Maker Culture

3-D printing has entered the consumer market because of recent radical price declines. Consumers can save substantial money by offsetting purchases with DIY pre-designed 3-D printed products. However, even more value can be obtained with distributed manufacturing using mass customization. Unfortunately, the average consumer is not technically sophisticated enough to easily design their own products. One solution to this is the use of an overlay on OpenSCAD parametric code, although current solutions force users to relinquish all rights to their own designs. There is thus a substantial need in the open source design community for a libre 3-D model customizer, which can be used in any design repository to democratize design. This study reports on the design, function, and validation of such software: the Free Open Source 3-D Customizer. It is demonstrated with a case study of the customization of 3-D printable external breast prosthetics. The results showed that novice users can adjust the available parameters according to their needs and save these to a new file on a website. This PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) library is free and open source and has potential for increasing the usefulness of online repositories to enable distributed manufacturing using consumer customized 3-D printable products.

Makerspaces4Inclusion project over a period of two years we will produce one set of open educational resources which are based around the maker field and digital fabrication.

This compilation of resources has been made by the consortium of the European Project, Makerspace for Inclusion Nº 2018-l-BE0S-KA205-002425, with the participation of the following associations:
Digijeunes (France), Timelab (Belgium), Horizonlab (Italy), Nod Makerspace (Romania), MakerConvent-Trànsit Projectes (Spain).

This paper explores which rules and values are relevant to contemporary practices of hacking and making. It examines how members in hacker-and makerspaces conceptualise their communities and their use of digital technology. Based on interviews with community members in England, observations of physical spaces and online message boards, it shows how rules, social values, and communal practices are interrelated. Hackerspaces (also called hackspaces) and makerspaces are physical locations where community members meet in order to engage in and discuss activities such as programming and electronics construction. While the public perception of hacking as illegal activity is common, 1 hackerspace members understand and pursue hacking mainly as creative interaction with digital technology. 2 Hackerspaces have a great potential to facilitate creativity and IT literacy, and to act as hubs for (digital) civic engagement and learning. 3 At the same time, while feminist hackerspaces have received increased attention more recently, it is important to recognise that such spaces often suffer from a gender bias as male-dominated communities. 4 Expertise as it is acquired and maintained in such spaces facilitates new forms of civic participation. 5 Nevertheless, the term hacking is still closely associated with illegal activities, immoral use of information technologies, and breaking into closed systems. In computer science education and for trainings targeted at an employment in the field of IT security, educational institutions and service providers have even suggested the term 'ethical hacking' in order to dissociate 'legal' from 'illegal hacking' (cracking). 6 Moreover, the term makerspace has become more common during the last years: It refers to communities which are (in many ways) similar to hackerspaces, while avoiding the negative connotations of 'hacking'. 7

Since the beginning of the 2010s, the existence of widespread shared workshops has enabled access to digital manufacturing tools. Mainly located in urban areas, these facilities seek to make means of production, to design, prototype and repair all kinds of objects available to the citizens. These practices have been supported by activists of the "democratization" of digital manufacturing spearheaded by the maker movement. Urban authorities have gradually been won over by the these activits' promises to encourage entrepreneurship, generate new knowledge, mobilize citizens and even transform the perceptions of and the way in which manufacturing is conducted in the city. However, these activists' attractive discourse overly mechanically equates the accessibility of these digital tools to the idea of empowerment. Under what conditions can these practices of making lead to an increase in citizens' individual and collective power to act, or even to social change? This article aims to answer this question by firstly constructing an analytical framework of makerspaces empowerment, and secondly by analysing the case of the public network of makerspaces in Barcelona: the Ateneus de Fabricacio. To do so, our qualitative research will be based on the documentary analysis of official publications, direct observations carried out at the aforementioned workshops, and in-depth interviews with key players Barcelona makerspaces' scene. Our results will demonstrate that in the context of smart cities, the public acceptance of these places leads to the transformation of administrative practices. Free access to public makerspaces is accompanied by a change in the relationship between public organizations and users in order to promote the empowerment of the inhabitants of Barcelona thanks to these fabrication practices.

