Maker Cultures and the Prospects for Technological Action

Susana Nascimento,Alexandre Pólvora

doi:10.1007/s11948-016-9796-8

Abstract

Supported by easier and cheaper access to tools and expanding communities, maker cultures are pointing towards the ideas of (almost) everyone designing, creating, producing and distributing renewed, new and improved products, machines, things or artefacts. A careful analysis of the assumptions and challenges of maker cultures emphasizes the relevance of what may be called technological action, that is, active and critical interventions regarding the purposes and applications of technologies within ordinary lives, thus countering the deterministic trends of current directions of technology. In such transformative potential, we will explore a set of elements what is and could be technological action through snapshots of maker cultures based on the empirical research conducted in three particular contexts: the Fab Lab Network, Maker Media core outputs and initiatives such as Maker Faires, and the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). Elements such as control and empowerment through material engagement, openness and sharing, and social, cultural, political and ethical values of the common good in topics such as diversity, sustainability and transparency, are critically analysed.

Highlights

We are witnessing a rise in new Do-It-Yourself (DIY), crafting, manufacturing, hacking, fabbing, or making paradigms where a mix of tools, communities and spaces are increasingly enabling more and more people to produce and share knowledge at a quicker pace, create their own material and symbolic solutions, and define the goals and outcomes of their technological actions
We will explore a set of elements what is and could be technological action through snapshots of maker cultures based on the empirical research conducted in three particular contexts: the Fab Lab Network, Maker Media core outputs and initiatives such as Maker Faires, and the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA)
It is interesting to note a different approach to the principles of openness and sharing applied to the physical character of making, which stems from the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA), another empirical context we explored through observation and interactions with organizers and participants in the 2014 Open Hardware Summit16 (September 30–October 1 2014, Rome)

Summary

Introduction

We are witnessing a rise in new Do-It-Yourself (DIY), crafting, manufacturing, hacking, fabbing, or making paradigms where a mix of tools, communities and spaces are increasingly enabling more and more people to produce and share knowledge at a quicker pace, create their own material and symbolic solutions, and define the goals and outcomes of their technological actions. A convergence in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) has tried to underline this sort of change in recent years when discussing the innovative agencies of users and communities in designing, building and distributing their own solutions, often in opposition to already existing centralised or tight institutionally controlled prevailing communities (Oudshoorn and Pinch 2003; Van Oost et al 2009) Their focus was quite similar to the issues we note in particular sections of the maker culture, which are becoming more active and more critical in the realm of their technological actions, from intense awareness to social backgrounds, current status and social diversity, to alternative normative ways towards more democratic and sustainable societies (Woodhouse and Patton 2004), or the role of beliefs or political commitments and their awareness of innovation (Soderberg 2011). The promises and challenges of maker cultures point towards new counter actions to technological determinism in science and technology, and we need to assess how tangible is the shift and what kind of impacts it may have in the subsections elements such as control and empowerment; openness and sharing; or political and ethical questionings

Gaining Control and Empowerment

Observing Openness and Sharing

Findings

Concluding Remarks