Open hardware in science : The benefits of open electronics
Oellermann, Michael (Technical University of Munich)
Jolles, Jolle W. (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Ortiz, Diego (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (Argentina))
Seabra, Rui (Universidade do Porto. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos)
Wenzel, Tobias (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Instituto de Ingeniería Biológica y Médica)
Wilson, Hannah (Utah State University. Biology Department)
Tanner, Richelle L. (Chapman University)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Openly shared low-cost electronic hardware applications, known as open electronics, have sparked a new open-source movement, with much untapped potential to advance scientific research. Initially designed to appeal to electronic hobbyists, open electronics have formed a global "maker" community and are increasingly used in science and industry. In this perspective article, we review the current costs and benefits of open electronics for use in scientific research ranging from the experimental to the theoretical sciences. We discuss how user-made electronic applications can help (I) individual researchers, by increasing the customization, efficiency, and scalability of experiments, while improving data quantity and quality; (II) scientific institutions, by improving access to customizable high-end technologies, sustainability, visibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration potential; and (III) the scientific community, by improving transparency and reproducibility, helping decouple research capacity from funding, increasing innovation, and improving collaboration potential among researchers and the public. We further discuss how current barriers like poor awareness, knowledge access, and time investments can be resolved by increased documentation and collaboration, and provide guidelines for academics to enter this emerging field. We highlight that open electronics are a promising and powerful tool to help scientific research to become more innovative and reproducible and offer a key practical solution to improve democratic access to science.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Integrative and Comparative Biology, Vol. 62, Issue 4 (October 2022) , p. 1061-1075, ISSN 1557-7023

DOI: 10.1093/icb/icac043
PMID: 35595471

15 p, 1.7 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles