![]() On-demand local production bypasses the need for huge capital outlays and the subsequent necessity to “keep the machines running” night and day to satisfy the expectations of investors with over-capacity and over-production. These are economies of scope, not of scale. This eliminates planned obsolescence or induced consumerism while promoting modular, durable and practical applications.Ģ) Local: Physical manufacturing is done in community workshops, with bespoke production adapted to local needs. This ecologically viable mode of production has three key patterns:ġ) Nonprofit: Objects are designed for optimum usability, not to create tension between supply and demand. This cycle describes a radically democratized way to make objects with an increased capacity for innovation and resilience.Ĭurrent examples of the DGML approach include WikiHouse, a nonprofit foundation sharing templates for modular housing OpenBionics, creating three-dimensional printed medical prosthetics which cost a fraction (0.1 to 1 percent) of the price of standard prosthetics L’Atelier Paysan, an open source cooperative fostering technological sovereignty for small- and medium-scale ecological agriculture Farm Hack, a farmer-driven community network sharing open source know-how amongst do-it-yourself agricultural tech innovators and Habibi.Works, an intercultural makerspace in northern Greece where Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees develop DGML projects in a communal atmosphere. ![]() The process of making something together as a community creates new ideas and innovations which can feed back into their originating design commons. Meanwhile, the actual manufacturing takes place locally, often through shared infrastructures and with local biophysical conditions in mind. a universally available shared resource). Imagine a process where designs are co-created, reviewed and refined as part of a global digital commons (i.e. DGML and its unique characteristics help open new, sustainable and inclusive forms of production and consumption. The formula is: What is “light” (knowledge) is global, and what is “heavy” (physical manufacture) is local. These can include three-dimensional printers, computer numerical control (CNC) machines or even low-tech crafts tools and appropriate technology - often in combination. #Means of production software#Here’s how it works: A design is created using the digital commons of knowledge, software and design, and then produced using local manufacturing and automation technologies. This recent process of bringing peer production to the physical world is called Design Global, Manufacture Local (DGML). #Means of production full#In other words, the commons has come full circle, from the natural commons described by Elinor Ostrom, through commons-based peer production in digital communities, to distributed physical manufacturing. It eventually expanded into virtual space and now returns to the physical sphere, where the digital realm becomes a partner in new forms of resource stewardship, production and distribution. ![]() Commoning, as a longstanding human practice that precedes commons-based peer production, naturally began in the material world. If the first wave of commons-based peer production was mainly created digitally and shared online, we now see a second wave spreading back into physical space. Wikipedia, WordPress, the Firefox browser and the Apache HTTP web server are some of the best-known examples. ![]() The value of what is produced is not extracted for private profit, but fed back into a knowledge, design and software commons - resources which are managed by a community, according to the terms set by that community. CBPP describes internet-enabled, peer-to-peer infrastructures that allow people to communicate, self-organize and produce together. You may not know it by its admittedly awkward name, but a process known as commons-based peer production (CBPP) supports much of our online life. If we are producing offshore and at scale, ravaging the planet for short-term profits, what are the available alternatives? A movement combining digital and physical production points toward a new possibility: Produce within our communities, democratically and with respect for nature and its carrying capacity. One of the most difficult systems to reimagine is global manufacturing. ![]()
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