding, shoe mak-
human beings, and, more recently, they even think,
and real-time sharing. Although dif-
a couple of years already the problem
are networked and interactive in a cybernetic sense.
ferent in focus they nevertheless build
hasn’t only been about data, image,
Do we have an idea, a concept, or several ideas and
upon a small number of universal basic
film and information streams that peo-
What lasts longer is what counts for us.
HANDWERK 3.0 demands independent and high
concepts that might help us to explain the pressing
principles.
ple expose themselves recklessly to.
In the wienett online shop you find a large selection of
quality design, product sustainability and ethical
questions of the present life of our species? No, we are
This directs our attention to different
Meanwhile it seems that communities
sustainably produced products from the region. Nei-
manufacture. 3.0 refers to the appreciation of work as
still looking for them. Understandably. For 40 years
formats of information transformation
and content networks represent a haz-
ther people nor the environment have been exploited
we claim it. It must be self-determined and positive,
of digital media stand against 4,000 years of analog
and links up questions pertaining con-
ard similar to the immense volumes of
for the products we bring to market. This is what we
and it must create values – for the producers too. Thus
explanations of God and the world, hence 1% against
sumption to the product and its pro-
data.
consider important.
we ask for the end of the exploitation of all the people
99%. Pointing out that nowadays not only a small
duction. The concept underlying this
We are talking about content overload
working self-employed, not only of those who work in
bunch of wise guys but billions of clever friends par-
assumes that information consumption
(Steve Hardagon), content overdose
the creative field. Entrepreneurs create jobs, creativi-
ticipate can be well justified though but this is also
is commons-based, that it consists of
(Rob Blatt), or social network overdose.
ty derives from diversity.
where the difficulties actually begin, as these friends
peer-to-peer relations and that inno-
In the context of the social media hype
have no common home, no common city, no perma-
vation is guaranteed by creative com-
we are talking of overload caused by
nent territory. The digital classical age begins with
mons. This comes close to the model of
social networks, of an overdose of rela-
the end of the Neolithic Period. Moreover, the friends,
endogenous growth as proposed by the
tionships. Who would have thought five
fans and communities are no displaced people but
Portuguese economist Sérgio Rebelo
years ago that at some point in the fu-
fresh approaches and with a focus on their actual
fall in the categories of nomads, driven people, exper-
in 1991 but won’t take us any further
ture an overdose of the social is brought
application. In this respect we remove creations and
imental people, developers or beta testers. How can
forward if we want to find an answer
forward as criticism of digital changes
products from their traditionally known contexts and
we speak of culture, of social systems, when there is
to the following question: What kind of
of the world as we know it? Overdose?
newly interpret and develop them (as prototypes). The
no final test, no guarantee that it works and no perma-
correlations are we talking about when
Wasn’t the social of the past centuries
final result is, ideally, a new, marketable, individual
nent functional dependencies? So what are we talk-
talking about information-based hu-
ing about when talking about design?
man lifestyles?
New Work
ing, jewelry design, textile and furniture design etc.
3.0 also stands for innovation within the crafts –and RELATED LINKS wienett.at
here, first and foremost, for the further development of existing and available manual skills by means of
and local product. to be continued on page 36
Seite 36
Creative Industries Convention 2011
Seite 37
Manfred Faßler
Creative Industries Convention 2011 Photo: www.happylab.at © INNOC
Continued from page 34
“ The creative paradox of design consuming content, the self-consuming openness that always aims for a new event.
” Manfred Faßler
RELATED LINKS opendesignnow.org petertroxler.net
9.
Photo: Light bottles http://www.flickr.com/photos/fablabamsterdam/
Has this still anything to do with
culture, economy and society, with politics and the public? If yes, in which sense? If no, is there any change we can embrace? If no again: What drives
Peter Troxler
Biography
Peter Troxler is an independent researcher at the intersection of business administration, society and technology. His interest and expertise are in management systems, such as quality and knowledge management. Currently he is editor of the book Open Design Now – Why Design Can No Longer Be Exclusive.
the Holy Grail of modernity, which is
us? Which rules do we follow? Or are
being invoked now to save what can
the rules only options anymore, shouts
sumption can be translated from the
still be saved? Hence, no OPENNESS
from the sewer or from the roadside?
individual decision into a network or
but conventional CLOSEDNESS? And
And which options do we support? In
group decision. This might not make
what should this be? And how can
2005 Michel Bauwens addressed this
sense to everyone: group consumption.
