Fab:UNIverse - Makerspaces, Fab Labs and Lab Managers in Academia

Abstract

Fab Labs and Maker practices have been recognized in research and practice as contexts that facilitate creativity, knowledge sharing and collaboration [4], [10]. Personal digital fabrication is getting increasing attention from various fields like education, engineering, innovation, design, humanitarian aid or regional development [6], [1], [7], [3]. However, integrating Fab Lab environments into academic education is still challenging in practice. In Germany, more than 200 such creative community spaces exist [5]; around 15 of these are associated with universities. Most are initiated and run by single entities such as student groups or university chairs and are not integrated in the universities' overall organizational matters. The federal research project 'FAB101' aims to consolidate organizational and educational knowledge based on experiences in four Fab Labs at German universities [9]. We propose a workshop to share and discuss results, to open up our research to a European community and to encourage collaboration between academic Lab practitioners.