View source for FairWare

'''= proposal for an "Open Source physical product distribution infrastructure"  '''

==== Goals: ====

*  bring peer designed products to the market in an accountable way
*  make sure that needs of all stakeholders are met 
*** creative people get their share
*** producers can produce under human conditions
*** users get quality and reliability
*  foster cooperation and improved product design
*  facilitate quality control by branding
*  exert democratic control over a brand name
*  create resilience towards proprietory action
*  empower the growth of compatibilty and coherence (interoperability) between Open Products in the physical world.

<br>

==== Venues ====

http://fairwork.mixxt.org/networks/wiki/index.english%20intro

=Discussion=

<br>
====Proposal: THE FAIRWARE CONCEPT: A "HYBRID" COMPANY====
<br>
By [http://www.fairwork.ch/whoiswho/lebenslauf.html Thomas Diener], [http://www.fairwork.com FairWork GmbH]:<br>
<i><br>
"I'll can send a more structured text within the next few weeks <br>
but it will be in my very simple English. If somebody would like<br>
to translate from German into English it would make my job<br>
much easier.<br>

I just start with a kind of sketch:<br>
<br>
We would like to design a new way to develop and produce products. The<br>
vision is:<br>
Imagine all products we purchase and use contain the following quality<br>
features:<br>
- functional<br>
- worthwhile<br>
- durable<br>
- fully serviceable<br>
- easy to keep up-to-date (acc. techn. products)<br>
- fancy<br>
- positive ecobalance<br>
Imagine that in such factories, where above described products are<br>
manufactured there is also appreciation for workers - so we even would<br>
like to work there.<br>
From there, we would love to use these products with clear conscience and<br>
a kind of pride as we consider it as "our products". These products belong<br>
to us, because its developed from our pure needs and designed and made by<br>
us, potentially. More, trademark rights are owned by us in our roles as<br>
worker/producer and consumer, concurrently.<br>
These are products whose design and goodwill is considered common<br>
knowledge.<br>
In this sense there are already a lot of useful initiatives, e.g. Software<br>
relying on a range of striking Open Source applications.<br>
<br>
But what about cell phones, sneakers, furniture, cars, solar panels, as<br>
well as many other products?<br>
Lets call it the Open Source Physical Product side, not only electronic<br>
hardware, but all kind of different stuff.<br>
Indeed, even here there are some remarkable projects launched, but didn't<br>
made headway, so far.<br>
In comparison to above mentioned initiatives today's business mergers and<br>
affiliated corporations are more powerful, financially strong, and rather<br>
efficient, too.<br>
Think about what will happen, if we combine efficiency of a large<br>
commercial structure, the capability of Open Source, IT options, and the<br>
vitality of Social Communities?<br>

To concretize this vision we need:<br>
- a form of organization which combines the efficiency of a global company<br>
with a deep democratic foundation.<br>
- a clear structure which allows fast growth and the involvement of many<br>
different players<br>
- a web 2 community-based communication between all the players which<br>
allows not only to brainstorm ideas, to crowdsource questions/solutions<br>
and to control the different players but also to facilitate and to<br>
visualize basic decisions making process.<br>
<br>
The ideas to realize this dream are so far:<br>
- the democratic foundation is possible through a special form of<br>
participation: Every person which is involved in the "Company" is<br>
automatically a co-holder of the company. Since as developer and designer<br>
of products, as producer or as consumer (any person can of course be a mix<br>
of all this roles). This model is proven by big and successful companies<br>
like for instance "Visa-Card" (http://www.chaordic.org) and maybe also some<br>
cooperatives like Mondragon, Migros etc.<br>
<br>
- to set up a organizational form we call "Hybrid global company" it is a<br>
combination of basically 3 elements:<br>
<br>
- - a foundation with legal capacity. The goal is:<br>
- - - to assure that the "ethic" nucleus of the company will sustain<br>
- - - to gather the precious parts of the company in order to keep them<br>
away from the greediness of some player inside or outside of the company<br>
(precious could be: the social community platform, the brand of the<br>
Compagnie and of each product, the design of the corporate communication<br>
and each product and so on.)<br>
- - a limited company which is responsible for the operative part of the<br>
work (coordination, translations, marketing, and so on).<br>
- - - This joint stock company is only responsible to provide the services<br>
around the "Hybrid global company".<br>
- - a social community platform which is<br>
- - -  the "newspaper" of the company (independent from the foundation and<br>
the limited company.<br>
- - -  the place where all the players are represented<br>
- - -  the place where the global direction of the company were discussed<br>
and basic decision were made (something like a online parliament)<br>
- - -  The place where crowdsourcing can happen<br>
- - -  and so on . . .<br>
<br>
This 3 Elements are basicly independend but connected trough a structural<br>
coupling. In the best case that could grow into an living system, which<br>
stabilize itself in a very dynamic way.<br>
<br>
An example of this interplay you can find hier<br>
<br>
http://fairwork.mixxt.org/networks/wiki/index.ProdukteGeschichte (only in<br>
german yet) - "The history of a product" describes in full detail what<br>
would be a "democratic economic process"<br>
<br>
Maybe someone could translate it to english and english pages could be<br>
added in that MIXXT Wiki.<br>
<br>
What could be the next steps:<br>
There are of course a lot of unsolved problems around this idea. But best<br>
way to bring it into practice is to start.<br>
So I suggest to build a foundation for that project and we need a first<br>
striking product for the start of a cooperation between developer,<br>
producers and consumers.<br>
<br>
I am willing to maintain the process of building the foundation. The Swiss<br>
law is very flexible and allows to start with a very small amount of<br>
money. Anybody who would like to help me with the formulation of the<br>
articles of corporation is kindly invited to help."<br></i>



[[Category:Design]]

[[Category:Manufacturing]]