14. Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income¶

In this week I worked on developing a plan for dissemination of my final project. The plan includes license(s) and distribution of the final project.

License and Project Dissemination¶

Useful Links¶

Creative Commons
Open Source Hardware Certification
Field Ready Portfolio

Creative Common License (CC)¶

The initial plan for my project is to be included in Field Ready Portfolio, which is an open source repository where communities, makers and people in need can find designs and documentations needed to replicate and make useful products/items locally.

The Creative Commons (CC) License fits to this by enabling sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge by free legal tools. Creative Commons “legal tools help those who want to encourage reuse of their works by offering them for use under generous, standardized terms; those who want to make creative uses of works; and those who want to benefit from this symbiosis.” Source

“CC licenses are copyright licenses, and depend on the existence of copyright to work. CC licenses are legal tools that creators and other rights holders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public, while reserving other rights. Those who want to make their work available to the public for limited kinds of uses while preserving their copyright may want to consider using CC licenses. Others who want to reserve all of their rights under copyright law should not use CC licenses.” Source

Using this online tool, you can choose the CC license type (click here to know more about license types). I will use Attribution CC BY license as it has been used for all products/items available in Field Ready Portfolio.

The Attribution CC BY license “lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.” Source

The logo below is used to indicate the Attribution CC BY license.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Open Source Hardware Certification (OSHWA)¶

“Open Source Hardware (OSHWA) is a term for physical object — machines, devices, or other physical things — whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use them. Making these objects available to others requires two steps: 1) making source files, bills of material, and other information about the hardware available to the public so that users understand how the hardware works, and 2) licensing the hardware in a way that allows others to make use of and build upon this information.” Source

In Field Ready each project (product) is submitted to OSHWA certification. The panel revises the documentations and if there is no comment or modification needed, project will be certified as open source hardware.

Each certified project will have a unique code. which consists of a 2-letter country code and 6-digit unique identifier. All certified projects can be found in this webpage. In the search field type “field ready” to see all Field Ready certified projects.

When I complete my final project, I will submit it to OSHWA certification. This way, the project will become reachable and searchable by name and by customized keywords, and will be certified to include all needed data and information required to replicate the project.

Field Ready Portfolio¶

Field Ready Portfolio is an open source repository where communities, makers and people in need can find designs and documentations needed to replicate and make useful products/items locally.

In Field Ready, we use this portfolio to share projects with partners and makers globally, so different items could be replicated locally where it is needed and when it is needed.

When I complete my final project, it will be uploaded to Field Ready Portfolio with all necessary files, design and documentations. This will enable makers everywhere to access this project, which in addition to its local justification, it will have an impact in different locations, either used in residential buildings or camps.

Conclusion¶

Uploading the final project to Field ready Portfolio enables disseminating it to local field humanitarian actors globally.
Submitting the final project to OSHWA certification will ensure the project to have all required data and information to be replicated.
The Attribution CC BY License fits to this by enabling sharing and reuse of creativity and knowledge by free legal tools.