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o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g _ 1 . 1
M a s s i m o M e n i c h i n e l l i
en Castellano:
openp2pdesign.org
in English
in Italiano:
openp2pdesign.org
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o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g _ 1 . 1
i n E n g l i s h
M a s s i m o M e n i c h i n e l l i
S o m e R i g h t s R e s e r v e d , 2 0 0 8
h t t p : / / c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o r g / l i c e n s e s / b y - n c - s a / 3 . 0 /
W r i t t e n a n d D e s i g n e d b y M a s s i m o M e n i c h i n e l l i
w i t h S c r i b u s , O p e n O f f i c e , G i m p , I n k s c a p e , U b u n t u
A n i v e r s , F o n t i n , F o n t i n S a n s T y p e f a c e s b y J o s B u i v e n g a
h t t p : / / w w w . j o s b u i v e n g a . d e m o n . n l
A c o p y o f t h i s b o o k a n d t h e I t a l i a n a n d S p a n i s h v e r s i o n s c a n b e d o w n l o a d e d h e r e :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . s c r i b d . c o m / p e o p l e / v i e w / 9 8 4 9 3
h t t p : / / s t o r e s . l u l u . c o m / o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n
i n f o @ o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g
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Table of Contents
Introduction 11
01 Design and Locality 13
02 Design and Community 15
03 Design, Community and Free Software / Open Source / Peer-to-Peer 17
04 Design and Complexity for Communities 21
05 Design and Complexity towards Sustainability 25
06 Open P2P Communities 31
06.01 An early definition of Open P2P Communities 31
06.02 A loose definition, between many classifications 34
06.03 An Open P2P Communities list (1.1) 37
06.04 Open P2P Communities and Participation 40
07 The activity of an Open P2P Community and Service Design 43
07.01 Activity of a community and Activity System 43
07.02 Activity and the structure of the Open Peer-to-Peer Communities 45
07.03 Open Peer-to-Peer Communities described with an Activity System 47
07.04 Activity Systems and Service Design 49
08 Open P2P Communities and the Platform 53
09 Open P2P Design: the designer as an enabler 59
10 First examples of an Open and P2P Design 63
10.01 Co-created Service Design: RED's Open Health 64
10.02 Open Design, Open Source Software and Open Hardware: Openmoko 70
10.03 Open Design and Open Hardware: VIA OpenBook 78
11 First guidelines for an Open P2P Design 85
11.01 Analysis 87
11.02 Concept 87
11.03 Parallel co-design / test / setting-up 87
11.04 Self-organization 89
12. Future development for Open P2P Design 95
12.01 Design and research directions 95
12.02 A research for a social knowledge discipline 97
Bibliography 105
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 2 4
In the last 7-6 years, the design community has started
approaching the locality with growing interest. For the design
community, the locality is to be intended as the whole
characteristics of the territory where the project is developed
and directed to. The territory of users and designers too: the
territory of everystakeholder. Therefore, many initiatives have
been developed in Europe and in Italy, with the purpose of
redefining a relationship that (almost) have never been: therelationship between Design and Locality.
Produced by the Industrial Revolution and its Modernity,
Design could be an example of how we always tried to reduce
the complexity of the local dimension to exploit it.
Traditionally, most of the designers think about economies of
scale and mass production, and not about small productionand local scale.
Coming from modern activities and theories, Design follows
their paths too: as they are becoming more interested in local
dimension nowadays (maybe to manage globalization better),
Design is now pretended to develop solutions (and/or new
products and services) to local problems and opportunities.
Therefore locality become the place where new commercialand sustainable solutions can be found (to the problems old
01 Design and Locality
D e s i g n
L o c a l i t y
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opportunities generated). Most of the economic theories, from
the mainstream ones (development, and thus local
development) to the more outsider ones (degrowth and thus
localism), think of local dimension as the ideal place for every
action in the future.
Whether conformist or radical, the future has a local
dimension.
We should reflect more in the future on the relationships
between Design and Economy (and between Economy and
Locality, and Economy and Sustainability): but it is very
important now to point out how the relationship between
Design and Locality is growing. And what it is interesting the
most are the opportunities that this relationship can bring to
thesustainability issue.
In order to understand this relationship, we can look at the
map of the intersections between Economics, Marketing,
Architecture, Urban Planning, Institutions and Design as they
became interested in the local dimension. And then wen can
see that the most important keyword in this map is
p a r t i c i p a t i o n , as it is common to all the fields studied.
Theferore we should become interested in communities too,
in order to design for a locality.
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 0
02 Design and Community
As designers, why are we interested incommunities and so in
participation to improve the qualities of a locality towards
sustainability? The Design community has reflected upon the
sustainability issue in the past years, why it is interested also
in communityies now?
For sure, the Design community has reflected upon
sustainability, learning from successes and failures
1
. Now, weare at a point where we know that simply redesigning
products (ecodesign) reducing materials number and quantity
and proposing services (which are not so immaterial as we
thought) its not enough to achieve sustainability.
These attempts have brought to a completely opposite effect
(rebound effect), an incredible growth of products and services
on the market (and, as a consequence, a growth in the use ofresources).
Maybe its better to propose (and improve the diffusion of)
sustainable lifestyles, based on sustainable and fair use of
resources. Lifestyles that could be proposed by designers or
companies, but already exist in the society, though they are
1. Manzini E., Jegou F. (2003)
D e s i g n
C o m m u n i t y
S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
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h t t p : / / w w w . s u s t a i n a b l e - e v e r y d a y . n e t / m a n z i n i /
not very well known and widrespread. Ezio Manzini calls
these cases Creative Communities2, i.e. bottom-up
communities that self-organize to solve local problems in a
sustainable way.
Design could support the emergence and diffusion of the
Creative Communities, providing them products,
communication tools, services and strategies that can help
them doing their activities. But Design have (almost) never
considered communities, how can it relate with communities
in participative projects?
Designers could learn something from Architecture, Urban
Planning and Web Design, that usually deal with participation.
Maybe the Design community could learn how to face the
complexity of communities an of their local dimension,
looking at whom have been capable to do it successfullyfor
example, Open Source communities, P2P communities and
similar communities
2. Manzini E. (2006)
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 1
03 Design, Community and FreeSoftware / Open Source / Peer-to-Peer
Why should Design learn from F r e e S o f t w a r e , O p e n S o u r c e
a n d P 2 P h o w t o r e l a t e t o a c o m m u n i t y ?
Because Free Software, Open Source and P2P communities
have developed some organizational forms and principles that
can lead a community to self-organization, and potentially to
high dimensions. In other words, they have developed an
approach to a community-based organizational form that
proved its usefulness. For this reason, even in other fields than
software development, Open Source and P2P principles and
organizational forms have been adopted explicitly by many
organizations; moreover, many other organizations that have
not been explicitly inspired by Open Source and P2P use some
principles and organizational forms that come from them.
As a consequence of their success, a general interest in
community-based collaborative forms has been spreading:
this has lead to the discovery of similar cases prior to the Free
Software, Open Source and P2P phenomenon but that share
some features.
