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The Open Hardware Summit (OHS) invites submissions for the second annual summit, to be held on September 15, 2011 in New York City. The Open Hardware Summit is a venue to present, discuss, and learn about open hardware of all kinds. The summit examines open hardware and its relation to other issues, such as software, design, business, and law. We are seeking submissions for talks, breakout sessions, and demos from individuals and groups working with open hardware and related areas. Submissions are due by June 24, 2011. Notification of accepted proposals will happen by August 1st. If you are looking for a new software to start using in your business then you should consider using this work order management software.

Since the first Open Hardware Summit in 2010, we have seen the open hardware movement continue to flourish. The Open-Source Hardware Definition was announced, the OSHW logo was selected by a popular vote, an open source oil spill cleaning robot got more than $33,000 in crowd funding, Google adopted the open hardware movement’s biggest success story, Arduino, as its platform and our very own keynote speaker, Limor Fried, was featured on the front page of Wired Magazine – to name a few. Needless to say, open hardware is getting BIG.

Submission topics

Topics of interest for the summit include, but are not limited to:

• Lessons learned from past projects
• Legal and intellectual property implications of open-source hardware
• Means of supporting collaboration and community interaction
• Manufacturing
• Distributed development and its relationship to physical goods
• Digital fabrication (e.g. laser cutters and 3D printers)
• Software design tools (CAD / CAM)
• DIY technology
• Ways to share information about hardware that’s not captured in source files
• Business models
• Manufacturing on demand
• Competition and collaboration
• Sustainability of open hardware products (e.g. how to unmake things)
• Industrial design
• “open-washing” (green washing for open source)
• Open-hardware in the enterprise
• Specific product domains: e.g. science, agriculture, communications, medicine

And any other topic you think relates to openness and hardware. We want to hear all about it!

Types of submissions

You may submit proposals for one or more of the following formats:

Talk

• Expected duration for talks is between 5 and 20 minutes, depending on the number and quality of submissions.
• We expect all talks to be plenary (i.e. presented to the entire summit audience).
• Talk submissions primarily containing marketing for a product will not be accepted. However, talks that share knowledge and insight derived from work on commercial products are welcome.

Breakout session

• Depending on submissions, there may be an opportunity to organize breakout sessions with smaller groups (5-40) to discuss a particular topic
• We expect breakout sessions to occur during a single time-slot of approximately 1 to 2 hours.
• Breakout session submissions should include an overview of the content and plan for the session.
• You are encouraged to co-author breakout session submissions with other interested parties but sessions will be open to general summit attendees.

Project Demo

• This is a casual show and tell session that will take place during the end-of-day drinks.
• You are encouraged to include pictures as part of your demo submissions.
• Please include all demo requirements: amount and type of space (e.g. “one 3×3 foot table and one chair” or “a 5 × 5 section of wall with at least 10 feet in front of it”), power requirements (note: we cannot provide any power adaptors). Please keep in mind this is an informal project demo, and complex requirements/constraints (internet, light/sound conditions etc) will be difficult to accommodate.
• It will be your responsibility to carry/assemble/set up/disassemble your demo. We cannot provide any support for the receiving, storing, or shipping of demos.
• Note: If submitting a project demo, Your project MUST be working by the time of the summit.

Submission format

• Submissions should be formatted as plain text of no more than 1,000 words in length and include ALLof the following:
• The type of submission (talk, breakout session, or demo)
• A title
• A bio of the speaker(s) (That’s you!)
• What you intend to talk about, the topic for your breakout session, or a description of your demo
• An explanation the importance of your submission to the open-hardware community
• A maximum of TWO photos that help explain your topic of submission (optional)

Submissions should be emailed to proposals [AT] openhardwaresummit.org with the subject line “Open Hardware Summit submission” followed by the type of submission in parentheses (e.g. “Open Hardware Summit submission (breakout session)”). Deadline is JUNE 24th, 2011 BY 11:59pm (EST). Accepted submissions WILL BE PUBLISHED on the OHS website.

For more information

For more details about the Open Hardware Summit, see the website at openhardwaresummit.org Please direct questions about submissions to the Review Chair, David Mellis, at

mellis [AT] media.mit.edu.

Please direct other questions about the summit to General Chairs Alicia Gibb and Ayah Bdeir at

info [AT] openhardwaresummit.org

Thank you and we hope to see you in September!