Abstract The reuse of existing knowledge is an indispensable part of the creation of novel ideas. In the creative domain knowledge reuse is a common practice known as “remixing”. With the emergence of open internet-based platforms in recent years, remixing has found its way from the world of music and art to the design of arbitrary physical goods. However, despite its obvious relevance for the number and quality of innovations on such platforms, little is known about the process of remixing and its contextual factors. This paper considers the example of Thingiverse, a platform for the 3D printing community that allows its users to create, share, and access a broad range of printable digital models. We present an explorative study of remixing activities that took place on the platform over the course of six years by using an extensive set of data on models and users. On the foundation of these empirically observed phenomena, we formulate a set of theoretical propositions and managerial implications regarding (1) the role of remixes in design communities, (2) the different patterns of remixing processes, (3) the platform features that facilitate remixes, and (4) the profile of the remixing platform’s users.

中文翻译：

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复制、转换、组合：探索混音作为一种创新形式

摘要 现有知识的再利用是创造新思想不可或缺的一部分。在创意领域，知识重用是一种常见的做法，称为“重新混合”。近年来，随着基于互联网的开放平台的出现，混音已经从音乐和艺术世界到任意实体商品的设计。然而，尽管它与此类平台上创新的数量和质量明显相关，但人们对重新混合的过程及其上下文因素知之甚少。本文以 Thingiverse 为例，这是一个面向 3D 打印社区的平台，允许其用户创建、共享和访问范围广泛的可打印数字模型。我们使用大量关于模型和用户的数据，对平台上六年来发生的混音活动进行了探索性研究。在这些实证观察到的现象的基础上，我们制定了一套理论命题和管理含义，涉及 (1) 混音在设计社区中的作用，(2) 混音过程的不同模式，(3) 促进混音的平台功能，以及 (4) 混音平台用户的个人资料。