All these cases (inspired by, derived by, prior to Free Software,
Open Source and P2P communities) can be grouped (at least
D e s i g n
C o m m u n i t y
F r e e S o f t w a r e
O p e n S o u r c e
P e e r - t o - P e e r
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
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temporarily) in Open P2P Communities, i.e. communities
based on an Open and Peer-to-Peer participation. They can be
grouped temporarily in Open P2P Communities as they are
evolving so fast that new definitions rise often (and
CrowdsourcingandWeb 2.0are just an example).
This success proves that community-based organizational
forms are promising ones and that they can be adopted in
communities with an high number of participants, building
short and long collaborative networks, with high
probabilities of spreading and achieving success in the society.
They represent, maybe, the only participation-based
organizational forms with an high scalability: the more the
participants, the faster they can achieve success.
These organizational forms and principles could be used to
support and spread the activities of the Creative Communities
(or any community). Moreover, user-generated content and
community-based organization represents strong business
opportunities (like YouTube, for example), and so redefining
the role of Design could lead to more business opportunities
for designers too.
The idea is to bring Open P2P principles and practices inside
the design process, and to use the design process to spread
them throughout society. Open P2P organizational forms and
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 2
04 Design and Complexity forCommunities
Why Design should learn how torelate to Complexity?
Because the communities and the territories where they live
are so complex that a design process dedicated to them must
understand their complexity, to have greater probabilities of
success. Understanding Complexity, for a designer, means to
design in and for Complexity3. Therefore, in and for the
complexity of a community and of its territory.
The connection between Design and Complexity represents a
an interesting field of research, now in its first steps: the
Complexity Theories are relatively recent and still society (and
therefore also in the Design community), tends to prefer more
the reduction of the complexity, than its valorisation.
We could spend so much time before we understand how to
face the complexity of a community, but fortunately there is a
very important consideration that can help us and comes from
the phenomenon of Free Software/Open Source. According to
Ko Kuwabara4 the Linux community has succeeded because it
3. Pizzocaro S. (2004)
4. Kuwabara K. (2000)
D e s i g n
S e r v i c e d e s i g n
F r e e S o f t w a r e
O p e n S o u r c e
C o m p l e x i t y
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . m e d i a d i g i t a l i . p o l i m i . i t / d d d / d d d _ 0 7 / n u m e r o / w _ a r t i c o l i / 7 2 _ 0 5 _ s a n g i o r g i . p d f
Every product has connections with the social dimension
(who designs it, produces it, sells it, distributes it, uses it) and
the local dimension (where these persons act and from
where they get the resources needed) throughout its life
cycle. Understanding these hidden connections can lead to
design products, communication artifacts, services and
strategies with greater probabilities of sustainability and
commercial success.
The realization of the Complexity dimension is not only useful
for the Design process, but also in the understanding of the
Sustainability issues
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 3
05 Design and Complexity towardsSustainability
Why Design should learn how to relate to Complexity to
understand Sustainability?
Because the lack of understanding the unsustainability of
society is also a problem of lack of understanding the
complexity of the natural, social and economic (complex)
systems in which we live. The attempt of reduction (or
overappreciation) of Complexity was born with Modernity,
that has applied it to the social, natural and territorial
systems (leading us towards the unsustainability we face
now).
For Rullani6 Modernity (and in especially the great fordist
company) generates artificial environments with reduced
complexity, in order to control the behaviour of the agents.
And a modernity that proceeds reducing the complexity of the
human and social dimension has few points of contact with
the territory, that is a layered and localized synthesis of
history, culture and of relations between men and the
ecosystem. In the theory and the practice of the modern
economy,the territory has disappeared.
6. Rullani E. (2002)
M o d e r n i t y
S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
C o m p l e x i t y
D e s i g n
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . f i r s t m o n d a y . o r g / i s s u e s / i s s u e 4 _ 8 / m o g l e n / i n d e x . h t m l
h t t p : / / b l o g . p 2 p f o u n d a t i o n . n e t
h t t p : / / w w w . f r e e o s . c o m / a r t i c l e s / 4 1 3 3 /
h t t p : / / w w w . n y t i m e s . c o m / 2 0 0 5 / 1 0 / 1 5 / o p i n i o n / 1 5 r o b b . h t m l ? e x = 1 2 8 7 0 2 8 8 0
0 & e n = c 6 2 7 4 2 c 4 6 6 b 5 e d 1 e & e i = 5 0 8 8 & p a r t n e r = r s s n y t & e m c = r s s
h t t p : / / w w w . t i m b o u c h e r . c o m / j o u r n a l / 2 0 0 6 / 1 1 / 0 5 / t e x a s - b o r d e r - w a t c h - w e b s i t e /
The diversity is the main characteristic of the nature and the
foundation of the ecological stability, and the Open P2P
Communities introduce some suitable practices to valorize
the diversity of their own participants, succeeding in the
construction of acollective intelligence based on an open and
tolerant peer-to-peer learning.
Open P2P organizational forms and principles are very
defined, but still loose, that there is someone that believes
they representAnarchy, Communism, perfect free market and
therefore Capitalism, or that they are not Communism (or
something similar), or maybe a radically different
phenomenon, that we should study better.
Therefore, its possible to study how to modify and apply
these community-based organizational forms, as they can be
adapted to many situations: their flexibility has made them so
widespread. We could use Open P2P organizational forms in
order to diffuse questionable activities like military activities,
control activities, oractivities that, with an increase of their
scale, could lead to an increase pollution and the gap between
rich and poor (representing an awful future). Or we could use
them in order to diffuse sustainable activities from the social,
economic and natural point of view.
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . b o i n g b o i n g . n e t / 2 0 0 5 / 0 1 / 0 5 / b i l l - g a t e s - f r e e - c u l t . h t m l
h t t p : / / w w w . w i r e d . c o m / c u l t u r e / l i f e s t y l e / n e w s / 2 0 0 5 / 0 1 / 6 6 2 0 9
h t t p : / / w w w . t h e o n i o n . c o m / c o n t e n t / n e w s / c h a n e l _ d e v e l o p s _ d u r a b l e _ l o w _ c o s t
h t t p : / / w w w . n e x t b i l l i o n . n e t / b l o g s / 2 0 0 7 / 0 1 / 2 3 / b o p - s p o o f e d - b y - t h e - o n i o n
We can see these organizational forms like a box: they have a
shape (the values and practices), but it is the content that give
them a sense and a direction. A content that must be adapted
to the shape of the box, but we have seen that it is flexible
enough: it is necessary therefore to decide which contents we
should use. As this organizational forms are so suitable to
manage complexity, it is possible to choose them for complex
entities such as the territory and its sustainability, and
therefore for a Design directed to this issues.
Design, Locality, Open Source, P2P, Web 2.0 are therefore the
center of this research, where they will be analyzed from the
complexity and sustainability point of view. We are going to
analyze all the cases that are not explicitly related to
sustainabilty too, as they could be useful in order to
understand how to spread sustainable activities.
We should talk now a little bit more about Open P2P
Communities and about how Design can approach them.
