DSI talks: If you can’t open it, you don’t own it

DSI Talks is a series of talks about digital social innovation. Digital social innovation is a growing community of people who use digital technology to tackle societal challenges. See more information on this series here.

Tech companies are increasingly closing off and patenting their technology, thereby making it more difficult for users to understand, and exercise control over, the tools that they use on a daily basis. On the other hand, a countermovement is on the rise, one that sees opening up technology as a crucial step in the transition towards sustainable economies and societies. Communities advocating the use of open source soft- and hardware are growing in number and relevance.

Open technologies stimulate/encourage citizens to change their attitude towards products and consumption. When engaged as potential designers, citizens cultivate a different relationship with the tools they use: they may ask how things are made, and how the design can be improved to reduce its environmental burden/impact.

If we construct our products and technologies in such a way that we can open up, repair and reuse them, then we can use resources in a more sustainable way. Numerous parties across the globe are working within the open source framework. One good example, from the Netherlands, is Fairphone. They have developed a modular phone which allows owners to replace certain parts easily, without having to buy an entire new phone.

This open-source transition requires that we rethink and redesign our products, with an eye towards maximum reusability of parts, access to designs, and transparency of assemblage.

On this night we will unpack the philosophy of open-source sustainability and discuss new avenues for open, participatory working.