A new post on the Open Source HardWare Association (OSHWA) website outlines "some of the basics of Open Source Hardware, the landscape, history and implications are covered in the attached article, written as a collaboration between Alicia and myself":
OSHWA presents on Open Source Hardware, Washington DC Jan 2014
The referenced article is available as PDF:
BROADENING THE OPEN SOURCE LANDSCAPE: Insights from the Open Source Hardware Association [pdf]
By Gabriella Levine and Alicia Gibb
Open source hardware is an alternative to the patent intellectual property (IP) structure.The communally written and accepted definition states, “Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make,and sell the design or the hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it.
You can also download the slides of the presentation [PDF]
cheers,
drew