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 3 7
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 4 4
06 Open P2P Communities
06.01 An early definition of Open P2P CommunitiesBefore we take a look at the methodological part of my thesis
and the conclusions to draw from it, it would be useful to say
something more aboute those cases that have been defined
Open P2P Communities. The methodology that I have
developed in the thesis, in fact, has been developed taking in
consideration some existing cases before, and later taking inconsideration which design tools and theories were suitable.
Therefore, I searched for cases with a community-based
collaborative organizational form, that can build short and
long collaborative networks, reaching a potentially high
number of participants with an important active role.
This was still a vague definition, therefore I began searchingthose cases that were inspired by the Free Software / Open
Source / P2P phenomenon, as already then (at the beginning
of 2005) some believed they had developed organizational
forms and principles that could be adopted in other fields with
success8.
8. Mulgan G., Steinberg T., Salem O. (2005)
O p e n S o u r c e
C r o w d s o u r c i n g
P e e r - t o - P e e r
W e b 2 . 0
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
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Collaboration has always existed, but only today its
importance has been amplified to such levels that it is now
considered more promising than competition. Thanks to the
ITC distributed infrastructures, collaboration is being diffused
as an organizational form outside of the Free Software / Open
Source / P2P Communities.
To all these cases directly inspired by the Open P2P
phenomenon9, we can add some other cases that, even if not
explicitly inspired by Open P2P, share some of its features (and
therefore they could have been influenced indirectly)10.
We can also add some previous cases (and therefore without
relations with Open P2P), but that had developed community-
based organizational forms able to build long collaborative
networks with an active role of the participants11.
The existence of these last two categories is of fundamental
importance: community-based organizational forms are not
just for Open Source / Free Software / P2P software, but they
are very important, and as they tend to develop some
common characteristics, they can be used therefore for a
9. For example: Thinkcycle, OSCar, Open Health.
10. For example: BBC Action Network, Neubauten.org, Pledgebank.
11. For example: Amul, Dabbawalla, Grameen Bank.
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wide range of situations and disciplines, independently from
the degree of technology used. The Open Source / Free
Software / P2P phenomenon is therefore important because it
made us aware of the importance of community-based models
and inspired us to search for similar cases. Moreover, they
have shown own scalable and innovative organizational
forms, adapted to face the challenges of a knowledge society.
All these cases represent community-based organizational
forms, based on collaboration through the sharing of flows of
information and sometimes of material resources. While
traditional organizations are based on a vertical hierarchy that
commands and controls, the Open P2P Communities are
based on a horizontal network in which every participant
commands itself and contributes to control the whole
network. While in the vertical hierarchies the relationships are
defined by power (top-down), in the Open P2P Communities
they are defined by reputation (bottom-up).
The structure is therefore an horizontal reticular one, where
reputation becomes a centripetal force of infuence towards
the other participants. These communities can assume forms
that are localized or virtual; they share the ability of self-
organization during the development of a main activity for the
solution of a specific problem, that neither institutions neither
the market had provided satisfactory solutions.
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Their community nature allows the creation of social capital,
that could generate further processes of improvement of the
local dimension, through the connections that they
potentially can bring between short networks (the interest for
the local dimension) with long networks (that involve a wide
number of participants).
06.02 A loose definition, between manyclassificationsThis is therefore the concise definition of an Open P2P
Community. Like every classification, there is the risk of
excessive generalization and therefore to group cases that
represents different things. And as I was approaching to Free
Software, Open Source and P2P for the first time, there could
be some ingenuous statements.
And as one year has passed from the discussion of my thesis,
the definition of an Open P2P Community maybe should be
rethought and redefined. Probably in the future it could be
convenient or necessary to make a distinction between those
cases in which the community risks to be used in order to
produce value with an activity, and those cases in which is the
community itself that directs its activity.
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But for the moment I think it is better to continue to observe
these phenomena, while they are living and developing,
leaving any expectations of exaustive definitions for the
future. Even so, this definition has been very useful for me, as
it helped me to find a way between the wide number of cases.
Lets remain, at least for the moment, with a loose and
adaptable definition.
But maybe its time to signal others two phenomena (or,
therefore, also categories of definition) that became famous
towards or after the end of my thesis, and that share relations
with the Open P2P Communities. They are Web 2.0 and
Crowdsourcing.
My research started from existing cases, with a wide and
flexilbe classification at the beginning, and its point of
departure was the Free Software / Open Source / P2P
phenomenon and its diffusion to others fields. At the time
(March 2005) the term Web 2.0 already existed, but it had not
become so famous (it happened in 2006, with the success of
YouTube) and developed completely. Therefore it seemed to
me more useful to focus on the Free Software / Open Source /
P2P phenomenon. And the Crowdsourcing term was born in
June 2006, when the thesis was already finished.
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w e b . m i t . e d u / i s / i s n e w s / v 1 7 / n 0 3 / 1 7 0 3 0 1 . h t m l
h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / W e b _ 2 . 0
Therefore, the main reason for the lack of Web 2.0 and
Crowdsourcing inside the thesis is mainly due for a temporal
factor. The interest towards the organizational forms and the
principles developed in the Free Software (and Open Source
and P2P) Communities was born end of the nineties.
However, we had to wait until 2003 for the first awareness of
this possibility, thanks to the Goetzs article appeared on
Wired12. The organizational methodology of the Open Source
Communities are seen as the right infrastructure for a
knowledge economy, just as the assembly line had been for
the Fordist mass-production economy. The interest for Open
Source / Free Software / P2P organizational forms was born
therefore before the definition of Web 2.013.
Moreover, I think they represent phenomena closely
correlated between each other. Web 1.0 has been developed
by communities, with bottom-up and P2P dynamics, through
sharing and Open Source / Free Software. Therefore it wasnt
Web 2.0 that introduced these dynamics, but they were
already present since years in the computer science and
programming sciene under the hacker ethic.
12. Goetz T. (2003)
13. For example, Thinkcycle started onMarch 2000, 4 years before
the first definition of Web 2.0
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . p l e d g e b a n k . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . m e e t u p . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . s m a r t m o b s . c o m
h t t p : / / w w w . i n d y m e d i a . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . g l o b a l i d e a s b a n k . o r g /
h t t p : / / e n g l i s h . o h m y n e w s . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . k u r o 5 h i n . o r g /
h t t p : / / s l a s h d o t . o r g /
h t t p : / / c y b e r . l a w . h a r v a r d . e d u / o p e n l a w /
h t t p : / / w i k i p e d i a . o r g /
h t t p : / / c n x . o r g /
h t t p : / / s t r i n g e r s . m e d i a . m i t . e d u /
h t t p : / / c l i c k w o r k e r s . a r c . n a s a . g o v /
h t t p : / / w w w . p g d p . n e t / c /
h t t p : / / s e t i a t h o m e . b e r k e l e y . e d u /
h t t p : / / w w w . g r i d . o r g /
consider this directory, later on I will write about new
interesting cases. The cases have been classified by the main
activity these communities develop, gathering participants
and building collaborative networks.
