Here is a list of dissertations and theses on (a) Open Design and (b) Making, digital fabrication, makerspaces. Buy me a cocktail sometime to thank me.
Doctoral Dissertations: Open Design
Sawhney, Nitin, 2003. Cooperative innovation in the commons: Rethinking distributed collaboration and intellectual property for sustainable design innovation. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Architecture, Program in Media Arts and Sciences. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/61861
von Busch, Otto, 2008. Fashion-able: Hacktivism and Engaged Fashion Design. Doctoral dissertation. Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, School of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. https://konst.gu.se/artmonitor/avhandlingar/otto_von_busch
Zheng, Jing, 2009. Open Collaborative Mechanical/Product Design: User as Developer. A New Design Methodology for Internet Era Business Innovations and Entrepreneurship. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Structural Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science. Washington University, in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/401/
Silver, Matthew Robin, 2010. Open Collaborative System Design: A Strategic Framework with Application to Synthetic Biology. Doctoral dissertation. Engineering Systems Division. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/63012
Balka, Kerstin, 2011. Open Source Product Development: The Meaning and Relevance of Openness. Doctoral dissertation. Hamburg University of Technology Hamburg-Harburg, Germany. Published by Gabler, Springer. http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-8349-6949-1
Sinclair, Matthew, 2012. The specification of a consumer design toolkit to support personalised production via additive manufacturing. Doctoral dissertation. Design School. Loughborough University, UK. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/11051
Dexter, Matt, 2014. Open Design and Medical Products. Doctoral dissertation. Sheffield Hallam University, UK. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/12190/
Philips, Robert Daniel, 2015. The Bee Lab kit: Activities engaging motivated lay users in the use of open technologies for citizen science activities. Doctoral dissertation. School of Design. Royal College of Art, London, UK. http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1694/
Hermans, Guido, 2015. Opening Up Design: Engaging the Layperson in the Design of Everyday Products. Doctoral dissertation. Industrial Design. Umeå Institute of Design, Faculty of Science and Technology. Umeå Institute of Design Research Publications, No. 002. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A852481&dswid=7729
Kyriakou, Harris, 2016. Collective Innovation: Novelty, Reuse and their Interplay. Doctoral dissertation. Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/pqdtopen/doc/1855131347.html?FMT=ABS
Bakırlıoğlu, Yekta, 2017. Open Design for Product/Part Longevity: Research through Co-designing with a Focus on Small Kitchen Appliances. Doctoral dissertation. Industrial Design Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12621342/index.pdf
Rozas, David, 2017. Self-organisation in commons-based peer production: Drupal – “the drop is always moving”. University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/845121/
Boisseau, Étienne, 2017. Open-Design: Modeling the open design process in the development of tangible products. Doctoral dissertation. Paris Institute of Technology, l’École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers. https://pastel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02148441
Master’s theses: Open Design
Menichinelli, Massimo, 2006. Reti collaborative : Il design por una auto-organizzazione Open Peer-to-Peer. Master’s thesis (Italian). Industrial Design, Faculty of Design. Politecnico di Milano, Italy. https://issuu.com/openp2pdesign/docs/reti-collaborative
de Bruijn, Erik, 2010. On the viability of the open source development model for the design of physical objects: Lessons learned from the RepRap project. Master’s thesis. Department of Information Management, Faculty of Economics and Business. University of Tilburg, the Netherlands. http://thesis.erikdebruijn.nl/master/Latex/MscScr-EdB.pdf
Turner, Robin, 2010. Open Source as a Tool for Communal Technology Development: Using Appropriate Technology Criteria to Determine the Impact of Open Source Technologies on Communities as Delivered Through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Fab Lab Projects. Master’s thesis. Digital Arts. Wits School of Arts, Faculty of the Arts. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/8615
Wong, Garry Chun Yang, 2011. Open Source Hardware: The history, issues, and impact on digital humanities. Humanities Computing. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. https://era.library.ualberta.ca/files/4m90dw364#.WIZrbz9MZE4
