Understanding Realities and Assembling Futures: Open-Source Hardware as a Concept, Movement, and Community

Authors

• Anastaia Ackom Antwi
• Antonia Anaya
• Samuel Duah Boadu
• Nano Castro
• Pablo Credmades
• Brianna Johns
• Sarah HuttonFollow
• Jessica Nguema
• Lee Wilkins

Files

Description

Chapter 23 of Open Movements: Recognizing Challenges and Building Connections edited by Abbey K. Elder, Shannon M. Smith, and Bryan Ricupero

Book Abstract

At their core, open movements exhibit a set of shared values centering public access and broad representation. These values and the practices they inform work to prevent the concentration of power, especially as it relates to information and its monetization. Despite these shared values, general discussions about openness have broken off over the last few decades to bring closer attention to more focused topics like open science, open data, open access, and other movements within Open. This has enabled more nuanced discussions to arise, but has distanced some communities from others and, in some cases, it has even distanced communities from the values they purport to hold. As Yoon argues in her deconstruction of the genealogy of open, “A debate that had been about freedom, curtailing of private power, and the user was now contained into a conversation about economics, efficiency, and practicality.” Can we honestly argue that the communities in which we engage are working toward the public good, and not an abstract goal of “more open things?” To address this question, we brought together experts from across open movements to share information about the challenges and opportunities they have observed across Open.

ISBN

9798892553797, 9798892553803

Publication Date

2026

Publisher

Association of College and Research Libraries: A division of the American Library Association

City

Chicago, Illinois

Disciplines

Education | Educational Methods

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Antwi, Anastaia Ackom; Anaya, Antonia; Boadu, Samuel Duah; Castro, Nano; Credmades, Pablo; Johns, Brianna; Hutton, Sarah; Nguema, Jessica; and Wilkins, Lee, "Understanding Realities and Assembling Futures: Open-Source Hardware as a Concept, Movement, and Community" (2026). Open Educational Resources: Textbooks, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/textbooks/12

Rights

Copyright ©2026 by Association of College and Research Libraries