Collaborative networks that reach a critical mass of
participants
PledgeBank
Meetup
Smart Mobs
Collaborative networks that manage informations and
knowledge
Indymedia
The Global Ideas Bank
Ohmynews
Kuro5hin
Slashdot
OpenLaw
Wikipedia
Connexions
Silver Stringers
NASA Mars Clickworkers
Distributed Proofreaders
SETI@Home
Grid.org
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h t t p : / / w w w . h a p m a p . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . t r o p i c a l d i s e a s e . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . d n d i . o r g /
h t t p : / / s n p . c s h l . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . c a m b i a . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . o s g v . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . t h e o s c a r p r o j e c t . o r g /
h t t p : / / o p e n s o u r c e . m i t . e d u / p a p e r s / m e y e r . p d f
h t t p : / / w w w . t h i n k c y c l e . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . i c o m p o s i t i o n s . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . s o l a r o o f . o r g / w i k i
h t t p : / / w w w . i n s t r u c t a b l e s . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . z e r o p r e s t i g e . o r g /
h t t p : / / n e u b a u t e n . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . a m u l . c o m /
h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / D a b b a w a l a
h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / N a p s t e r
h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / G n u t e l l a
h t t p : / / w w w . a m a z o n . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . e b a y . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . p - g r i d . o r g /
h t t p : / / t h e s i m s . e a . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . b i o s . n e t /
Collaborative networks that develop scientific research
The International HapMap Project
The Tropical Disease Initiative (TDI)
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi)
The SNP Consortium Ltd
The CAMBIA BIOS
Collaborative networks that design
Open Source Green Vehicle (OSGV)
OSCar - The Open Source Car Project
Episodes of collective technological innovations
Thinkcycle
iCompositions
Solar Roof
instructables
Zeroprestige.org
Collaborative networks that organize business activities
Neubauten.org
Amul
Dabbawalla
Napster
GNUtella
Amazon
eBay
P-grid
The Sims
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h t t p : / / w w w . d e s i g n c o u n c i l . i n f o / m t / R E D / h e a l t h /
h t t p : / / w w w . d e v e l o p m e n t g a t e w a y . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . s u s t a i n a b l e - e v e r y d a y . n e t / E M U D E /
h t t p : / / l a u n c h p a d . y o u n g f o u n d a t i o n . o r g /
possible types of participation: there are three ways in which
Open P2P Communities can self-organize. They can self-
organize with:
_a bottom-up participation: a community gather
independently to fix a common problem (for example: Amul).
The community forms in a bottom-up way;
_a top-down participation: a (public or private) service that
allows the formation of a community and bases on it its
operation is offered. Participants operate in order to fulfill the
enterprise's/local institution's goals/work (i.e. the participants
depend from the enterprise/local institution) (for example:
YouTube). The service is offered in a top-down way, and the
participants act consequently;
_a marketplace participation: a (public or private) service that
allows the formation of a community is offered, and the
participants gather in the community. Participants behave
independently, forming relationships between each other in
order to develop their own goals/works (i.e. they behave
independently, in a true peer-to-peer way) (for example: BBC
Action Network). The service is delivered in a top-down way,
but the participants act in a bottom-up way within it.
The fundamental point is: who takes the initiative and looks
for persons in order to form a community? And with which
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goals? And which type of relationships, and therefore social
network, it enables? For example: Free Software is usually
bottom-up, Open Source and P2P could be bottom-up or top-
down, Web 2.0 and Crowdsourcing are very often top-down.
Moreover, from this bottom-up and top-down distinction, we
can ask another question: how much these communities are
Open and P2P? Data, informations, processes, results are
accessible in an Open and P2P way? This is a very important
issue and should be studied more.
As a consequence, as designers, we could design for a
community in two ways: offering our professional
capabilities to existing communities, or designing and
developing (public and private) community-based services.
Before we can get to the methodological aspects, let's
consider how a designer can relate to an Open P2P
Community (and therefore towards an Open P2P Design).
How can we design for a community that gathers around a
main collaborative activity? In a few words: through the the
process of co-design of its activity (and the characteristics
that allow it) like a complex collective service.
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and through which the human action is mediated. The model
of the Activity System, the unit of the dynamic analysis of the
human activity, describes the main elements through which
the human action is mediated, i.e. the artifacts (the
instrumental mediation) and the community (social
mediation) with which the subject, an individual or a
collective one, interacts according to rules, implicit or explicit
ones, and a division of labor, i.e. the organization of roles and
tasks.
The Activity System is an useful instrument to describe
human actions, and can be used at different scales: the
activity of one single person, of a group, of a community, of a
society. Moreover, the single human action is not perceived
like a discreet and isolated unit, but it receives a meaning
from being part of a collective Activity System socially and
historically generated; in its turn the individual action
contributes in a bottom-up way to the continuous creation
and reproduction of the Activity System.
The Activity System represents then a systemic instrument of
analysis of the complexity of the human activities. It is not a
static truth, but it is in continuous movement and
transformation as the single elements evolve and as the
activity is negotiated over time.
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These transformations are due to the fact that the activities
are not isolated units, but are more like nodes inside networks
formed of other interconnected Activity Systems. In fact, an
Activity System is not isolated, but interacts with a network
of other Activity Systems.
07.02 Activity and the structure of the Open Peer-to-Peer CommunitiesTherefore the Activity Theory, through the model of the
Activity System, can be used in order to analyze and to
describe the behavior of the Open Peer-to-Peer Communities.
object outcome
rules community division of labor
subject
mediating artifacts
Picture 01. Activity System (Source: Sangiorgi D. (2004))
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Given the particular nature of these Communities, we should
add the description of the structure of the community to this
model. The Open Peer-to-Peer Communities in fact are not
characterized by hierarchies, but that does not mean that
there are no strong positions. But as an hierarchy relies on
power (a top-down relationship), an Open Peer-to-Peer
Community relies on reputation (a bottom-up relationship),
that show the direction and the actions that could be more
interesting to the community, giving place to an horizontal
network-based layered structure.
Many researchers14 have noted that the Open Source
Communities (and therefore also the Open Peer-to-Peer
Communities) organize themselves with an horizontal
structure characterized by a gravitational center around which
there is a gravitational force that moves the participants
towards the center or outside the community: this force is
reputation15 and not power. We have then an horizontal (not
a hierarchy) network-based organizational form, similar to the
one found by Lave and Wenger16 in the Communities of
Practiceand calledLegitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP).
14. Crowston K., Howison J. (2005); Madanmohan T.R. (2002);
Nakakoji K., Yamamoto Y., Nishinaka Y., Kishida K., Ye Y. (2002)
15. Watson A. (2005)16. Lave J., Wenger E. (1991)
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Therefore, the Open Peer-to-Peer Communities have a radial
structure, where there are different levels, characterized by a
different amount of reputation and engagement.
A determined role can correspond to a determined level (one
role can be accessed only if in possession of one determined
amount of reputation), or a same role can be seen with a
centripetal structure based on the reputation (there are
several levels of reputation inside of the role, characterized by
different amount of engagement and different duties).
It is therefore useful to reason in terms of reputation and
engagement levels: going towards the center the participants
increase their reputation and engagement. They move
towards the center as their engagement increases their
reputation, and they increase their engagement in order to
maintain or to increase their own reputation. In this way we
have a positive feedback that pushes the participants to
engage with crescent intensity.