Paiva, Juliana, 2012. Towards Openness: A Study about Open Design and its Translation from Theory into Practice. Master’s thesis. New Media & Digital Culture. University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. http://scriptiesonline.uba.uva.nl/en/scriptie/426987
Suarez Carmona, Mariana, 2012. The Value of Design as a Holistic Approach in Enhancing a Global Brand: The Case Study of Heineken Open Design Explorations. Master’s thesis. Strategic Product Design. Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. http://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:024f30d8-bd02-4689-aca4-acb0c4de294b?collection=education
Gardner, Alec J., 2013. The Architecture of Mass Collaboration: How Open Source Commoning Will Change Everything. Master’s thesis. Architecture. University of Cincinnati, USA. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:4686
Bagiński, Jan, 2014. Budynek wielorodzinny otwartego kodu [Open Source Housing]. Master’s thesis (Polish). Architecture and Urban Planning. Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. https://apd.usos.pw.edu.pl/diplomas/488/
Muhur, Melike, 2014. Evaluation of a Proposal for a Production Center “Fab Lab” as a means of Realization Open Design. Master’s thesis (Turkish). Graduate School of Science, Engineering and Technology. Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Rodriguez, Edison, 2014. Open Design no cenário contemporâneo. [Open design in the contemporary context.] Master’s thesis (Portuguese). UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista), Brazil. http://repositorio.unesp.br/bitstream/handle/11449/126304/000838099.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Harrison, Peter Hugh, 2017. The participatory design of a human-powered shredder for urban farmers in Soweto. Thesis for Master’s of Technology Industrial Design. University of Johannesburg. Available on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316734647_The_participatory_design_of_a_human-powered_shredder_for_urban_farmers_in_Soweto?actorId=5820216
Doctoral Dissertations: Making and makerspaces, maker culture, digital fabrication, 3D printing…
Aldoy, Noor N., 2011. An investigation into a digital strategy for industrial design education. Doctoral dissertation. Design School. Loughborough University, UK. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/8767
Rajan, Prashant, 2012. Organizing Grassroots Innovations: Examining Knowledge Creation and Sharing Practices for Technological Innovation at the Grassroots. Doctoral dissertation. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI3556573/
Bianchini, Massimo, 2014. Industrious design : Design e cambiamento dei modelli di (micro)produzione nell’ibridazione tra individuo e organizzazione [Industrious design: The role of design in the evolution of (micro)production models enabled by the hybridization of individuals and organizations]. Doctoral dissertation (Italian). Industrial Design, Department of Design. Politecnico di Milano, Italy. http://hdl.handle.net/10589/97942
Leduc-Mills, Benjamin A., 2014. Embodied Fabrication: Body-Centric Devices for Novice Designers. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Computer Science. University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. http://benatwork.cc/wp-content/uploads/thesis.pdf
Neves, Heloisa, 2014. Maker innovation. Do open design e fab labs… às estratégias inspiradas no movimento maker. Doctoral dissertation. Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil. http://www.bv.fapesp.br/pt/bolsas/132076/maker-innovation-do-open-design-e-fab-labs-as-estrategias-inspiradas-no-movimento-maker/
Seravalli, Anna, 2014. Making Commons: Attempts at composing prospects in the opening of production. Doctoral dissertation. Interaction Design. Dissertation series: New Media, Public Sphere and Forms of Expression. Faculty: Culture and Society. Department: School of Arts and Communication. Mälmö University, Mälmö, Sweden. https://dspace.mah.se/handle/2043/17232
Dias, Pedro João Jacinto da Silva, 2015. Design e auto-produção : novos paradigmas para o design de artefactos na sociedade pós-industrial : a contribuição das tecnologias digitais. Doctoral dissertation. Faculdade de Belas Artes. Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. http://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/17815
Justice, Sean Bradley, 2015. Learning to teach in the digital age: Digital materiality and maker paradigms in schools. Doctoral dissertation. Teachers College. Columbia University, New York, USA. NOTE: now a book (2016), published by Peter Lang: https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/31836
Mota, Sofia Catarina, 2015. Bits, Atoms, and Information Sharing: new opportunities for participation. Doctoral dissertation. Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Departamento de Ciências da Comunicação. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/14505
Applin, Sally A., 2016. Disrupting Silicon Valley Dreams: Adaptations through Making, Being, and Branding. Doctoral dissertation. School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, UK.
