ABSTRACT

Maker culture involves people in making and sharing artefacts, from jewellery to robots. It emphasizes experimentation, innovation and testing of theory through practical tasks. The maker community provides feedback and support. Learning comes from informal mentoring and progression through a community of practice. Makers produce objects that satisfy needs and des ires in their everyday lives — this includes playful or aesthetic needs. Makers gather together in informal gatherings of friends, workshop spaces, organized events, such as Maker Faires, and online communities. Online communities, such as Pinterest, provide the means to share practical knowledge through visual inspirations, designs and recipes. Maker culture extends beyond the home and school into communities of practice — people with a shared love of sewing clothes, designing jewellery, taking apart radios, building robots or casting intricate trinkets on 3D printers. The essence of maker culture is to see everyday objects as playgrounds to be explored and other people as co-creators.