The city of Piacenza hosts a significant portion of newcomers compared to the number of residents. However, the lack of communication between the two is also straightforward in the urban context. In this regard, an abandoned place near to the train station of Piacenza has been chosen in order apply a tactical urbanism project whose primary aim is an improved social cohesion in Pia-cenza. High financial costs and yet unsatisfactory end products slow down many design projects and even cause the denial of them. However, employing tactical urbanism perspective, the project aims to foresee the success likelihood of a complete urban design project without requiring a significant budget. Preliminarily proposed idea is to provide a gathering space for the residents of Piacenza in a vacant space. By doing so, the project area has been analyzed and the project that responsive to the problems of the area is introduced in order to give a reference for further applications on a larger scale.

Eğitim içeriklerinin aktarımı için günümüzdeki en yaygın yaklaşım olarak FeTeMM (STEM) kavramı ve yapısı benimsenmektedir. Kodlama bilgisi ile birlikte yaparak öğrenme (Maker Hareketi) yöntemi de bu genel yapının kapsamı dâhilinde tartışılmaktadır. Türkiye'deki süre giden FeTeMM uygulamalarında, bir disiplin olarak görsel iletişim tasarımı üretiminin ele alınış biçimi problemli görünmektedir. Görsel iletişim tasarımı; estetik ve fonksiyon arasındaki dengeyi gözeterek, görsel-işitsel ve dokunmatik etkileşimlere yönelik problem çözme becerisi olarak tanımlanabilmektedir. Bu tanım üzerinden gidildiğinde, FeTeMM uygulamalarında dijital eğitim içerikleri oluşturulurken, görsel iletişim tasarımı alanı ile olan ilişki ve iş birliğinin yeniden yorumlanması gerekliliği gündeme gelmektedir. Bu doğrultuda, çalışma dahilinde iki temel problematik tartışılmaktadır: İlk olarak, Türkiye'deki FeTeMM yapısının görsel iletişim tasarımı alanı ile kurduğu ilişki irdelenmektedir. Özellikle tasarımın uygulanması, etkileşimlerin düzenlenmesi bağlamında içeriklerin ve yapının yeniden yorumlanması için önerilerde bulunulmaktadır. İkinci problematik olarak ise günümüz maker öğretmenlerin görsel iletişim tasarımı temel becerilerini kullanarak motivasyonlarını nasıl üst düzeyde tutacaklarına dair tartışma yürütülmektedir. Araştırma kapsamında, eğitim sahasındaki anlık durumu gözlemleyebilmek adına, Aydın il merkezinde yer alan 12 bilişim teknolojileri branş öğretmeni ile derinlemesine görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular üzerinden, öğretmenlerin FeTeMM sürecinde teknoloji ve görsel iletişim tasarımı ile ilişkileri değerlendirilmektedir. Bu bölgesel araştırma ile Türkiye genelinde uygulanan FeTeMM yaklaşımının güncel durumuna ilişkin bir ön görü oluşturulmaya çalışılmaktadır.

The world is changing through the Digitalization trend such as Industry 4.0 where manufacturing transforms from quantity production to individual production. For enabling this transition, we need more skilled professionals in STEAM (Science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) related fields. For this reason, in the last years special STEAM projects have been introduced inside and outside the school environment to attract more children to these fields. One of them is the Maker-Days-for-Kids-concept where a temporary Maker Space is created based on open workshops. In this publication, we introduce a novel electrical engineering station concept for a temporary Maker Space for children. The station will contain basic and advanced workshops to introduce typical tools and methodologies of the electrical engineering domain. Furthermore, we also offer statistics about the station at the event, challenges the attendees had to struggle with as well as the lessons we learned during the event. The evaluation will be used to improve the current workshop concept for future events to increase the interests in electrical engineering.

As we transition into new technologic eras where technology seems more ubiquitous and blended with our everyday things, the need for good Design becomes compelling to ease the relationship between these things and people. In many cases, even between things and other things, as in the case of the Internet of Things (IoT). What does this mean for Designers and Artists? How are Designers meant to ease such engagement with all these novel digital and non-digital technologic services and things that aim to do things for their users or audiences. Whilst new technologies arise, so are the new definitions for them, commonly pushed by the producers of these new technologies. Whilst we try to keep up with these new technologies, in many cases we try to make sense to it by adapting it into what we know. But in many cases, we need to take a step back to get a holistic perspective of what these new technologies and definitions mean to our practice. Designers are not Makers since Design is inherently about making things… think about it.