07.03 Open Peer-to-Peer Communities describedwith an Activity SystemUsing an Activity System (and integrating it with a description
of the reputations levels found in the community) it is
possible therefore to describe such communities (table 01).
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to give instruments and informations useful to citizens
for organizing campaigns of public pressure in order to
improve their local conditions
activity
Table 01: Example of one Open Peer-to-Peer Community described through an
Activity System (Source: Menichinelli 2006)
B B C A c t i o n N e t w o r k
BBC, citizens who wish to resolve some local problems,
local institutionssubject
useful informations for the organization of campaigns of
public pressureobject
to enable citizens citizens who wish it to organize
campaigns of public pressure in order to inform society
about local problems
results
website (information, personal space for every citizen,
search engine of other citizens)artifacts
dont carry out political campaigns or commercial ones,
dont insultrules
British citizens, local institutionscommunity
webmaster, coordinator of campaigns, organizer of
group, public relation, coordination of the new
members, treasurer, mentor
division oflabor (roles)
core group:BBC
active participants:citizens trying to organize campaigns
peripheral participants:citizens in search of campaigns
already formed
reputation
levels
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07.04 Activity Systems and Service DesignThe main importance of the activity, in an Open Peer-to-Peer
Community, can give a useful role to the designer, thanks to
some reflections carried out in the service design field, based
around the study of the services as interactions before and the
study of the services as interactions between Activity Systems
later. A service in fact can be seen in many ways: like a
performance, a process and an interaction, visions that bring
to light its nature of human action and therefore of
intangibility. If we look at them as interactions, their design
therefore becomes traditionally the design of the interactions
that occur between a customer and the company, subdivided
infront office (the part of the agency with which the customer
interacts) and back office (with which the customer does not
interact).
Interactionstherefore as the place of encounter between the
customer and the company, the fundamental point in order to
understand the quality of the service (service encounter), and
where therefore the designer should address its attention.
According to Pacenti17, the most important thing in the
strategic design of a service is in fact the platform of
interaction between the service and the customer.
17. Pacenti E. (1992/1993), Pacenti E. (1998)
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The platform of the interaction is the context (the architecture
of the system) where the interaction between service and
customers finds its place. In the construction of the platform
we have the values proposed by the company, (materialized in
its offer), and the co-production of such values by the
customer, that participates with his engagement, knowledge
and resources. The platform of interaction is the place where
the offer of the service and the participation of the customers
meet within a shared context of values.
Considering services as interactions, we can find another
study that can be really useful for designing for an Open Peer-
to-Peer Community: Daniela Sangiorgi18 has connected service
design with the Activity Theory, resolving a lack of an
interpretation model of the service that holds in consideration
its main elements that influence the perception and the
behavior of the participants to the interaction. An
interpretation model that can be used to consider high social
complexity that characterizes a service.
Therefore, a service can be described as an activity formed of a
sequence of service encounters (or interactions), that can be
described as systems of situated actions co-produced in the
18. Sangiorgi D. (2004)
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encounter between the customers Activity System and the
enterprises Activity System (picture 02) (or, more in general
terms, between all the participants of the service).
The activity, therefore, can be seen like a network of
interactions between participants, and can be considered as
a service, and as such can be designed. In fact a service is
made of a network of interactions between several
participants, which assume the roles deriving from the
division of labor.
o b j e c t
r u l e s
c o m m u n i t y
d i v i s i o n o f l a b o r
s u b j e c t
a r t i f a c t s
o b j e c t
p o t e n t i a l l y
s h a r e d
s u b j e c t
d i v i s i o n o f l a b o r c o m m u n i t y
r u l e s
o b j e c t
a r t i f a c t s
Picture 02. Interaction between Activity Systems (Source Sangiorgi D. (2004))
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For service design, therefore, the design object coincides with
the same Activity System, that becomes the object of the
project, but also an analysis and a design tool.
We may think therefore that we can design the Open Peer-
to-Peer Communities designing their activity. In reality it is
still necessary to consider two aspects before we are able to
reach an appropriated methodology, holding corretly in
consideration the complexity of a community and of a project
directed to it.
Is it possible to design a community? Which of its
characteristics can we design?
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 0 6
08 Open P2P Communities and thePlatform
What can we design in a community?
We cannot think about designing the relationships and the
complexity of a community (which are the features that make
it a community). The disciplines that traditionally have been
interested in communities (architecture, urban planning, web
design) are not oriented to design the relationships but the
characteristics that, once realized, enable and support the
birth and the development of the relationships. The necessary
infrastructure for the relationships, their platform.
It is convenient therefore to talk about a platform19 as the
object of the design process. It is possible to design and to
supply those fundamental conditions that, shared inside the
social networks of the participants, act as an infrastructure
to the emergence of the community and its characteristic
activity.
A platform is present (and necessary) every time a community
forms deriving from the interactions between a high number
of agents. As it is part of the activty, the platform can
therefore be described through the Activity Systems.
19. Menichinelli M. (2006)
S e r v i c e D e s i g n
A c t i v i t y T h e o r y
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
P l a t f o r m
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The platform consists in a system of artifacts (materials,
cognitive and communication ones), rules and division of
labor (picture 03), which make possible the development and
practice of the collective activity. As it is shared between the
participants, it has a reticular and dynamic nature (pictures
04, 05).
If the platform is necessary for processes that demand an
interaction between a high number of agents, then also the
design methodology will demand a platform for being carried
out. The platform exists previously to the design process, that
has the goal of improving it in a determined direction, that
comes from a design decision. It is therefore necessary, at the
beginnig of the design process, to analyze the existing
platform for the collective discussion; thanks to it is possible
to establish a contact with the participants. The designers, in
fact, enter in the wider design community: a community
whose activity is an open and peer-to-peer design.
But how the designers role change when he/she enters in a
wider design community?
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object
rules community
subject
artifacts
division of labor
Picture 03. The Platform, described through an Activity System
(Source: Menichinelli M. (2006))
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Picture 04. The Platform is distributed in the social network
(Source: Menichinelli M. (2006))
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Picture 05. Distributed nature of the Platform (Source: Menichinelli M. (2006))
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 0 7
09 Open P2P Design: the designer asan enabler
Once we define the platform, it is possible to understand
what, effectively, a designer can design for an Open Peer-to-
Peer community. It still remains to define how such a project
can be developed considering the complexity of a community.
We should try therefore to define a design methodology (or at
least some guidelines) that can improve the open and peer-to-
peer participation of the community and its complexity.
A community is a complex system, and there is the need of a
design methodology able to face its complexity without
reducing it. As we have seen before, Open Peer-to-Peer
organizational forms seem promising in supplying greater
probabilities to face complex problems and to elaborate
complex artifacts. That happens just thanks to their own
intrinsic complexity:the complexity of the project reflects the
complexity of the community, and both strengthen each
other. Whe we design an activity, the community itself (a
complex system) designs a complex project collectively (its
own organization and the necessary conditions).
Moreover, a project dedicated to a community must consider
the characteristics of the context in which it lives, especially
theterritorial characteristics that become resources once the
community realize their importance.
