Matalog has the ambition of crowdsourcing a global repository of material information to create an open access material library that houses the profiles of materials used by architects, builders, designers, makers, artists and artisans around the world.
Developing a common material database, we hope to standardise the way materials are profiled, bringing together disparate and fragmented information into one location. We believe this will help anyone working with materials to make informed decisions easier and to create collections to share, organise and communicate with others.
To enable and leverage this open data resource we are building a platform to help people create and curate their own collections of materials and for organisations to set up and manage their own material libraries. If you're interested in working with us or just stay up to date join our Linkedin group.

Material profile: open standard

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Development Challenges

#1

Develop a scaleable open data standard for material informations that can be used to profile each unique material product available to use in the making of other products. Profiles contain data drawn from various sources.

#2

Develop an open, scaleable database to house and index material profiles.

#3

Develop the Matalog platform to allow designers, makers, material libraries and others to create, read, search and organise material profiles.

#4

Develop other tools and means of integration that a) link material profiles to stories of material use and b) connect other datasets to enhance the specificity of search queries, such as location and time based data.

Supporters

Why we're creating Matalog

Motivation

According to estimates there are in excess of 160,000 distinct materials to choose from when manufacturing a product; factor in the (vast) number of companies producing materials, each with differing production impacts, and the number of material products available to buy globally is staggering. As such those who make things are faced with an increasingly wild ‘jungle of choices’ when it comes to selecting a material. And as our materials palettes and needs in every area of our lives grow more sophisticated, so too, do our material solutions become more complex.

Challenges

Most designers and manufacturers are not experts in materials. Some may have a working expertise with particular materials, but on the whole, it is very difficult for professionals, working across the design for manufacturing industry, to gain access to and process the necessary manifold of materials information for them to be fully confident that they’ve made the best choices given the options available. This is of paramount importance in the transition to and operation of a Circular Economy, as all those selecting and specifying materials will need easy access to rich, robust and low or no cost materials information, including: application, consequences of use and suitability for recapture/reuse. At present, sources of materials data are either: publicly accessible in a highly disjointed and incomplete fashion, available in more comprehensive forms at relatively high costs, or held privately within corporate and institutional silos. The fragmented and often opaque nature of materials information across the manufacturing industry is caused by a lack of coordination, interoperability and incentive amongst disparate stakeholders. Without a comprehensive overview of all options available, decision-makers will be limited or biased by the information they can afford to access and fall back on their own experience and heuristics. Industry wide these inefficiencies reduce the ability for designers, manufacturers, suppliers and consumers alike to make effective decisions in regards to long-term material resource management, and achievement of a circular economy.

Non-standard and decentralised material description

The distribution of data, know-how and responsibility very often means that materials information becomes scattered across an innumerable and disjointed set of databases. The resulting opaque and fragmented nature of materials information often accelerates and ultimately becomes a product of a lack of authentication, trustworthiness, and interoperability between disparate materials datasets and stakeholders.

Low barrier access to material data for decision making

For anyone to make decisions and take actions within the Circular Economy will require access to information. This information needs to be as comprehensive as possible, easy to understand and integrate while also being free or marginal cost to access. Any barrier, whether financial or other will act to limit the potential for circular actions to happen. Most designers and producers are not experts in materials. Some may have a working expertise with particular materials, but on the whole it is very difficult for professionals, working across the design for manufacturing industry, to gain access to and process the necessary manifold of materials information for them to be fully confident that they’ve made the best choices given the options available.

Status quo and current approaches

At present, sources of materials data are either: publicly accessible in a highly disjointed and incomplete fashion, available in more comprehensive forms at relatively high costs, or held privately within corporate and institutional silos. The fragmented and often opaque nature of materials information across the manufacturing industry is caused by a lack of coordination, interoperability and incentive amongst disparate stakeholders. Without a comprehensive overview of all options available, decision-makers will be limited or biased by the information they can afford to access and fall back on their own experience and heuristics. Industry wide these inefficiencies reduce the ability for designers, manufacturers, suppliers and consumers alike to make effective decisions in regards to long-term material resource management, and achievement of a circular economy.