OPEN COMMUNITY DESIGN positi-
issue in his book Peer to Peer and Hu-
In this way the intertemporal, prepar-
on itself in this matter?
man Evolution, thus discussing what
ative consumption could be translated
What we hear from the direction of di-
he called integral processes of infor-
into interactive consumption. Possibly,
gital communities are proposals that
mation use. The gist of it: Leave off all
this wording contradicts our common-
only relate to the communities them-
attitudes of observation from the out-
sensical feeling for language, as we
selves – which is logical. A little bit of
side. In 2006 Chris Anderson published
are used to understand consumption
technological assistance is added to the
The Long Tail, which was subtitled
exclusively on an individual or micro-
content overdose: ping.fm, for simul-
How Endless Choice Is Creating Unli-
economical level. Interactive consump-
taneous news updates, TweetDeck, to
mited Demand. Both approaches shif-
tion focuses on networking and puts the
select the forwards of the news, RSS,
ted our attention to processes whose
individual’s satisfaction on the waiting
to be able to read blogs, websites and
formats are unclear or not yet exist-
list. Thus we have achieved a threefold
updates in a structured way.
ing. In a way as if the consumption of
definition of consumption: As uninten-
Yet there is indeed reason to fear that
information created the information
tional storing of future possibilities,
we fail in the social aspect of the net-
economy, which in its turn, creates the
as current preservation of the working
works; that we fail in the social, as if
consumption of information, one could
power and adaptation to given condi-
social software betrayed the social.
speak of integral consumption and of
tions, and as the production and main-
Shall a society which is differentiated
“intertemporal consumption” (A. Stob-
tenance of interactive group processes.
along the lines of class and function be
be 1991).
ideologically activated against social
This new format of consumption con-
networks?
tradicts the classic theory of the pre-
10.
Over the past decades of digital over-
servation of the current working pow-
content generated design. It is about
whelming we still haven’t learnt to keep
er – as productive consumption was
the creative paradox of design con-
From a handful of Fab Labs in 2004 the network has grown to
against potential conflict with open access, and en-
the right distance from the switches,
formulated from John Stuart Mill to
suming content or: the openness that
over fifty active labs with as many in preparation. Some of the labs
courages business activity to both grow beyond the
ports, hard-discs, soft-, hard- and wet-
Karl Marx. Thus neither management
consumes itself, that always aims for
are part of an educational institution, be it a high school or universi-
lab. Successful businesses should give back to the in-
ware items, information streams and
scientists nor socialists got themselves
a new event. So, which community are
ty, some act as business incubators for inventors and tinkerers, and
ventors, labs, and networks that contributed to their
data that allows us to switch from the
into this so far. The idea behind the
we looking for, which one do we really
others have found their place as catalysers for artists, designers and
success.
aesthetics of information to intelligent
term “intertemporal consumption“, as
want and dream of, design and pro-
other creative minds.
consumption, to conceive a condition
used by Stobbe and others, is a decision
gram? Then openness means: to adapt
of life organized around information.
to save up money and accrue interest.
to the heterogeneity of both the origin
The Alpine region has been relatively slow in taking up the con-
acteristics that might seem contradictory at first, but
We talked and we are still talking of
Hence we deal with a rational indivi-
of ideas and the future of projects. So,
cept of Fab Labs. The Ars Electronica Center, Linz, operates a Fab
might well be considered the best practical approx-
interactivity, immersion, participati-
dual decision. Future production and
no randomized design but the respon-
Lab, equipped with a small selection of digital production tools and
imation of what Yochai Benkler describes as com-
on, deliberative or direct democracy,
distribution shall be influenced.
sibility to design the forms of open-
geared more towards playful learning than open design. The Vienna
mons-based peer production that gives more people
creativity – yet there is a fundamental
Yet this term can also be used in a dif-
ness with an open civilization in mind.
Happylab – founded in 2006 as an innovation incubator, later hacker-
more control over their productivity in a self-directed
lack of discourse around the economic,
ferent sense, i.e. as consumption with-
Hence, WHERE is OPEN? In the per-
space – has recently been rebranded as a FabLab. The first Fab Lab
and community-oriented way, essentially the basis of
normative, legal, ethic and competitive
out a clear goal in mind, as random or
manently changing forms of collabora-
in Switzerland has just opened in Lucerne, and a few more labs are
open design.
condition of informational contexts.
networked consumption. For this, con-
tion between the people.
planned at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and in Munich.
Not user generated content but
content consuming design to achieve
THE PROLIFERATION OF FAB LABS
With the advent of digital fabrication technology, what used to be
What makes Fab Labs different from just any
called ‘shared machine shops’ and hackerspaces are becoming the in-
shared machine shop is that they explicitly subscribe
cubators of the digital age: Fab Lab, short for fabrication laboratory.
to a common charter that firmly institutes Fab Labs as a global network of local labs, stipulates open ac-
Based on a concept developed by Neil Gershenfeld at the MIT,
cess, and establishes peer learning as a core feature.
these initiatives are typically centred around workshops equipped with relatively inexpensive, digitally controlled fabrication machi-
The charter makes Fab Labs the ideal places to
nes such as laser cutters, CNC routers and 3D printers. Users produ-
practice open design, as it requires that ‘designs and
ce two- and three-dimensional things that once could only be made
processes developed in fab labs must remain available
using equipment that cost hundreds of thousands of Euros. They use
for individual use’. Beyond that it allows intellectual
digital drawings and open-source software to control the machines;
property protection ‘however you choose’. Even more,
and they build electronic circuits and digital gadgets.
the charter explicitly continues that ‘commercial activities can be incubated in fab labs’. Yet it cautions
Fab Labs incorporate an interesting mix of char-