This article is divided into two sections: First, an introduction of the new challenges that Design faces whilst encounters itself with digital technologies that facilitates and disrupts its practice. It discusses the new challenges of making and thinking as designers. Second, we invite Design (read below) students and practitioners to reflect of their practice and how this new practice challenges their perception of the things they make. This second section is sparked by a self-reflection of selected students who attended the TEI’19 Conference in Arizona, USA, and a short piece from the Printeractive Research Group.

En s'appuyant sur des exemples concrets, cet article montre la façon dont le modèle de l'atelier de fabrication numérique (Fablab) peut contribuer, d'une part, au renforcement de la formation technique et professionnelle (FTP) et, d'autre part, à la transformation des métiers par les technologies de l'information et de la communication en Haïti. Rezime : Atik sa a montre apati ekzanp vivan fason model atelye fabrikasyon nimerik (Fablab an fanse) kapab ede nan ranfòsman fòmasyon Teknik epi pwofesyonèl (FTP) epitou li kab ede nan transfòmasyon metye apati teknoloji enfòmasyon ak komini-kasyon nan peyi Ayiti.

Neste artigo se apresenta as experiências de um projeto de extensão da UNESP chamado Sagui Lab, que promove práticas de criação colaborativa, a multidisciplinaridade, o uso de espaço compartilhado, técnicas de fabricação digital e analógicas e o desenvolvimento de projetos inovadores em multiplataforma digital. Na primeira parte se oferece uma breve apresentação teórica sobre os conceitos de Bits e átomos, cultura maker, cultura DIY (faça você mesmo) terminando com uma narração de algumas atividades do SaguiLab na sala de aula e alguns eventos tecnológicos onde se promove a cultura maker, o trabalho colaborativo e novas metodologias de aprendizagem com ferramentas de fabricação digitais e alguns projetos analógicos

A growing research base has examined the possibilities of makerspaces in education; however, there has been little exploration of how such innovations are folded into formal school structures, like English language arts classrooms. This article addresses this by following the formation of literacy classroom makerspaces in the Innovation School-an urban public high school organized around principles of making. Using ethnographic research conducted over the school's first two years, it traces how teachers integrated making into literacy instruction and how the contours of classrooms were reshaped by making's ideals and assumptions. In particular, it focuses on resulting shifts in the infrastructures of literacy education-the often-invisible mechanisms that support, sustain or undermine reading and writing in classrooms. Findings show how the interoperability of these literacy infrastructures with those of making produced frictions that had uneven consequences for students, at times reproducing forms of deficitization that making education is often purported to ameliorate. These outcomes elucidate possibilities and challenges for educational equity when literacy learning is refashioned in the image of innovations like making. They are also instructive for understanding how educators might imagine "innovation" otherwise, wresting it from experts and entrepreneurs and relocating it in the lived dynamics of classrooms.

Recent initiatives by for-profit corporations and funding measures instituted by governments intend to support the preparation of students for careers in computer science and technology. Although such initiatives and measures can indeed increase opportunities for students’ engagement with computer science and technology in K-12 schools, we question whose needs are being served, for what purposes, and at what cost. In particular, we ask whether music educators might be complicit in advancing technology that subordinates human needs—specifically students’ interests in making music in their own creative ways—to modes of production that benefit certain dominant commercial interests in society. After discussing how current computer technology narrows students’ choices, we counter this determinism by highlighting a music subculture that creates and appropriates music technologies for music-related purposes. Our example of the “chipscene” illustrates how music educators might reconceptualize “music making” through modification of existing music technology and thereby restore students’ freedom to “reclaim making” in the age of neoliberalism.

Com o recente crescimento do interesse em atividades manuais baseada em tecnologias digitais, espaços de construção começam a fazer parte de projetos educacionais públicos e privados no país. Estes espaços são planejados, construídos e executados seguindo tendências transnacionais de construção digital. Esta tese contrasta propostas maker baseadas em FabLabs, na Maker Media, em críticas à tecnoutopia californiana e no FabLearn com objetivo de compreender as origens, objetivos e implicações de cada uma dessas diferentes propostas de tecnologias para a Educação. Considerando a sub-teorização do movimento maker em geral, que privilegia o fazer acima do refletir, esta tese apresenta conceitos de tecnologia baseado em Álvaro Vieira Pinto, de práxis e liberdade em Paulo Freire, e de bases social da técnica no campo de Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva de fatos e fenômenos em voga na tecnociência e educação brasileiras. Os resultados alcançados são uma abordagem crítico-reflexiva das diferentes vertentes maker, o contraste entre diferentes propostas de construção digital, uma contribuição a propostas progressistas de educação e a valorização e expansão da obra de pensadores nacionais de Educação e tecnologias. Conclui-se que a proposta FabLearn é condicente com ideias freirianas para Educação e que parte da falta de embasamento teórico do movimento maker em geral pode ser preenchida pelo pensamento filosófico de Álvaro Vieira Pinto e educacional de Paulo Freire, em uma perspectiva emancipatória e inclusiva da sociedade.

