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COFES 2009
April 16-19, 2009
Scottsdale, Arizona
The Scottsdale Plaza Resort
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Subject: Roundtable: Social Production of Manufactured Goods
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Joshua Fisher
Posts:33

03/31/2008 8:41 PM Alert 
Social Production of Manufactured Goods — Social production is the process by which volunteers come together to create something of value. They act as a firm would without the command/control or even clear reward/compensation structures. There are numerous examples in what has come to be known as Open Source IT: Linux, Apache, MySQL, SugarCRM, etc. Examples in manufacturing are less apparent but growing: Mazda tapped into the social network Facebook to directly get its customers ideas about what the next Mazda3 should look like; Mountain Dew started a site that lets customers formulate their own personal flavor of beverage; and Bug Labs has released a configurable/modular hardware platform that lets the user design their own gadget and then write the software to make it work. What will the role of the manufacturer be when the users of the products are asked to be the designers? What are the implications for Intellectual property and product liability when ‘amateurs’ are given authority over design decisions? What can we learn from how IT has been transformed by Open Source social production?
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Forums > Event Discussion > COFES 2008 Briefings and Roundtables > Roundtable: Social Production of Manufactured Goods



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