since I am new to this forum, I just would like to introduce myself. I am a graduate student based in Milan, Italy and I am currently doing research on motivation in open-source hardware development. For my master thesis I am trying to find out what motivates open-source hardware developers.
If you have any questions about me or my research, please let me know.
To get some more input: What motivates you? Why are you part of the Arduino community?
Thanks to everyone, and I am looking forward to insightful discussions
What is your master degree in? I would assume some type of electronics?
I just do it because it's fun. I like to create something useful and then see it work. Even if it's just creating my own alarm clock. Finding all of the parts and building something is a lot of fun.
Great, bedankt, Rob! Great to hear your thoughts, it confirms some of the theories I had so far. On the opposite, could you imagine something that would stop you from working on Arduino? Something that demotivates you?
CSGuy, that looks amazing. Just started with a starter kit to get a better understanding, but it will probably take a while to get there. My masters is in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology, and I am trying to find out what motivates Arduino hardware developers.
Would be great to get more insights! Anyone has a special reason for working with Arduino? What frustrates you, and what makes you happy working with Arduino?
jaspalex:
Great, bedankt, Rob! Great to hear your thoughts, it confirms some of the theories I had so far. On the opposite, could you imagine something that would stop you from working on Arduino? Something that demotivates you?
Welcome,
Yes, I can imagine several things that would stop me, including demotivating ones.
But I prefer to look at what is possible and the bright side.
Sometimes you stop with something because it is still fun - sort of stop at the top - don't wait until it "hurts".
Or you stop as other activities are worth investigating or just plain fun too
Thanks for the input so far, and great to hear that there is so much positivity in the community.
And indeed, the part of paying for the parts is interesting. Especially if you compare to just coding software. Which also makes me wonder, whether people like to share their contributions or whether there is also a big share of people that do not share and just take code?!
jaspalex:
Thanks for the input so far, and great to hear that there is so much positivity in the community.
And indeed, the part of paying for the parts is interesting. Especially if you compare to just coding software.
There was a time not too many decades ago where learning and using software and building electronic hardware projects were two completely different hobbies/activities. The Arduino project was among the first to release as both open hardware design and open software distribution and it didn't take long to see how successful that idea is. Open hardware projects these days would mean little if they didn't also depend and include open software to support the hardware design. Open software has been around for some time now, but open hardware/software is only a few years old for practical examples, so it is a useful thing to study and analyze.
Which also makes me wonder, whether people like to share their contributions or whether there is also a big share of people that do not share and just take code?!
It's a hobby for me so anything I post or share here is open as far as I'm concerned (and probably worth what I charge for it ). I could care less about those that take only as I don't even know when it might happen and could care less what they take. It's about having fun and sharing the good parts with others.
jaspalex:
Thanks for the input so far, and great to hear that there is so much positivity in the community.
Which also makes me wonder, whether people like to share their contributions or whether there is also a big share of people that do not share and just take code?!
Just check the statistics page and you will have an answer.
Again, a very warm thank you for your input, as it is incredibly useful to my research and is giving me some interesting perspectives.
retrolefty, thank you very much for the write-up. Open-source hardware is indeed not as well researched as open-source software, and it is great to hear motivating words for my work. I will also be happy to share with you the results of my work, and especially presenting evidence on how open-source hardware differs from open-source software with respect to its developers/users.
robtillaart, do I understand correctly that you mean the statistics per user on the user profile page? I am currently also thinking of analysing individual contributions through GitHub data cross-referenced with motivational aspects.
I hope you do not mind, if I quoted some of your inputs for my work to present some first-hand community insights.
robtillaart, do I understand correctly that you mean the statistics per user on the user profile page? I am currently also thinking of analysing individual contributions through GitHub data cross-referenced with motivational aspects.
Hello everybody. I am new to this forum. Let’s come to the point; there are so many things which inspire me like enlightening lectures, stimulating quotes and motivational movies
sueb20:
Hello everybody. I am new to this forum. Let’s come to the point; there are so many things which inspire me like enlightening lectures, stimulating quotes and motivational movies
In that case you have probably fallen into the wrong forum.
sueb20:
Hello everybody. I am new to this forum. Let’s come to the point; there are so many things which inspire me like enlightening lectures, stimulating quotes and motivational movies
Hope you don't mind if I quote you on that one, Pancake
As for the quotes, I would personally ask you whether you like to remain anonymous or be mentioned with name, robtillaart!
Will also probably ask in some other forum for some help for a personal project that can help me illustrate what Arduino is, for the defense of my thesis.
If anyone still has ideas concerning what motivates you, keep it coming! Thanks!
I've always found that it's very rewarding and fun to create and build my own designs, and usually see them work as intended. I like problem solving (my wife might question that while I'm doing it) and also helping folks out when I can.
Given those motivations, open source is sort of icing on the cake for me. But that is not to minimize its importance, because it's a big enabler for a lot of things including information sharing and community-building like this Arduino forum. There are a lot of impressive folks here that really know their stuff and are willing to share their knowledge and assist others with their projects. Indeed, open source has fostered an entire ecosystem that runs from hobbyists to small businesses, to distributors and service providers. As testimony to the importance of the open source movement, many large companies, including semiconductor manufacturers, have taken notice and become actively involved.
Thanks, robtillaart, and I will surely upload the pdf once done. Actually, I am soon also going to publish a questionnaire developed especially at the Arduino community - so I hope to get some input from the community there which might verify my hypotheses.
Jack, great to hear another point of view - I am especially interested in your point of view of open source as icing on top of the cake. Often times open source is seen as equivalent with free software (not only meaning at a zero price but more from a philosophical standpoint), so I would be wondering if you had a different opinion if this forum (or the community as a whole) would be sponsored or even governed by a profit-seeking corporation? Which is especially interesting, as large corporations paradoxically(?) nowadays invest a lot in open source… Did you mean Intel in your example?
And I can't stress it enough but it is great to get this personal feedback from the forum, it really helps a great deal in understanding the dynamics of how things work here (and that's very positive!), thanks!
). I could care less about those that take only as I don't even know when it might happen and could care less what they take. It's about having fun and sharing the good parts with others.