Erschienen und frei zugänglich unter: Sandra Schön und Ebner, Martin (2020). Ziele von Makerspaces. Didaktische Perspektiven. In: Viktoria Heinzel, Tobias Seidl & Richard Stang (Hrsg.), Lernwelt Makerspace, Grundlagen, Konzepte und Perspektiven, Berlin: DeGruyter. S. 33-47. Open-Access Version URL: https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110665994/10.1515/9783110665994-004.xml

Estamos atravesando un punto de inflexión epistémico como nunca antes había sucedido. El conocimiento es a tal punto excesivo que impide a las personas “leer” la realidad, esto está generando un nuevo tipo de analfabetismo y brechas de desigualdad cada vez más grandes. Es por eso que dos discusiones clave del siglo actual son, en primer lugar, cuál debe ser la postura de las personas frente al conocimiento y, en segundo lugar, cómo realizar el proceso de transición en este cambio epocal como sociedad y a nivel de todas las instituciones existentes. Puesto que todas han sido cuestionadas en sus mismos fundamentos.

The aim of this thesis is to examine in detail the value that letterpress printing provides by connecting people to the craft. By looking at relevant sources from examples of contemporary letterpress work to literature surrounding the topic it sets out to determine this value.
Firstly, this study looks at the desire that exists to reconnect with letterpress as a craft in reaction to mass produced print material. It then goes on to discuss the importance of letterpress being taught to design students as a way of internalising core design principles. Finally, the use of technological advancements such as 3D printing and laser cutters being used in conjunction with the letterpress process is examined. By building an argument through these areas of research, this thesis proves that there is value to connecting with the craft of letterpress printing.

Maker culture, the so-called revolution bringing digital fabrication technologies to the common citizen, has gained a lot of ground in the last few years. Maybe too much, in fact. We can of course ignore those people who are only, as always, surfing the current wave of hype. They seldom have any clue of the ideas they are selling themselves with anyway. But it also feels as though everybody else is talking about maker culture. Those words are even being uttered by people who have always been opposed to what they should mean. Or is it me? Did I get it wrong all the way?

Under capitalism, a hierarchical system of organizing individual and societal time, we even name our non-working time as " free time. " Accordingly, we understand free time as those intervals of time spent—itself a capitalist term for exchange—without monetary remuneration. As artists and cultural workers, much of our time is unpaid, even if nowhere near free time. Under capitalism, time is linear and moves forward in a developmentalist and unidirectional manner. For all intents and purposes, how we live our lives— whether Indigenous, settler, or arrivant—has been colonized by temporal and societal mechanisms. We envision that time is precious, not because it is fleeting or because our human-to-human and human-to-non-human relationships are essential; rather, time is precious because it has become monetized.

Les hackers nous apprennent à voir l'objet par ce dont il est composé.
Les makers nous apprennent que posséder une machine ne signifie pas la comprendre et la maîtriser.
Dans un environnement technique complexe, face à des objets fermés dont rien ne nous permet une appréhension satisfaisante, tout défaut de fonctionnement nous semble être une trahison.

Comment le design peut-il faire émerger une autre forme d'objets qui soit plus lisibles ? Quelles leçons la discipline peut-elle tirer des mouvements hackers et makers, qui serve l'usager ?  Comment promouvoir la valeur de la technique et l'exploration curieuse de nos environnements domestiques, afin de nous permettre de les maîtriser davantage et d'être capables d'agir dessus ?

Do it Yourself (DiY) is a participatory culture which exemplifies a particular ethos in its approach to technology and materials. Rather than engage with 'complete' technologies, such as a technology supplied as ready-to-go item, the DiY practitioners examined in this thesis engage with the raw materials of garbage and recycling, 'incomplete', broken and discarded technologies. In this type of DiY practice the emphasis is towards creating individualised and custom-built forms of technology: often made from components and materials which have been re-functioned from their original intention to produce new and unexpected functionalities; practices which disrupt the dominant discourses of technology.

