Elektor_Mag_-_January-February_2021

lektor January & February 2021 95

Note: OHO was founded as a collaboration between the non-profit

association Open Source Ecology Germany e.V. (OSEG) and the

French-German research project OPEN! Methods and tools for commu-

nity-based product development [6].

200560-01

There already is an OSH certification process facil-
itated by the Open Source Hardware Association
(OSHWA) [5]. It too is the result of the need felt by
the OSH community to have clear guidelines to
determine whether a project is truly open. But the
OSHWA certification process focuses mainly on
the licensing aspect of open. What was still lacking
were requirements for the documentation side of
OSH, or in other words a clear definition of what
constitutes a source. OHO’s assessment platform
based on the requirements laid out in DIN SPEC
3105 seeks to remedy that gap.

Join the community
The assessment platform is already up and running
but still under development. The developers received
feedback from the community asking for a more
intuitive workflow. So they are currently working on

improving the user experience. Schattenhofer and the team are inviting
Elektor readers to join the OHO community. You can join by uploading
your project for review. Or you can apply your technical knowledge as a
reviewer. But, Schattenhofer warns, you should be ready to deal with a
website that is not entirely ready yet. So there’s a third role you can take
on in the OHO project. You can get involved as a tester of the platform
and help to create a better user interface and workflow.

Schattenhofer: “At the moment, not many people know DIN SPEC 3105
and the community-based assessment platform yet. But we want to
build an active community around the Open Hardware Observatory to
advance mainstream adoption of open source hardware. People who
join the OHO community now, can really be part of the development
process. If you get involved now, you can bring in your own ideas. If
you are interested in joining OHO, you can contact us at [email protected].”

[1] This widely used definition was established by the Open Source Hardware Association (no relation to OHO).

[2] Open Hardware Observatory: https://en.oho.wiki/wiki/Open_Hardware

[3] List of Open Licenses: https://opensource.org/licenses

[4] DIN SPEC: https://gitlab.com/OSEGermany/OHS/

[5] Open Source Hardware Association Certification: https://certification.oshwa.org/

[6] Founding Partners: https://en.oho.wiki/wiki/Founding_partners#TU_Berlin_.2F_Research_project_OPEN.21

WEB LINKS

The Open Hardware Observatory (OHO) aims to make OSH more

visible by providing an online repository of open projects.

Schematic overview of the community-based review process of open-source hardware

documentation. (Image: Courtesy of the Open Hardware Observatory)

Contributors

Te x t : Tessel Renzenbrink Editor: Stuart Cording Layout: Giel Dols

Questions or Comments?

Do you have questions or comments regarding this article?

Then get in touch with the Elektor editorial team at

[email protected].