"A Lot of Moving Parts": A Case Study of Open-Source Hardware Design Collaboration in the Thingiverse Community

Abstract: Open-source is a decentralized and collaborative method of development that encourages open contribution from an extensive and undefined network of individuals. Although commonly associated with software development (OSS), the open-source model extends to hardware development, forming the basis of open-source hardware development (OSH). Compared to OSS, OSH is relatively nascent, lacking adequate tooling support from existing platforms and best practices for efficient collaboration. Taking a necessary step towards improving OSH collaboration, we conduct a detailed case study of DrawBot, a successful OSH project that remarkably fostered a long-term collaboration on Thingiverse - a platform not explicitly intended for complex collaborative design. Through analyzing comment threads and design changes over the course of the project, we found how collaboration occurred, the challenges faced, and how the DrawBot community managed to overcome these obstacles. Beyond offering a detailed account of collaboration practices and challenges, our work contributes best practices, design implications, and practical implications for OSH project maintainers, platform builders, and researchers, respectively. With these insights and our publicly available dataset, we aim to foster more effective and efficient collaborative design in OSH projects.