Open Volunteer positions

To apply for these positions, please include your contact information and prepare two paragraphs:
1.Why you would like to assist OSHWA
2. What is your experience in the area you are applying for
Send those items to info@oshwa.org with the subject line as the position you are applying for.

We will be accepting applications until the positions are filled.

Treasurer – Officer position – approx. 5 hours per month – Volunteer basis until further notice

OSHWA is looking for the officer position of treasurer. In this position, you would be working with Nathan Seidle, who is our stand-in treasurer. Our main needs are working with our accountant on taxes, monitoring accounts and putting together a budget. Excel experience required. This position is currently a volunteer, but could turn into a paid position based on OSHWA’s funding.

Duties:

  • Gather and submit documents need for taxes for 2014
  • Monitor bank and paypal accounts
  • Generate a report of finances each month
  • Help Nathan create budget
  • Attend quarterly board meetings
  • Learn about financial accounting for nonprofit organizations

Publicity chair – approx. 3 hours per month – $50/mo.

OSHWA is looking for a publicity chair to use all forms of media and communication to build, maintain and manage the face of the organization with the membership and the public. The publicity chair will communicate OSHWA’s key messages, establish and maintain goodwill and understanding between the organization and the public. The publicity chair will report to the VP of the OSHWA board, currently the VP is Windell Oskay.

Duties:

  • Circulate OSHWA’s video and other press
  • Answer requests for press & interviews
  • Create blog updates, tweets, and other social media
  • Collate media coverage
  • Prepare and supervise the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films and multimedia programs
  • Foster community relations through events such as open days and through involvement in community initiatives

International branch chair  – Volunteer  basis until further notice

Due to the popularity OSHWA has received in other countries, there is a need to set up an international infrastructure. The chair’s role would be in developing a plan to include international branches of OSHWA within the existing structure. The chair will need to communicate with other interested branches to create the best outcome for everyone. The chair will need to appoint a committee and lead meetings within that committee. This position will need someone who is self-motivated and can work throughout many time zones. This position though voluntary now, could turn into a paid position based on OSHWA’s funding.

Duties:

  • Connect with current interest of international branches
  • Develop framework to include branches in OSHWA
  • Develop a committee to explore international expansion and relationships for OSHWA

To apply for these positions, please include your contact information and prepare two paragraphs:
1.Why you would like to assist OSHWA
2. What is your experience in the area you are applying for
Send those items to info@oshwa.org with the subject line as the position you are applying for.

We will be accepting applications until the positions are filled.

Corporate Membership now available!

Sign up for membership as an individual or a corporation on our membership page!

Through a member vote 20 to 1 the amendments to the bylaws passed, which included a corporate class of membership. The amendment also contained language that needed to be changed from New York standards to Delaware standards since we started incorporating in one place and ended in the other. Meeting notes from the member meeting on Jan. 10th are located under the file cabinet tab. Thank you to all members who participated.

Sign up for membership as an individual or a corporation on our membership page!

If you are a business that signed up early when we only had one class of membership and would like to change to the corporate class, please email info@oshwa.org

OSHWA’s Goals for 2013

0. File 2012 taxes.

1. File for non-profit status. This will include writing the narrative of our purposes, we’re looking for help as we explain our organization to the IRS. If you’d like to help us write Part 4 of the 1023 Form, please email info@oshwa.org and we’ll add you to the list of editors.

2. Appoint treasurer and write Budget Plan.

3. Host 2013 Open Hardware Summit in the fall.

4. Fill seats for membership to chair committees and become officers. A call for open positions will be announced.

5. Add additional board members.

6. Build membership and fundraise.

OSHWA and OSI enter Co-Existence Agreement

OSHW Mark

  Following discussions about the Open Source and Open Source Hardware logos, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) have worked together to compose a co-existence agreement on behalf of their representative communities.

We are pleased to announce that the co-existence agreement has now been approved and signed by both organizations. This agreement means that each group separately has control of their respective logo and in particular that the Open Source Hardware community will be able to continue to use the Open Source Hardware logo.

As per the agreement, OSHWA will (in the near future) publish guidelines for the use of the OSHW logo, designed to promote its use in compliance with the Open Source Hardware Definition. Until then, if you are using the OSWH logo, please make sure that you are following the OSHW definition. And, to use the OSI logo, please refer to OSI’s trademark usage guidelines.

Working with other organizations is just one of the ways we serve the community. Through your membership support, both OSHWA (join now!) and OSI (join now!) hope to continue representing your needs.

View the OSI OSHWA Agreement.

OSHWA got a facelift!

The association has its own logo! Our shiny new logo echos a circle of the same Pantone 3135C color blue we all know and love from the OSHW logo. Also note how the circles look like derivatives of one another. We thought that was pretty neat. Special thanks to our graphic designer, David Steele Overholt, who worked with our schedule to release the new design in time for the Summit!

Some history: OSHWA decided to create its own logo as we began thinking deeper about what the OSHW logo meant to our community. We wanted to differentiate ourselves as an organization and avoid confusion with regard to whether the current OSHW logo stood for the definition or the organization.

And speaking of logos, thank you everyone for being patient while OHSWA continues to work with OSI to come up with a solution beneficial to everyone. I’m happy to report that OSI’s lawyer and OSHWA’s lawyer have been working hard on a co-existence agreement.