C o m p l e x i t y
D e s i g n
M e t h o d o l o g y
E n a b l e r
L i n u x
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
I n s t i t u t i o n s
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This is an ulterior reason for giving it a greater opportunity of
direct participation to the design process, as a community can
recognize the usable resources better than others. This is
therefore a design approach that take advantage of the
participation of a potentially elevated number of participants,
through a complex process characterized by its specific path
(path dependency), oriented to several the levels of interaction:
between participants, participants and community,
community and another community, communities and
institutions, community and society. We should therefore
adopt a design approach based on participation, in order to
use the knowledge of the participants to getter better results.
We can therefore say that a project directed to an Open Peer-
to-Peer community should be itself Open Peer-to-Peer, based
on the participation of the community to the design process
(open: open to the participation), to whose members is
recognized an equal and active role (peer-to-peer: the
acknowledgment of other peoples competences and
expertise). An Open Peer-to-Peer design process therefore
becomes aco-design process, where designer and participants
collaborate in a wider design community (which is a
collective intelligence). The designer therefore assumes a
specific role in the projects directed to Open Peer-to-Peer
communities.
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Thanks to his/her competences, a designer can supply the
instruments for self-organization and the optimal conditions
for an activity to take form, assuming a role ofan enabler and
not of a provider (or supplier of defined solutions). No more a
simple supplier of his/her own creativity, but an enabler of
distributed creativity. No more a simple design process that
produces definitive solutions, but a design process that
support communities so that they can develop appropriate
solutions to their own needs and characteristics.
We can see that the same shift is happening in the local
institutions too, where local government is transforming
itself into governance. A redefinition of the role of the local
institution that becomes an enabler of the participation and
the coordination between public entities and private and
social ones, and not a provider of rules and services20.
A designer can be an enabler naturally, since his/her
competences make him/her able to establish connections
between customers and enterprises, therefore mediating
between different interests. Thanks to his/her abilities to
visualize in advance, a designer can at the same time manage
multiple and discordant interests, remembering the
20. Vicari Haddock S. (2004)
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advantages that derive from a collective collaboration.
Moreover, an enabler should supply support to reach the self-
organization of the members in the short term, avoiding to
render them depending on him/her in the long term. The goal
of a designer is therefore the social enabler of the
development of communities; the role that Linus Torvalds
chose to assume in the development of Linux, avoiding the
more traditional one of designer-provider21.
21. Kuwabara K. (2000)
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 6 2
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 7 2
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 7 3
10 First examples of an Open and P2PDesign
In order to see how an Open P2P methodology has real and
especially topical potentials for application, we can point out
some first cases of design projects based on strategies of
openness and user involvement in the project and usage stage
of the product/service offered . These projects are the Open
Health project developed by the design team RED (the first in
chronological order, and even today one of the most
innovative), the Openmoko mobile and the VIA OpenBook
subnotebook. These three cases offer first reflections and
attempts of Co-created Service Design, Open Design and Open
Hardware initiatives: cases that share openness of the project
through peer-to-peer dynamics and community building.
The goal here is not to present a complete list of cases and
their analysis, but to provide a starting point for discussion, a
proof of the validity of the Open P2P methodology and its
integration into the world of design. Before the presentation
of the individual cases, we can notice how they present open
or p2p dynamics, but never both at the same time. Openmoko
and VIA OpenBook are projects whose source codes were
opened, but where the building of p2p dynamics was not
explicitly sought (they are Open Design projects): they were
B u s i n e s s / S e r v i c e
C o m m u n i t y - b a s e d S e r v i c e s
M o b i l e
O p e n S o u r c e F r e e S o f t w a r e
C o - c r e a t i o n
P r o d u c t D e s i g n
S e r v i c e D e s i g n
O p e n H a r d w a r e
T e c h n o l o g y
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h t t p : / / w w w . d e s i g n c o u n c i l . i n f o / R E D /
left to develop on their own. The Open Health project instead
aimed at facilitating the emergence of p2p dynamics (P2P
Design), but the project is not open (it was so only in a short
period of confrontation during its initial development).
An Open P2P project instead, covers both the opening of the
project, of its source code, and the facilitation of the
emergence of p2p dynamics: is not only about the publication
of a code, but about the facilitation of a social system through
the use of a project code. In the next chapter the proposal for
a methodology for an Open P2P Design will be presented more
in detail.
10.01 Co-created Service Design: RED's Open Health
Open Health is one of the first example of P2P-inspired
Design. After a careful reflection, Hilary Cottam and Charles
Leadbeater developed this experimental project of reform of
public services within the RED design unit of the British
Design Council, which, during its lifetime, proposed new
approaches to economic and social problems through
innovative uses of design.
During its existence, RED eveloped its projects explicitly
relying on the principles developed by the movement of Open
Source software, i.e. developing concepts very rapidly and
making them questionable even outside the division.
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Cottam and Leadbeater, i.e. a community of users and
professionals who work using all the resources already
existing in innovative ways, based on a common platform that
makes possible the activity of many participants without
having the need for an hierarchy of control. Communities that
are similar in some characteristics to the community of Open
Source software, even if their activity depends on the
characteristics of all stakeholders of the health system.
The prevention and cure of chronic diseases can therefore also
occur in the homes if we give people advice, technologies and
services, particularly through support groups: the knowledge,
skills and experience spread between people allow the
construction of a network of relationships and collaborations.
Solutions to deal with unhealthy lifestyles will be created only
if a system of all actors, where resources, knowledge, advice
and funding will be distributed outside of public institutions,
between communities and individual citizens. In this way the
same citizens and communities will be themselves
protagonists in the elaboration of collective solutions careful
tolocal conditions.
Therefore we must distribute knowledge now found only
within the institutions, use the resources that already some
people have them become agents for the provision of support
to other citizens (peer-to-peer).
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h t t p : / / w w w . a c t i v m o b . c o m
h t t p : / / w w w . d e s i g n c o u n c i l . i n f o / m t / R E D / f i l e s / R E D A c t i v m o b s . p d f
With these considerations in mind, the RED division developed
two projects in collaboration with two localities, Kent and
Bolton, as prototypes for testing future services which are not
yet ready for introduction throughout the whole country.
In the city of Kent the problem addressed was of an ageing
population, while in the city of Bolton was addressed the issue
of management of chronic diseases, in this case diabetes.
The projects were developed in six months by the RED design
team that consisted of designers, doctors, economists,
anthropologists and politics experts, in collaboration with
professionals, local services employees and residents of the
two localities.
The problem addressed in the city of Kent was to encourage
people (initially aged between 50 and 70 years) to play physical
activities in order to reduce the chances of problems related
to old age, such as fractures, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc..
The design team developed Activmobs, a service aimed at
providing support for people who want to maintain their good
state of health while carrying out physical activities and
following their inclinations. A mob is formed by a group of
acquaintances who, together, play a regular physical activity
(such as gardening or walking with the dog).
The service, whose communicative artefacts are a magazine
and a website, allows the self-organization of the activities by
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the mob, and their networking with trainers and resources.
The magazine, the website, mob groups, the roles of "trainers"
and "motivators" are part of the service system co-designed
and co-managed by citizens and professionals.
A group already formed can register through the website,
choose its activities and build a timetable for the conduct.
