Applying Social Theory to Open Source Design

I have been interested in the idea of “open source design” since my introduction to the field of design, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that the concept itself remains somewhat nebulous in definition. My ideas about open source design are founded in my understanding of open source software and that development model’s applicability to the design, manufacture, and use of physical products. In recent weeks I have been pleased to come across a number of direct and tangential references to ideas which help to solidify this concept.

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Participatory Design for Third World Wheelchairs

The Whirlwind Wheelchairs project at San Francisco State University, led by wheelchair design pioneer Ralph Hotchkiss, conducts research in wheelchair design specifically targeted towards local manufacture in small factories around the world. Initially conceived as a reaction to the poor quality of wheelchairs produced by Everest and Jennings, a company that held a virtual global monopoly on wheelchairs from the 1950’s through the early 80’s, Whirlwind wheelchairs are designed to not only to withstand the rough environmental conditions of use in the third world, but also to be produced and repaired using commonly available materials and tools in those markets. I believe that Whirlwind serves as an excellent example of the success of participatory design for low-income communities in the post-industrial product design world.

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Samba file synchronization with GoodSync vs Offline Files

Since I’m starting to use a laptop more frequently these days, I decided to reconfigure my home network a bit so as to centralize my work files. Previously I had kept my work files on my desktop PC and used the Offline Files feature built into Windows 2000 and XP to synchronize a small number of files with an older laptop that I used only occasionally. That scheme worked fine at the time, but since I’m now planning on doing an increasing amount of work on my laptop instead of my desktop I didn’t want to require that my desktop machine be turned on to synchronize files.

Since I have a third machine running linux and MythTV that is on all the time anyway, I decided to set up a Samba share on that machine and make that my work files’ primary repository. An added advantage of the Samba configuration is that I can use rdiff-backup for easy remote backups of the repository. Configuring Samba was relatively painless, and far simpler than I remember it being from a few years ago.

Problems arose when I attempted to set up Offline Files on my laptop to create a local mirror of the files on the Samba share. [...]

Review: Dell Inspiron 6000

I took delivery of a brand-new Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop today, which I got a pretty good deal on using one of Dell’s common online coupons (never pay full price for Dell stuff!). Basic features are a 1.86GHz/2MB cache/533MHz FSB Pentium M 750 processor and 128MB DDR ATI Mobility Radeon X300 video. This is primarily a graphics and CAD work machine for me so I didn’t want to go with any of the less expensive integrated graphics solutions out there.

The real reason I chose the Dell, though, is the screen. It’s a 15.4 inch widescreen WUXGA LCD panel, which has an outstanding resolution of 1920×1200 pixels, which until only recently was unheard of for any consumer-priced LCD display, much less one on a laptop. I don’t know how Dell did it, but they were offering the WUXGA screen as an option for only $150 more than the default 1280×800 screen, which for me was a no-brainer. [...]

Reinventing the Designer

Globalization is perhaps the most significant modern trend affecting the fundamental role of today’s designer. At the same time, the need for universal design is a major factor that must provide motivation for the contemporary designer to work in new ways. I believe that these two influences will combine in a mutually reinforcing way to redefine the designer in today’s post-industrial society. [...]