The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption
written by Lauren Britton (2012), provides an informative exploration of what maker spaces are and what they mean for libraries and their local communities. The maker space movement has been pushed forward over the last couple years thanks to the innovation of public libraries and some museums.
While Britton's article isn't the most current information on maker spaces available, the quality and content of this piece is worth checking into. Britton provides an example of different benefits of the spaces, "Maker spaces also acknowledge green concerns by reconnecting consumers to the labor involved in producing what they use". The way makers approach and understand objects encourages engagement and innovation. While schools are working to bring STEM activities into classrooms for students, inadvertently it seems libraries have accomplished a similar endeavor for patron counterparts of all ages.
This article further investigates what these spaces mean socially. Britton finds approaches to maker spaces suggesting the act of making is a political or social act. By encouraging individuals to make their own things and use different materials, these creators are discovering alternatives to our social reliance on the consumption of goods. In turn, people can make their goods. This causes a social change, regardless of how small, initially.
Initiatives and involvement between different ages continues to expand, and the idea of these spaces evolves. Teens are a population who have truly excelled and taken the tools in maker spaces to create new ideas, objects, and media.
The end of this article mentions a maker culture. It's inspiring to think that some simple changes that take place in libraries, schools, and museums have had such a profound effect on our social systems. I like to think these spaces empower people.
Article Information:
The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption
By Lauren Britton on October 1, 2012
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