Through the website, individuals can look for mobs in their
area, mobs looking for participants can reach a minimum
number of participants or suggest an activity to form a mob
(also taking inspiration from a special site section that gives
advices and examples).
When one of these mobs is formed, its founder (motivator)
receives a special coupon, which can be used to cover the
costs of organizing the mob or to attend courses to become a
trainer for mobs. The trainers are chosen after an interview,
and can help the mobs to choose their activities, to improve
their effectiveness for the physical health, and help setting
targets to be achieved through the activity, which will be
rewarded. Targets may be based on the presence of
participants, on a space distribution, on a time distribution or
on a score achieved.
The participants can also choose individual goals, and once all
components of the mob have achieved them, the whole mob
earns a reward. In this way the components of the mob
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encourage each other in order to achieve the objectives, just
as it happens in the microcredit services developed by the
Grameen Bank.
The magazine show ideas, interviews with mobs, list of
existing mobs and recommendations, awards, instructions on
how to organize the mob, interviews to trainers and
motivators, list oftrainers divided by area, list of facilities that
can be used and so on. The website shows all the information
on the magazine, and also allows the mob to self-organize
themselves keeping in contact and looking over personal and
collective progress. The members of the mob compile fact
sheets every three months on the website in order to monitor
their progress, receiving in return a score and coupon for
activities within the mob or for their family.
In the second project, developed in the town of Bolton, the
RED design team addressed patients suffering from diabetes,
about one every ten families. In this case the team proposed a
co-created service based on the encounter of top-down and
bottom-up initiatives for the distribution of resources and to
encourage patients to follow more healthy lifestyles.
The service developed tries to provide an interface between
citizens suffering from diabetes, so that they can support each
other through peer-to-peer dynamics, and between them and
doctors, encouraging the sharing of their knowledge.
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w w w . d e s i g n c o u n c i l . i n f o / m t / R E D / p u b l i c a t i o n s / p u b l i c a t i o n s c o n t a i n e r / m e 2 _ s t o r y . p d f
The RED design team developed a service based on two
approaches to resolve the problem. The first concerns the
development of a set of cards (Agenda cards) that patients and
physicians use during their meetings to improve their
communication, because patients are not always able to
communicate their feelings about diabetes. The advantage of
cards is the easy and short prototyping and testing time, using
the feedback of the participants to direct the further
development of the project.
The second approach consists in a consulting service called
Me2Coach Service, where people with a long experience of
living with the disease play the role of coaches of people
affected by the problem only recently, who knows what
changes are to be undertaken but are not quite willing to act
yet. The coaches, with their long experience, provide valuable
advices outside the public health service, thus constituting a
not hierarchical service where participants are at the same
level and have the same problems: on a peer-to-peer basis.
10.02 Open Design, Open Source Software and Open
Hardware: Openmoko
The case of Openmoko plays a crucial role here, because it
represents the most complete case of the first mass product
completely open source. Therefore, this is the first example of
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n m o k o . c o m /
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n m o k o . o r g /
h t t p : / / w w w . r o n e n - k a d u s h i n . c o m / O p e n _ D e s i g n . a s p
h t t p : / / w w w . g u i x e . c o m / e x h i b i t i o n s / 2 0 0 3 _ m t k s - l i s b o a / i n d e x . h t m l
a realOpen Design, not tied to individual experiments or niche
markets (albeit very important): the first example of how open
source philosophy can be adopted not only in areas different
from programming and production of knowledge, but also in a
production of physical goods, rival goods.
It's the Openmoko organization, a project aimed at designing
a completely open source smartphone, first for its software,
and now also for its hardware and design. We can say that
this is the first, true, open source mass product design, as the
previous examples have not pursued completely the Open
Source philosophy, or because they have had limited results,
or, lastly, because the context was not ready for such
initiatives.
Thinkcycle, which is the first and most developed Open
Design example (at least so far), was an experiment aimed at
niche markets, and for this reason should deserve even more
importance because it was aimed at helping disadvantaged
contexts, but still limited in the results and in influence on the
world of design as too ahead of the spread of Open Source
awareness in society. Ronen Kadushin's initiative, although
worthy, represents only a solitary experiment without broad
appeal and development. Mart Guix's proposal takes the
Open Source just as a metaphor and try to adopt some of its
collateral features, i.e. that he looks for certain aspects of
h t t p : / / w w w . t h i n k c y c l e . o r g /
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n m o k o . c o m / p r o d u c t s - n e o - b a s e - 0 0 - s t d k i t . h t m l
h t t p : / / w w w . f i c . c o m . t w /
h t t p : / / w i k i . o p e n m o k o . o r g / w i k i / N e o 1 9 7 3
h t t p : / / d o w n l o a d s . o p e n m o k o . o r g / C A D /
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n m o k o . c o m
open source software that he can apply to products too, but
in substance this is not Open Design.
The Openmoko initiative (in its first incarnation, Neo1973,
produced byFIC) is so important because the adoption of the
Open Source philosophy is not an experiment but a real
initiative. We have gone beyond the stage of inspiration and
experimentation for Open Design, to a stage where it is put
into practice by big companies too. Of course,
experimentation is not over and should be pursued further,
but now we are talking about a product that the general
public will see in stores and that is in competition with the
most expected product of the moment, the Apple iPhone.
And this referring to the freedom that this choice of opening
may give the user, just like the philosophy of the Free
Software: "If you cant open it, you dont own it. Our first key
unlocked the software, unleashing the community to recraft the
code. Now, we free the case and share the keys to Industrial
Design. Developers who want to re-craft the case are set free".
It is by no coincidence that we can buy an advancedversion,
bearing all that is needed to open and edit the phone,
enabling itshacking in order to customize and learn from it at
the same time. The distribution of the design files is therefore
a logical consequence; the files (IGES, STEP, ProE), have been
published under a Creative Commons ShareAlike license.
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Picture 07. Openmoko (Source: http://openmoko.com/)
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Picture 08. Openmoko, Open Source Software (Source: http://openmoko.com/)
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Picture 09. Openmoko, Open Hardware (Source: http://openmoko.com/)
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Picture 10. Openmoko, Open Design (Source: http://openmoko.com/)
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C o m m e n t s :
h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / V I A _ T e c h n o l o g i e s
h t t p : / / w w w . v i a o p e n b o o k . c o m
The fact that a mobile phone of new generation, a
smartphone, is the first true open source product, makes the
event even more important, because mobile phones represent
a huge potential for the development of community-based
collaborative services. A tool that will enable us in the future
to exploit, enhance and more easily spread the collective
intelligence, because it has the ability to further break down
the barriers of the services, as many more people have access
to mobile phones and feel more comfortable with them than
with computers and the World Wide Web.
Therefore, with an Open P2P design methodology we could
design with/for a community, mobile phones, their software
and their services, according to their specific needs. We are
then able to co-design with a community their collaborative
services and the tools that allow their deployment, even for
small contexts.
10.03 Open Design and Open Hardware: VIA OpenBook
After the first example of a real Open Design mass product, we
have now another example like this, showing us how Open
Business strategies are already understood and spread now.
VIA Technologies, the world's largest independent
manufacturer of motherboard chipsets, from Taiwan,
published the CAD files of his last product:VIA OpenBook.
