Open Sourcing the Design of Civil Infrastructure (OSD-CI): A Paradigm Shift
Tracy L. Kijewski-Correa · Structures Congress 2011 · 2011
Few will argue the importance of civil infrastructure to society, yet its condition has been allowed to deteriorate to a staggering level. Meanwhile the research and design practice dedicated to it has relied only upon limited, fractured resources scattered physically across the community with little formal collaboration. As the information used in the design, analysis and even management of civil infrastructure is trapped inside proprietary systems, these essential public works projects often do not benefit from the full expertise and latest advances available in the wider engineering community. To address this problem, a new virtual organization has been launched: Open Sourcing the Design of Civil Infrastructure (OSD-CI), welcoming Citizen Engineers to engage in four dimensions of collaboration (sharing hardware, software, knowledge and manpower). This paper presents the ongoing development of this concept, specifically focusing on two recent prototypes allowing this crowd to contribute and assess engineering data.