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)

Characteristics

Chris Giotitsas and Jose Ramos:

Diagonality

"the DG-ML process is neither top down nor bottom up. As mentioned, DG-ML is not top down because the CRG is critical in driving design and organisational iterations for mutualised community problem solving. Likewise, DG-ML is not just bottom up, because manufacturing without the aid of a global design commons and expert assistance is a recipe for a harsh survivalist / life boat development approach. This brings to bear the central role of gatherings (conferences and jams), for linking and mixing the local with the global - highlighting the role of the organizer and community building. Overall DG-ML is a co-production between an emerging global design commons, software, hardware, peer to peer platforms for circular economy, machinery and production equipment."

Scale

"DG-ML connects two scales of community: the global scale, interweaving the commons of design through software platforms, conferences and other modalities that pool de-territorialized resources for common use; and the scale of the local where people pool embodied resources and create localized commons which potentiate livelihoods. At both scales people are peer producing commons. The transformations in web technology and the emergence of Creative Commons and GNU licenses as legitimate formats has meant that it is fashionable to see commoning as digital and platform based. The case studies in this report, however, indicate that the localized process of commoning, revealed through processes similar to participatory action research, are both fundamental to an effective application of DG-ML, and they are co-constitutive of the global scale of commoning - that is to say that the global scale of commoning is not possible without the local/embodied. We can make the proposition that DG-ML co-mingles a very modern conception of commoning, the digital commons made possible by the network form, with an ancient conception of commoning reminiscent of early tribal peoples who depended on reciprocity and gifting systems for their survival." (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