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Picture 11. VIA OpenBook (Source: http://www.viaopenbook.com/)
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Picture 12. VIA OpenBook (Source: http://www.viaopenbook.com/)
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h t t p : / / w w w . v i a o p e n b o o k . c o m /
The CAD files of this subnotebook are available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
License.
There are many reasons behind such strategies, but mainly
two reasons are the most probable here. First, this move is a
way to lay the foundation basis for the development of an
hackers/modifiers/suppliers/manufacturers ecosystem around
the product. Second, this is a strategic move in the
subnotebook market, which is rising in these months (just see
the Asus eeePC phenomenon). Indeed, an open design product
gives more probabilities that innovation and competition will
eventually shift in other areas: no more in the manufacturing
of a subnotebook but in the construction ofan open peer-to-
peer ecosystem of users and enterprises.
Moreover, VIA is mainly a computer components
manufacturer, not a notebook one: everyone could
manufacture an OpenBook, but will most probably end using
(and therefore buying) VIA's chipsets and motherboards.
Releasing the "source code" of an open design product brings
a positive side-effect that makes a little step further toward
environmental sustainability. Open design products can be
manufactured locally, avoiding therefore the need for long
travel for the finished goods (unfortunately it is not the same
for the raw materials) and fossil fuels consumption and CO2.
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h t t p : / / b l o g . p 2 p f o u n d a t i o n . n e t / h o w - o p e n - i s - v i a s - o p e n b o o k - d e s i g n / 2 0 0 8 / 0 6 / 0 7
And as we know everything about this product (it is open) we
can manufacture it and repair it in such a way it will last
longer than other products and then there will be less need to
change it frequently. Sure, these are not great steps toward
sustainability, but we should consider these side-effects too
for anopen and sustainable business.
The openness of VIA OpenBook is considerably very limited
(CAD files relate solely to the plastic shell, while hardware and
its related software remain closed), especially if we compare it
to the Openmoko initiative. Its importance lays therefore in
being another proof that Open Design and Open Hardware
products are a feasible business and that we should pay
attention to the level of openness adopted. Here is an early
analysis that Michel Bauwens of the P2P Foundation wrote
about Open Hardware:
Closed Hardware: is any hardware for which the creator of the
hardware will not release information on how to make normal
use of the hardware, in such a way that that information may be
freely shared with others. A sure sign of closed hardware is
requiring the signing of an NDA to receive documentation on how
to make use of a device.
Open Interface: In the case of Open Interface hardware, all the
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 0 8
11 First guidelines for an Open P2PDesign
Unlike a traditional, linear, design process, Open Peer-to-Peer
Design is non-linear and characterized by multiple parallell
processes because of the large number of agents and their
interactions. An Open Peer-to-Peer design process thus
provides the basis for developing more parallel projects, an
ecosystem of designer agents with a memetic evolution of
the projects that are more suitable to the community,whose selection will lead to better results.
An Open Peer-to-Peer design process is characterized by
openness and sharing of the project (the source code, in the
software) of the platform and of the activities that it allows
once provided to the community by the designers.
The community will test and modify it several times and inseveral directions (in the software, compiling the binary
code), until a satisfactory version is reached (the stable
version of the software)and self-organization is ensured.
The source code of the project (community source code)
consists of tools coming from service design, with the
introduction of a description of the reputation levels within
the community, the license that governes cooperation and the
C o m p l e x i t y
D e s i g n
M e t h o d o l o g y
E n a b l e r
P l a t f o r m
O p e n P 2 P
C o m m u n i t i e s
S e l f - o r g a n i z a t i o n
S o c i a l N e t w o r k
A n a l y s i s
P a r t i c i p a t i o n
C o m m u n i t y
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collectively discussed. Now begins a phase of co-design of the
activity/platform, characterized by steady growth of
commitment, energy and visibility from the participants.
At this stage, the concept of activity is developed
collaboratively to get a functioning project, a stable source
code (version 1.0).
The participants test the community source code of the
community simulating the activity, in order to understand
what are the weaknesses, errors (bugs in the community
source code). The source code is subjected to a peer-review
process, in which both the designers (who observe the
simulation) and the participants report errors and the
necessary changes. Once a bug is identified the source code is
modified and again a testing begins with the new code.
In order to simulate the activity, participants must share the
conditions necessary to carry out the activity, represented by
the platform. Rules and roles should be developed and
adopted, and the artifacts that are not already present will be
built or bought. This means that along with the continuation
of the co-design / test process, the platform is implemented
and when the project reaches the stable version, the
participants can begin the regular activity, strengthening then
the sense of community. Once the co-design / test ends, the
project will already be done, there are no phases of production
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nor execution. As in software, then the source code (the
project) gives place to the binary code (the activity done by
the participants).
11.04 Self-organizationAfter the first stable version (1.0.0) of the source code is
reached, the community will be largely formed: during the
simulation / activity new social relationships will have formed.
A stable version of the source code means that it can be
compiled (ie, done) and used by anyone without the
possibility of critical errors. At this stage, therefore, the
community is able to carry out the activity and self-organize
without the contribution of the designer: if his role was that
of a facilitator (enabler), now the community is able to act
successfully alone.
At this point, ideally, the role of the designer is not needed
anymore; however, the community will always need its
contribution in the future: the designer has always knowledge
and expertise useful to provide support to the community in
response to changes in the outside world. Also, if the
community activity is a design one, the desingers capabilities
make them important in the community, and they will
continue to be part of also during the self-organization phase.
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people withthe sameinterestsmeet eachother
self-organization
raise ofsocialawareness
first dicussionsand proposalsabout commonproblems participants
start to gather
decision to
form a community
the minimumcritical massof participantsis reached
analysis
concept design
conceptcommunication
co-design /test /construction
individual participants
energy andvisibility
potential coalescing stable
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Picture 13. Open Peer-to-Peer Design timeline (Source: Menichinelli M. (2006))
communities networks
single communities
stable version
time
self-organization and expansion decline
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Picture 14. Open Peer-to-Peer Design participation matrix
indirect
co-design
conceptdesignanalysis conceptcommunication
participationlevel
none
consultative
sharedcontrol
totalcontrol
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(Source: Menichinelli M. (2006))
co-design / test
co-design
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h t t p : / / w w w . t i m e . c o m / t i m e / m a g a z i n e / a r t i c l e / 0 , 9 1 7 1 , 1 5 6 9 5 1 4 , 0 0 . h t m l
h t t p : / / n o b e l p r i z e . o r g / n o b e l _ p r i z e s / p e a c e / l a u r e a t e s / 2 0 0 6 / p r e s s . h t m l
These observations represent therefore an initial proposal (1.1)
for an Open Peer-to-Peer design guidelines, in a broader
process of studying a comprehensive methodology.
And then, what are the future opportunities and directions for
the application and study of these design guidelines?
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h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n p 2 p d e s i g n . o r g / b l o g / a r c h i v e s / 1 1 2
These Open Peer-to-Peer design steps should be considered
more as guidelines than a complete methodology: we should
apply them, test them, study them more (as in research as in
practice).
And this is the right time to study and tes