We want to collect your experiences with open source product design and condense it into a manual to inspire others to join the movement.  

 

The term "open source" is becoming a trend among product designers. We see websites and initiatives appear here and there with a lot of good intentions but sometimes missing the point and often creating confusion. Design magazines and blogs are always rushing into calling an openly published creation "open source" but rarely talk about the license or propose schematics or design files to download.  

 

  During the past 3 years of existence of the collective Libre Objet and the many workshops we organized, we have spent a lot of time trying to explain what could be open source product design, and what it implied. Of course, there is a lot of info to digest and not really a comprehensive documentation so far that could help someone get in the train of libre product design.  

 

  With the time available during Interactivos and the diversity of people joining for these two weeks, we made this manual a reality and are happy to realease "the guide to start making and publishing libre and open source objets". We hope that this tool could be a base for teaching and learning about open source product design, a collective memory of what one should know today to get started and join the movement, a reference students, amateurs and professionals would have in their back pocket when they go out to explain what they are passionate about. 

 

    You can find the book online at http://books.libreobjet.org If you wish to modify the book, the sources are available at https://github.com/libreobjet/open-guide  

 

  This book is finished and not finished. There is many things that can be improved and we also hope it could be translated. So don't hesitate to contact us at @libreobjet or by email at hello@libreobjet.org to help us improve this project.