DGML

= also written as DG-ML, Cosmo-Localization

Description

Jose Ramos and Chris Giotitsas:

"The basic features of DG-ML are based on the conjunction of open source / open design production logics at the global scale, which are coupled with local-network production at a regional scale. Traditionally corporate enterprises have solely owned the intellectual property (IP) they employ in the production of goods. They source the materials for the goods through national or global supply chains. They manufacture those goods using economies of scale in a set number of manufacturing centres, whereupon those finished goods are delivered nationally or globally. DG-ML is an inversion of this production logic. First of all, the IP is open, whether open source or creative commons or copyfair,3 so it can be used by anyone. Secondly, manufacturing and production can be done independently of the IP, by any community or enterprise around the world that wants to. The democratization of increasingly powerful precision manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers and automated systems / robots potentiate this. This does not follow the logic of economies of scale (yet), rather it is focused on producing value for a critical reference group (CRG), a community who require such goods. Thirdly, distribution is localized to the CRG, or affiliates of the CRG." (https://www.academia.edu/33661849/A_New_Model_of_Production_for_a_New_Economy)

Discussion

Chris Giotitsas and Jose Ramos:

"DG-ML is not just the advent of new technologies that can be simply strapped on to the neoliberal globalization machine. DG-ML in fact represents the instantiation and operationalization of a new economic system that draws from an emerging worldview. Drawing from relationships and experiences with people involved in DG-ML, we believe it represents a substantive cultural shift in the orientation of material producers/consumers. It rejects the way in which industrialization has decontextualized inputs and outputs and associated externalities. It is thus allied to the vision for building circular economies, the idea being that the production materials used in a DG-ML process are sourced as locally as possible, with waste outputs utilized as inputs elsewhere, eliminating unnecessary supply chain associated costs and impacts. It is also connected to calls for a post-growth economic model, sustaining livelihoods based on measures of wellbeing rather than corporate / economic growth.10 It is interwoven with the open source movement, a vision for a digital commons where the legacy of human creativity is shareable. It draws from a planetary imaginary where local development work is responsive to the planetary challenges we face.11 It is in fact part of a movement to create an alternative globalization,12 and an expression of an emergent worldview: global ecological integrity versus overshoot, peer worker solidarity versus national competition, value pluralism versus the monoculture of GDP." (https://www.academia.edu/33661849/A_New_Model_of_Production_for_a_New_Economy)

Examples

A

• AbilityMate, a company that supports people with disabilities to design and manufacture their own prosthetics and assistive devices,
• Atelier Paysan

F

• FarmHack

O

• OSvehicle, a company that supports the open source manufacture of vehicles.
• OpenBionics Hands

R

• RepRap, an open source organization that designs 3D printers designed to replicate themselves,

W

• WikiHouse, a foundation which supports people to design and build sustainable housing,

More Information

• Report: A New Model of Production for a New Economy. Two Cases of Agricultural Communities. By Chris Giotitsas and Jose Ramos. New Economics Foundation, 2017

More Information

• see the report: A New Model of Production for a New Economy. Two Cases of Agricultural Communities. By Chris Giotitsas and Jose Ramos. New Economics Foundation, 2017