Hardware Freedom Day 2015

Hardware Freedom Day(HFD)  is a day set aside to promote Open Hardware. According to the HFD website :-

For some Open Hardware is a logical evolution of the Free Software philosophy applied to physical stuff, where both code and design blueprints co-exist. However no one can deny that humankind has evolved through a DIY and hack & share-it culture until patents prevented us to do so.
Hardware in our definition is used in its full meaning and covers not only electronic products but also stuff which do not run code such as furnitures and any "low tech" physical object you can think of.
For the scope of Hardware Freedom Day Open Hardware is a term used to describe physical objects which design is created and shared publicly without restriction, allowing people to modify, improve and redistribute their contributions. The design includes drawings, blueprints, software code that may be running in the device or used to generate some of its parts or drivers and any other information one could need to create that device itself. Generally this information is available under an electronic format on individual project websites, driven through the use of the Internet and rely on community knowledge and local DIY spaces (also often called hackspaces) to see the day of light. "

The concept of Openness is best described as

“... Openness, in short, is more than a commercial and cultural issue. It’s a matter of survival. Systemic challenges such as climate change, or resource depletion – these ‘problems of moral bankruptcy’ – cannot be solved using the same techniques that caused them in the first place. Open research, open governance and open design are preconditions for the continuous, collaborative, social mode of enquiry and action that are needed.” John Thackera Open Design Now”

In  May 2013,  there was a discussion in Guyana about the potential of Open Hardware and the opportunities of the Open Design movement for Guyana.

I did a presentation about the background to Open Hardware and Open Design




The table Episodes in Collective Invention from Peter B Meyer (2003) is shown below.

Roger Nurse , a lecturer at the University of Guyana , did a presentation on Open Hardware and Logic Circuits





Lenandlar Singh, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, University of Guyana did a comprehensive presentation "Why Open Source Software/Open Hardware? "





Guyana's manufacturing and engineering design community might want to consider hardware freedom and open design as philosophies to stimulate innovative solutions.