An Important Question on the Open Source Hardware Mark

An open letter to the open source hardware community from OSHWA, the Open Source Hardware Association, oshwa.org

The current leadership of the Open Source Initiative (OSI, opensource.org) has brought to our attention that they feel the Open Source Hardware ‘gear’ logo infringes on their trademark.

The open source hardware logo was chosen by the community and has become a de facto standard over the past year and a half. As the founding board members of OSHWA, we feel that it is not our right nor our place to decide this issue for the community without further input. This “founding” OSHWA board was elected by the OSHWA organizers simply to do the hard work of the bootstrapping the organization: to get a bank account, to fill out IRS paperwork, to clear other organizing hurdles, and (finally) to establish membership so that we can legally vote in board members by future membership. We had hoped and envisioned that any real business to serve the open source hardware community could wait after our organization was more firmly established.

We would like to work on behalf of the community. We have before us several options, and we are interested in your feedback:

1) License the open source hardware ‘gear’ logo from OSI.
US Trademark law requires OSI to protect their mark and to notify potential infringers when they become aware of them. OSI has indicated that they would grant a trademark license to OSHWA. This would give OSI the means to protect their trademark. However, accepting such a license would establish OSI as the owner of the crowdsourced ‘gear’ logo. It would make OSI responsible for deciding where and when the logo can be used, effectively giving OSI control of defining what can and cannot be labeled as open source hardware. It could also place OSHWA in the uncomfortable position of needing to enforce OSI trademarks. We are further concerned that future OSI boards may have different opinions concerning the use of their logo and license agreements.

2) Continue to recommend the use of the ‘gear’ logo against OSI’s wishes.
This may lead OSHWA to a legal battle before we even get off the ground. While it is theoretically possible that we could successfully argue against this in court, we do feel it would be wasteful to spend our limited resources and time “infighting” with one of the few other organizations that exists to serve the open source community. Nor do we wish to drive a wedge between ourselves and the OSI, who may be important allies in battles ahead.

3) Crowdsource a new logo to represent Open Source Hardware.
A change to our current logo must include removing the keyhole shape inside the gear as this is the problematic feature according to OSI’s lawyer.  But a new logo need not be similar at all.  In any case, OSHWA would begin to recommend the new logo in its list of best practices for labeling Open Source Hardware. The myriad products and projects with the original ‘gear’ marks could be revised over time.

 

We encourage you to leave your comments at the bottom of this post.


Update 1: 
Per request, here is the license from OSI, which has been brought up in the comments.

Update 2: Please voice your opinion by Aug. 16. OSHWA will reconvene to discuss these issues after that date.

Update 3: Thanks to everyone for their comments and especially to OSI for engaging with the open source hardware community. We are encouraged by the renewed dialog with OSI and we are going to take the conversation with them offline for the moment. We’re hopeful that the outcome will be an agreement that benefits the whole OSHW community. Thank you again for your help!     (Note Added Wednesday August 8)

Update 4: OSHWA and OSI are currently working together on a co-existence agreement. In the mean time, continue to build cool stuff and share it! Thanks to Jim Jagielski for sharing this link about co-existence agreements: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/06/article_0007.html

We’re Official!

We’re official! After getting denied (a couple times) in NY State, we successfully incorporated in Delaware. Yay! Step 1 accomplished 🙂  (Step 2 will be to tackle the paperwork for IRS non-profit status.)

We also created a mailing list for the Open Source Hardware Association. Sign up here please: www.oshwa.org/mailing-lists/  We will use this list to update folks on our progress, discuss directions for our goals and purposes, and use the list as our communication method to best serve you all. We’ll also be cross posting our news and updates to the Updates list (also found in the mailing lists link) as well. 

Open Hardware in DC this Friday!

Michael Weinberg is putting together an Open Hardware event in DC to introduce open source hardware to our congresspeople. The one-day event will be held on April 20th, 2012 at the Rayburn House Office Building Room 2322 in Washington DC. There will be two panels followed by demos. The event is free, though I’m sure Michael wouldn’t mind a donation or two to help out. Bring your project and yourself!

Check out more about the event on Public Knowledge’s Website.

Hello World!

The Open Source Hardware Association is Coming Soon! It will be a non-profit organization (status pending) working to spread the love of open source hardware. We’re working out details, and as soon as we know, you’ll know! Check back at oshwa.org for upcoming news.

In an effort to better understand the Open Source Hardware community, Catarina Mota lead our first project and created a survey along with David Mellis and John De Cristofaro. Please participate in this survey so that we can serve you to the best of our abilities. The aggregate and anonymous results will be made publicly available in May.

Please take the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSHW

Some proposed purposes this organization aims to do are as follows:
(1) Educate individuals and the general public about Open Source Hardware.
(2) Organize the Open Source Hardware movement around shared values and principles.
(3) Provide information and advice on best practices and standards for Open Source Hardware.
(4) Encourage collaborative learning, knowledge exchange, and social cohesion through conferences and other events focused on Open Source Hardware.
(5) Promote the use and development of Open Source Hardware, including to encourage educational and economic development.
(6) Collect, compile and publish data on the Open Source Hardware movement.
(7) Conduct any and all lawful activities which may be useful in accomplishing the foregoing purposes.