"We are meant to develop a plan for dissemination of our final project. Most likely I will want to make the design and production files free and open, so that other makers can replicate the process themselves. I might also create a microbusiness that makes batches of lamps for small scale, local retail. Finally, it might be interesting to contact Icewind, a company that develops and sells wind turbines in Iceland, to see if they are interested in my product.
While I do have a great deal of faith in my idea and my design, it still has a way to go before it is ready for public consumption. In particular, I would need years of testing and development before it could be sold to anyone but close acquaintances and hobbyists, as I have no data on durability, efficiency, required local wind-speeds or anything else that a consumer requires.
Unfortunately, I do not have the time to pursue this work at the moment, as I am happily employed, teaching young people the many skills I've honed during the Fab Academy process. It shall remain a hobby, and hopefully might be ready in a few years. Until then, I plan to open my design, and offer assistance to anyone who would like to try this project for themselves, as I strongly believe that through collaboration, my product might both gain interest and become vastly improved. Other people see opportunities I might miss, and might see a better way to optimize parts of the system as well.
Were I to market this product as it is today, the target market is the tech-savy hobbyist who likes a challenge. The electronic boards require very careful soldering to avoid shorts or poorly connected vias, and all of the ones i have made so far required somewhat extensive troubleshooting. This makes production as it is a time-consuming job for someone who has done it multiple times before, and a daunting task for anyone without at least a basic understanding of PCB and electronics soldering. I see the average user as a 25-35 year old male with an interest in electronics and nerdisms coupled with a passion for an environmentally conscious lifestyle.
The target market segment for a fully realized version of this product would be middle-class families with a lawn or yard, in windy regions on the Northern hemisphere, where they get limited sun for half the year. A larger, more powerful version could be marketed to communities as an alternative to existing street-lights, although energy in Iceland at least is cheap, and alternative energy must compete with geothermal energy in efficiency and cost in order to be viable.
I have long been an enthusiastic spokesperson for Creative Commons, as I see it as an important step for creators to take control over their intellectual property without closing it off from inspiring and empowering other creators. No idea is ever created out of nothing, as they all build on knowledge and ideas that came before. In that way, my Wisp would not exist without all the windmills that came before, particularly vertical ones, and most specifically, it would not appear as it does were it not for Icewind and their windmills. Therefore, it would be both selfish and morally wrong if I were to lock up my design for years without the ability or circumstances to take the idea further.
I did not invent anything that hasn't been seen before. I used the same electric components that are available to countless others, the same electronic principles as others and the same basic ideas of power creation. I therefore view my project as a design object, as opposed to an invention. Therfore, I believe that a creative commons license will suit my project perfectly.
In it's most basic form -BY (or attribution) the CC license allows anyone to use the design for any purpose, monetary or otherwise without asking permission, so long as they attribute the creator in their work. There are several other conditions that may be included. -SA (Share alike) stipulates that derivative works must use the same license. -NC (Non-commercial) means that the design and derivatives may not be used commercially without asking permission, and -ND (Non-derivative) means that the work may be reproduced but not altered without asking permission.
I chose the CC-BY-SA licence for my work, because I certainly hope there will be derivative works, and if anyone is able to make a commercially viable version of this design, it would make me very happy because it would mean that more people would have access to a cheap, environmentally friendly way to light people's path in the dark. The only thing I don't want is that someone should make a derivative work, then "cut" it from the soil it grew in by preventing others from building on that work in turn.
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