Mapping Knowledge, Skills, and Capabilities of Stakeholders in Open Design-Led Distributed Production Settings

Bakırlıoğlu, Yekta (2022) Mapping Knowledge, Skills, and Capabilities of Stakeholders in Open Design-Led Distributed Production Settings. In: Design for Adaptation Cumulus Conference Proceedings Detroit 2022 :. Cumulus, USA, pp. 805-820. ISBN 9798218079017

Abstract

Openly shared design knowledge and open-to-participate design processes present potential for empowering individuals to influence what is produced, democratizing innovation through espousing diffuse value creation networks that can diverge into different directions and design outcomes, transitioning towards sustainable futures through espousing socially, environmentally, and economically beneficial practices, and enabling new types of enterprise, new ways of manufacturing, and circular economy practices. Many researchers discuss these potentials of open design along with the distributed production paradigm that localizes production, closes material loops, and empowers communities to meet their own local needs as well as the needs of citizens in the future through open, adaptable solutions and knowledge sharing. The literature around open design and distributed production presents varying sustainable future visions in terms of decentralized governance and deploy varying assumptions about the roles of users, prosumers, makers, and producers. Stakeholders operating at varying scales (i.e. individual, local, regional, and global) and with different intentions for creating and recapturing value (i.e. for self and for others) can theoretically partake in such distributed, decentralized design, production, and post-use processes. However, the skills and capabilities enabling these stakeholders to engage in such processes also vary greatly according to the level of involvement and responsibility they intend to enact. As part of a research project on exploring open design-led business models that can establish resilient and adaptive distributed value creation networks and localized circular economy loops, the author has mapped the skills and capabilities deployed to engage in distributed value creation processes according to life cycle stages, i.e. design, production, and post-use, and intentions for creating and recapturing value, i.e. for self and for others. This paper presents this initial mapping informed by a systematic review of the literature at the intersection of open design, distributed production, and business models, in an attempt to initiate academic discussion around the skills and capabilities required to transition towards distributed and decentralized value-creation networks in a comprehensive manner. This mapping addresses and formalizes what kinds of knowledge, skills, and resources responsible consumers, active users, makers/prosumers/do-it-yourself-ers, and local, regional, and global producers need access to, in terms of levels of engagement at design, production, and post-use stages by these stakeholders operating at varying levels. The author argues for a layered approach to designing products and services that can accommodate all levels of engagement depending on stakeholders’ capabilities and intentions, not only at the design and production stages but also at the post-use processes including repair, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling. While the outcomes of such distributed production processes would be responsive to individual, local, and regional needs and adapted in a demand-driven way, the distributed value creation network would become resilient and quick to adapt to any imminent changes that require swift responses. Establishing such resilient and adaptive networks requires a detailed and in-depth understanding of accessibility to different kinds and levels of knowledge, skills, and capabilities.