maker movement – peter troxler
TRANSCRIPT
About me Research Professor on the Revolution in Manufacturing at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. Impact of readily available direct digital manufacturing technologies and the design and manufacturing practice of “fabbers” and “makers” Emergence of networked co-operation paradigms and business models governed by open source principles.
educational principles that are aligned to these developments third spaces and new manufacturing initiatives in urban environments
How the relationships between people and tools, people and capital, and people and authorities need to be remodeled for the development novel socio-technical configurations.
Key findings in my work • Making started some 15 years ago (5 years before the term)
– Fab Lab, Center for Bits and Atoms, 2001 • Maker Movement starts around 2005/2006
– Rep Rap – Maker Faire, Make Magazine – Fab Lab Network grows beyond a few planned sites
• Don’t forget—there was a world before 2001 and people have been making / boutique manufacturing
• Making marks the advent of digital technology and direct digital manufacturing at desktop level (this is essentially the promise of Fab; not of the Maker movement / TechShop)
4 aspects of Making 1. Hedonistic pass-time—”maker” 2. Innovation in technology education (STEM) 3. Romantic notion of the reconciliation of liberal arts and
science and engineering 4. Revolution in manufacturing—small-size, networked,
distributed, lateral and open source governance NB. the recent RSA study combines 3 and 4 into one which I think is not correct.
Citizen Manufacturing Fab Lab (Neil Gershenfeld, MIT, 2001) Center for Bits and Atoms "How to make (almost) anything"
CNC milling Laser cutting 3D printing Microcontroller programming Electronics
Photo © 2012 Manon Mostert – van der Sar, with permission
Maker Movement Makerspaces
MAKE magazine MAKER faire MAKER shed http://makermedia.com (ex O'Reilly)
Techshop Inc.
Bay Area The Maker Movement Manifesto: Rules for Innovation in the new World of Crafters, Hackers and Tinkerers
Duplo Brick to Brio Track adapter by Zydac
Revolution • New industries:
boutique manufacturing – clients as ambassadors, product developers, usability experts,
marketeers and business developers. – paths to reusing, repurposing or recycling products – stories that connect business & products & clients – prototyping of business models
• Existing industry (incumbents): “innovation” – internal innovation garages – “open innovation” (Chesbrough)—large-scale operations to
harvest ideas/innovation publicly for cheap
Open Manufacturing What does Open mean in the term “open manufacturing”? What does Manufacturing mean in the term “open manufacturing”? Manufacturing vs. Making—beyond producing for a market of one, beyond technology as personal expression: adding economic, ecologic and social value by producing artifacts. Open—“x-washing” (“open” innovation) vs. what has been closed about manufacturing? but: “freedom of the press belongs to the one who owns one” access vs. contribution
Failures & Challenges • Male dominance • Nice-to-have • Idiosyncratic projects • Privilege (rich, well-educated) • Tech-naïve • Corporate-friendly • Neo-liberal • Randian hero (objectivism) • Technocratic
• Social relevance • Sustainable (ecology)—circular • Eschew stardom
• Inclusive • Ethics of technology • Critical of economic power • Critical of political power • Non-elitist • Socio-technical