Bosqué, Camille, 2016. La fabrication numérique personnelle, pratiques et discours d’un design diffus : enquête au coeur des FabLabs, hackerspaces et makerspaces de 2012 à 2015 [Personal digital fabrication, discourses and practices of diffuse design: A survey into FabLabs, hackerspaces and makerspaces between 2012 and 2015]. Doctoral dissertation (French). Esthétique et sciences de l’art, Spécialité design, École doctorale Arts, lettres, langues. Université Rennes 2, France. http://www.theses.fr/2016REN20009
Doubrovsky, E.L., 2016. Design Methodology for Additive Manufacturing: Supporting Designers in the Exploitation of Additive Manufacturing Affordances. Doctoral dissertation. Mechatronic design. Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. http://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:d4214bb0-5bfd-43fe-af42-01247762b661?collection=research
Kohtala, Cindy, 2016. Making Sustainability: How Fab Labs Address Environmental Issues. Doctoral dissertation. School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Design. Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. https://shop.aalto.fi/media/attachments/f8dd3/Kohtala.pdf
Lacy, Jennifer E., 2016. A Case Study of a High School Fab Lab. Doctoral dissertation. Curriculum & Instruction. University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Lyles, Dan Allen, 2016. Generative Contexts. Science and Technology Studies. Doctoral dissertation. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA. http://www3.hass.rpi.edu/eglash/pdi/fall2016/readings/Lyles%20-%20Generative%20Contexts%20%28Final%29.pdf
Kyriakou, Harris, 2016. Collective Innovation: Novelty, Reuse and their Interplay. Doctoral Dissertation. Faculty of the Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ, USA. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2931473
Niaros, Vasileios, 2016. Making (in) the Smart City: Urban Makerspaces for Commons-Based Peer Production in Innovation, Education and Community-Building. Doctoral dissertation. Faculty of Social Sciences, Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia. https://digi.lib.ttu.ee/i/?5405
Ramanauskaitė, Eglė, 2016. Technarium Hackerspace: Community-Enabled Informal Learning in Science and Technology. Doctoral dissertation. Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Education, Vilnius University, Lithuania.
Searle, Kristin A., 2016. Culturally responsive computing for American Indian youth: Making activities with electronic textiles in the native studies classroom. Doctoral dissertation. Education and Anthropology. University of Pennsylvania, USA. http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI10124633/
Shin, Myunghwan, 2016. A makerspace for all: Youth learning, identity, and design in a community-based makerspace. Doctoral dissertation. Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education. Michigan State University, USA.
Somerville, Rachel E., 2016. Making In Education: A Study Of Teachers Decisions To Participate In Professional Development, Their Emerging Understandings Of Making, And Teacher Plans For Implementation. Doctoral dissertation. Education, Educational Leadership. University of California, Davis, USA.
Toombs, Austin Lewis, 2016. Care and the Construction of Hacker Identities, Communities and Society. Doctoral dissertation. School of Informatics and Computing. Indiana University, USA. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/20880
Weichel, Christian, 2016. Mixed physical and virtual design environments for digital fabrication. Doctoral dissertation. Faculty of Science and Technology, School of Computing & Communications. Lancaster University, UK. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/77782/
Foster, Ellen, 2017. Making Cultures: Politics of Inclusion, Accessibility, and Empowerment at the Margins of the Maker Movement. Doctoral dissertation. Science & Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED580488
Moilanen, Jarkko, 2017. 3D Printing Focused Peer Production: Revolution in design, development and manufacturing. Doctoral dissertation. Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland. https://tampub.uta.fi/handle/10024/101691
Boeva, Yana, 2018. Break, Make, Retake: Interrogating the Social and Historical Dimensions of Making as a Design Practice. Doctoral dissertation. Science & Technology Studies, York University, Canada. https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/35785
Cuartielles, David, 2018. Platform Design: Creating Meaningful Toolboxes When People Meet. Doctoral Dissertation. Faculty of Culture and Society, School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden. https://muep.mau.se/handle/2043/26130
Mazzilli-Daechsel, Stefano, 2018. Invention and Resistance: FabLabs against Proletarianization. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis. University of Kent, Universität Hamburg. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/71693/
Smith, Thomas SJ, 2018. Material geographies of the maker movement: Community workshops and the making of sustainability in Edinburgh, Scotland. Doctoral dissertation. University of St Andrews, Scotland. https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/12815
Braybrooke, Kaitlyn, 2019. Hacking the museum? Collections makerspaces and power in London cultural institutions. Doctoral thesis (PhD). University of Sussex, School of Media, Film and Music. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/89394/
Krebs, Vaughn M., 2019. Making Experts: An Ethnographic Study of “Makers” in FabLabs in Japan. Doctoral dissertation. University of Kentucky, Department of Anthropology Theses and Dissertations–Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.026
Torres, Cesar Armando, 2019. Hybrid Aesthetics: Briding Material Practices and Digital Fabrication through Computational Crafting Proxies. Doctoral dissertation. University of California, Berkeley, USA. https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2019/EECS-2019-109.html
Menichinelli, Massimo, 2020. Open and collaborative design processes: Meta-Design, ontologies and platforms within the Maker Movement. Doctoral dissertation. Department of Media, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/47213
