Why Does the Makers Movement Matter?

Robots Under God: A Project from Atlanta Mini Maker Faire 2013

As I woke up to attend the Atlanta Makerfaire 2014, I started to reflect upon why I personally get excited about growing the SparkMacon MakerSpace community. Why is building a makerspace community important? Why is growing a community of art and technology creatives worthy of investment and time?

Highlights from Atlanta Maker Faire 2014

Growing Innovative Culture and People: I personally believe that the organizations that will make the biggest impact in the world are creative organizations.   In the past few years, I started to become an anthropologist of innovation. I’m naturally curious about how communities organize themselves so that they maximize their impact and creative output. (i.e. Google, Apple, Pixar, Ideo, etc.)  What do these communities believe and value? What motivates them? How do they lead and communicate? Helping to grow SparkMacon’s community has been such a wonderful opportunity to explore these questions with other Middle Georgia leaders. By working hard and putting people first, we are trying to find answers to these questions. We have such a wonderful and generous team.

I believe the Makers movement is a game changer. In the context of education, I hope that we can inspire students to just love learning. The Maker education movement has challenged our communities to give students freedom to explore their own creativity and process of discovery. It’s amazing to see a child’s creative capacity if they are given the creative freedom, tools, and supportive coaching. On the business front, it’s amazing that we now live in a world where an ideas can be sketched on a computer. (i.e. an app, a 3D design, a song, art, etc) Over the next few years, we will continue to see that it’s possible to take the “bits” of your idea and convert them into a prototype or something that can be sold. (“atoms”) Check out our blog post here for more details on this trend.  I’m excited that I was able to take a Google Cardboard prototype that I created using TinkerCAD and turn it into a working minimum viable product.  The sketching process took one or two hours.  The 3D printing process took 5 to 6 hours.  In a world where digital fabrication technologies enable us to prototype new products in days, how do we teach our students and communities to become great product designers?  How do we empower their creativity and capacity for innovation?

Google Cardboard

Being creative and tinkering with my kids: While I enjoy technology, I love my family. I’m very thankful to my mom and dad for fostering my personal creativity through music. These creative experiences have given my life joy, richness, depth, and way to serve others though music.  I will always cherish my experiences as a choir director.   I think I’ve taken this ethos into my career as a software developer and my path as an aspiring maker. It’s wonderful to be able to be able to share the joy of making and tinkering with my kids and my wife. I love hearing my kids say “that’s cool!!” when they discover a cool robot, play with lego’s or make something awesome on their own. It’s the best feeling in the world.

Please consider finding and supporting a Makerspace or MakerFaire in your area.   It’s a worthy community effort.   It’s not just about technology or art.  It’s about making the world a better place.

All the best!

 

Support SparkMacon: Our MakerSpace for Macon, GA by giving to our IndieGogo funding campaign. http://igg.me/at/sparkmacon .

Even small contributions are helpful. We’re very thankful for the generosity of our readers.
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