With the aggressive cost reductions for 3-D printing made available by the open-source self-replicating rapid prototypers (RepRaps) the economic advantage of custom distributed manufacturing has become substantial. In addition, the number of free designs is growing exponentially and the development and commercialization of the recyclebot (plastic extruders that fabricate 3-D printing filament from recycled or virgin materials) have greatly improved the material selection available for prosumer 3-D printer operators. These trends indicate that more individuals will manufacturer their own polymer products, however, there is a risk that an even larger fraction of polymer waste will not be recycled because it has not been coded. The current limited resin identification code available in the U.S. similarly restricts closing the loop on less popular polymers, which could hamper the environmental impact benefits of distributed manufacturing. This paper provides a solution for this challenge by (1) developing a recycling code model based off of the resin identification codes developed in China that is capable of expansion as more complex 3-D printing materials are introduced, (2) creating OpenSCAD scripts based on (1) to be used to print resin identification codes into products, (3) demonstrating the use of this functionality in a selection of products and polymer materials, and (4) outlining the software and policy tools necessary to make this application possible for widespread adoption. Overall the results showed that a far larger resin code identification system can be adopted in the U.S. to expand distributed recycling of polymers and manufacturing of plastic-based 3-D printed products.

The 2020 toy and game market is projected to be US$135 billion. To determine if 3D printing could affect these markets if consumers offset purchases by 3D printing free designs, this study investigates the 100 most popular downloaded designs at MyMiniFactory in a month. Savings are quantified for using a Lulzbot Mini 3D printer and three filament types: commercial filament, pellet-extruded filament, and post-consumer waste converted to filament with a recyclebot. Case studies probed the quality of: (1) six common complex toys; (2) Lego blocks; and (3) the customizability of open source board games. All filaments analyzed saved the user over 75% of the cost of commercially available true alternative toys and over 90% for recyclebot filament. Overall, these results indicate a single 3D printing repository among dozens is saving consumers well over $60 million/year in offset purchases. The most common savings fell by 40%–90% in total savings, which came with the ability to make novel toys and games. The results of this study show consumers can generate higher value items for less money using the open source distributed manufacturing paradigm. It appears clear that consumer do-it-yourself (DIY) manufacturing is set to have a significant impact on the toy and game markets in the future.

Focusing on current discussions about public library makerspaces, this article reveals how common themes are being discursively constructed in relation to the future of public libraries, maker cultures, and informal learning. The analysis highlights tensions and questions that emerge through the discursive construction of making, makers, and makerspaces in the field of library and information studies. The article employs discourse analysis to examine professional library journal articles and blog posts published from 2011-2014 which focus on makerspaces in public libraries. The first part of the article reviews literature in relation to the history of ‘maker movements’ and research on informal learning. These areas provide the context for the analysis of makerspace discourse in the second half of the article. The analysis highlights the importance of viewing public library makerspaces as connected with the mission of providing access to resources to meet the needs of diverse communities.

A promising method of enhancing the circular economy is distributed plastic recycling. In this study plastic waste is upcycled into 3-D printing filament with a recyclebot, which is an open source waste plastic extruder. The recyclebot is combined with an open source self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printer, to enable post-consumer ABS plastic filament from computer waste to be further upcycled into valuable consumer products pre-designed in the digital commons. The total electrical energy consumption for the combined process is monitored and an economic evaluation is completed. The coupled distributed recycling and manufacturing method for complex products reduces embodied energy by half, while reducing the cost of consumer products to pennies. This economic benefit provides an incentive for consumers to both home recycle and home manufacture, which tightens the loop on the circular economy by eliminating waste associated from transportation and retail. It is clear from the results that waste plastic can be significantly upcycled at the individual level using this commons-based approach. This tightening of the loop of the circular economy benefits the environment and sustainability as well as the economic stability of consumers/prosumers.

Neste artigo fazemos uma recuperação histórico-filosófica-cultural da atividade produtiva humana, com o intuito de traçar uma melhor compreensão das comunidades de jogadores e sua respectiva produção. Em um primeiro momento recuperamos as perspectivas da angústia de influência de Bloom, do fazer como atividade essencial ao homem sob a lógica do pensamento grego e também do artífice de Sennett. A partir daí, traçamos as diversas iterações das práticas das práticas faça-você-mesmo nos movimentos culturais hippie, punk, hacker e maker, identificando os pontos de confluência e divergência entre eles.