Britse professor: makersplaatsen zijn nu relevanter dan bibliotheken

Mark Miodownik (Professor of Materials and Society, University College Londen) betoogt in een recent artikel in Wired dat makers van alle tijden zijn, maar dat de huidige generatie minder dan voorheen toegang heeft tot gereedschappen die ze nodig hebben.

No, it isn’t the hacking that’s new, but the lack of access to workshops. As cities have grown and population densities increased, so the home workshop has become something of a luxury. The new generation of makers are urban, online, highly social, but with little access to stuff: the tools and diagnostic instruments such as laser cutters, computer-controlled sewing machines and oscilloscopes needed to make contemporary objects. This is certainly our experience. Most of the members of the UCL MakeSpace are staff and students who live in small urban flats with free Wi-Fi access to more books than they will ever read, but with little more than a toolbox at home. They are information-rich but materially poor. So the ability to access a fully kitted-out workshop is extremely liberating for our members. Not only can they repair their toasters and mobile phones, but they can create new stuff that can compete in technological sophistication with commercial products. Hanging out in the MakeSpace becomes not just an enriching social pastime but a way to start a business.

In een voordracht die je hieronder kunt beluisteren stelt Miodownik “that whilst libraries solved a need of 19th century, the requirements of the 21st century have pushed ‘makespaces’ and ‘hackspaces’ above them in necessity.”

[powerpress]http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/file/0005/1534694/20131010AngusMiller.mp3[/powerpress]

Stof tot nadenken!

Afbeelding: Nottinghack via Compfight cc