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DiYVR is a weekly spotlight on all things handmade, done-by-oneself, crafted and hacked around Vancouver, featuring profiles of makers, event announcements, exhibits and general DIY fun. Know someone or something we should cover? Email me! |
"Making creates evidence of learning." Dale Dougherty, founder of Maker Faire and MAKE Magazine, is passionate about experiential learning, and he's just as passionate about making stuff simply for the pure joy of it.
Saturday night, Dale delivered the keynote at the Tech Cocktail event as part of the 2011 WorldFuture Conference. I can't speak for the inventors in the audience, but I can say that, sitting with the organizers of the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire, we in the front row were riveted, and sometimes downright giddy.
If you've never picked up a copy of MAKE, see if you can find one. (I often find a pile at Book Warehouse.) In its pages you'll find instructions for how to do things like build your own space-worthy satellite, rig a t-shirt with LED lights, or turn your grandparents' gramophone into an iPod player. It doesn't matter if you don't actually want to do these things – it's just exciting to know you can, and to bask in the excitement of people who have.
Showing photos and videos of Maker Faires and maker-run events from his homebase in the San Francisco Bay area, Dale touched on theories of experiential learning in developmental psychology, qualities makers tend to share (an inclination not to follow rules, a passion for trying new things, an eagerness to talk to other people about what they make), and the contagious excitement that comes from showing off even the most absurd of creations (muffin car, anyone?).
The Tech Cocktail event featured nifty homegrown apps and inventions like Contractually, a web-based app designed to make contract management fun (I know the founder, I can vouch for the fun part), and devices like the Golden-i headset computer (it's more back to the future than futuristic, but it was really cool to try out).
Here's Maker Faire featured on a recent episode of PBS News Hour, including a better overview of Dale's thoughts on making and education than I could paraphrase here:
There's a vast, worldwide community of makers, and I'm so excited that the Vancouver Maker Faire brought so many of us together for the first time, and that the World Future Society brought Dale Dougherty to town. If going to Maker Faire, or reading this post, is the first you've heard about the maker movement, check out any of the hacker spaces, craft shops or DIY events around town. If you have questions about how to get involved or even just dip your toe in the water, ask in the comments or drop me a line on Twitter.
