{"id":1654,"date":"2012-03-31T09:19:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-31T15:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/workingknowledge.com\/blog\/?p=1654"},"modified":"2023-03-02T21:27:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T03:27:35","slug":"arduino-innovation-through-open-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.workingknowledge.com\/blog\/arduino-innovation-through-open-source\/","title":{"rendered":"Arduino: A Tale of Innovation through Open Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

Point<\/strong>: A collectively-motivated group of peers can develop innovations in a distributed online environment.<\/p>\n

Story<\/strong>: When Hernando Barrag\u00e1n created a nontechie-friendly microcontroller board for artists, designers, and architects in 2004, his thesis adviser, Massimo Banzi, liked the idea.\u00a0 But Banzi wanted something simpler and cheaper for use in design class projects at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Italy.\u00a0 In particular, Banzi wanted a low cost, an integrated software environment, programmability via an everyday USB port, and a project supported by a community.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Dave Mellis, Gianluca Martino and Nicholas Zambetti created Arduino, an easy-make, easy-to-use circuit board about the size of a business card.\u00a0 Anyone can use the device to create all manner of computer-controlled devices such as prototypes of products, pieces of art, or just fun hobbyist contraptions.\u00a0 The team’s device was about 1\/3 the price of the predecessor device and 1\/3 the price of commercial products.\u00a0 Best if all, the group released Arduino under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licensing, which means anyone can copy the Arduino and make the circuit board without payment or permission from the Arduino group.<\/p>\n

The Arduino project uses open source methods to develop its hardware and software. Open source is a type of connected innovation based on the collective contribution of peer innovators to a project or product.\u00a0 Open source allows free access to the internal design specification of the product such that anyone in the world can modify the design to correct a problem, improve performance, or add a new feature.\u00a0 With this openness comes a cultural norm that if someone does improve the design, then they should share that improvement with the community for inclusion in the public version of the design.\u00a0 Through this open process, Arduino now has 12 different models and 5 supplementary function boards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arduino, like other open source projects, relies heavily on connective technologies to coordinate its loose global team of project participants.\u00a0 Email lists, online wikis, discussion forums, and content management systems help the project participants maintain the core product as well as developing new ideas that later become incorporated in the main products.\u00a0 Arduino uses Google Code to host the project to provide a central connection point for anyone who wants the software.\u00a0 People can report defects or suggest enhancements. Google’s tools help the project participants track the status, priority, and milestones of the idea.\u00a0 Other tools aid collaborative problem solving.\u00a0 The main Arduino discussion forum<\/a> has nearly 70 thousand members and over 700 thousand posts on some 90 thousand topics.<\/p>\n

Action<\/strong>:<\/p>\n