Balamir, Selçuk, 2021. Unsustaining the commodity-machine: Commoning practices in postcapitalist design. Doctoral dissertation. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis. https://dare.uva.nl/search?identifier=41641ebe-104c-4572-9b5f-56f64c9390a1
Priavolou, Christina, 2021. Towards a Convivial Built Environment: Developing an Open Construction Systems Framework. Doctoral dissertation. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia. https://digikogu.taltech.ee/en/Item/b40df326-a809-4e7e-90d3-65afa73cfa51
Master’s theses: Making and makerspaces, digital fabrication, 3D printing…
Nunez, Joseph Gabriel, 2010. Prefab the FabLab: Rethinking the habitability of a fabrication lab by including fixture-based components. Master’s thesis. Architecture Studies, Department of Architecture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/59201
Heltzel-Drake, Ryan, 2012. Technocraft: Community Fabrication in Rainier Beach. Master’s thesis. Architecture. University of Washington, USA. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/21893
Lumans, Christine Zinta, 2014. Printable products: Investigating three-dimensional printing in the design process of interior products. Master’s thesis. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/listing.aspx?id=16191
Patokorpi, Lassi, 2014. The Art and Craft of the Machine: 3D Printing, the Arts and Crafts Movement and the Democratization of Art. Master’s thesis, English Philology. School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies. University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. https://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/95658/GRADU-1402572504.pdf
Sherrill, John T., 2014. Makers: Technical Communication in Post-Industrial Participatory Communities. Master’s thesis. Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses/378/
Torretta, Nicholas, 2014. A journey through alternative ways of living. Master’s thesis. Department of Design, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/14003
Weinmann, Julian, 2014. Makerspaces in the university community. Master’s thesis. Institute of Product Development. Technische Universität München, Germany. https://web.stanford.edu/group/design_education/wikiupload/0/0a/Weinmann_Masters_Thesis.pdf
Dickerson, Kathryn, 2015. The Innovation Makerspace: Geographies of Digital Fabrication Innovation in Greater New York City. Master’s thesis. Geography, School of Arts and Sciences, Hunter College. The City University of New York, US. http://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/8/
Faller, Nicholas L., 2015. Networks of Making. Master’s thesis. Architecture. University of Washington, USA. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/35068
Jobse, Koert, 2015. Catching trains of thought: UX guidelines for facilitating knowledge exchange between makers. Master’s thesis. Department of Design, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/19027
Morimoto, Taro, 2015. Pelori – Designing a digital service for maker projects through research. Master’s thesis. Department of Media, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/18095
Oates, Amy, 2015. Evidences of Learning in an Art Museum Makerspace. Master’s thesis. Museology. University of Washington, USA. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/33432
Schnedeker, Marya, 2015. An Exploration of Introductory Training Experiences in 3D Design and 3D Printing. Master’s thesis. Human Factors. Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA.
Durant, Kathryn M., 2016. The maker movement and 3D printing: A critique. Master’s thesis. Sociology. San Diego State University, USA.
Fornasini, Giacomo, 2016. Investigation into the influence of build parameters on failure of 3D printed parts. Master’s thesis. Mechanical Engineering Department. University of Maryland, USA. http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/18836
Hector, Philip, 2016. Trojan Horse: Re-framing sustainable practices as “design support” to attract new practitioners. Master’s thesis. Department of Design, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/23580
Sturmlehner, Marlene, 2017. Entrepreneurship education in action: How FabLabs influence entrepreneurial intention. Master’s thesis. Universität Linz, Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics and Business, Institut für Innovationsmanagement. https://epub.jku.at/obvulihs/content/titleinfo/2246362
Lachner, Valentina, 2018. The Sweater Work / Shop. Master’s thesis. Product and Spatial Design Master’s Programme, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/30225
Sherer, Samantha, 2018. Objects that Create Community: Effects of 3D Printing and Distributed Manufacturing beyond Circular Economy. Master’s thesis. Interdisciplinary Art Media and Design, OCAD University, Canada. http://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/2291/
Sirelä, Minni-Maaria, 2018. Makeable design: Designing and sharing DIY furniture. Master’s thesis. School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/32325
Adeegbe, Joshua Muyiwa, 2019. A System Supporting Analysis of Prototyping in Fab Lab Education. Master’s Thesis. University of Oulu, Degree Programme in Computer Science and Engineering. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/344908441.pdf
Park, Goeun, 2019. Rethinking social acceptance of renewable energy. Master’s thesis. Creative Sustainability Master’s Programme, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/38461
Akter Nasrin, 2020. System-Supported Instructor Feedback on the Students’ Design and Prototyping Processes in Fab Lab Education Context. Master’s thesis. University of Oulu, Degree Programme in Computer Science and Engineering. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/344911374.pdf
Daly, Henry, 2020. Design for hacking & repair: A practical experiment. Master’s thesis. School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/102880
Kliuciute, Simona, 2020. Upcycling Textiles. Master’s thesis. Master’s Programme in Contemporary Design, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland. https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/101790