Personal fabrication technologies and open-source principles democratize production and design
New forms of bottom-up social networking and economic coordination, along with advances in small-scale, community-based fabrication and design, transform local economies in the next decade, enabling productive flexibility that will help cushion against economic instability. New tools, including 3D printers (desktop printers that print out objects, parts, and components), computercontrolled machine tools (such as laser cutters), and online networking applications (that allow designers, consumers, tinkerers, and artisans to share blueprints, solutions, and how-to knowledge) will enable local communities to “make” their own economic futures - to innovate, customize, design, and create solutions to meet local needs. Schools, community centers, and local businesses will become important hubs of design knowledge, rapid prototyping, and problem-solving skills that will increase local interdependencies and resilience, redefining relationships with the broader economy.
- What new skills are required for the maker economy, and what industrial and knowledge economy skills remain important?
- What new models of education suggested by the maker economy transcend industrial-age, assembly-line models?
More on This Topic
Two future forces, one mostly social, one mostly technological, are intersecting to transform how goods, services, and experiences - the "stuff" of our world - will be designed, manufactured, and distributed over the next decade:
- An emerging do-it-yourself culture of "makers" is boldly voiding warranties to tweak, hack, and customize the products they buy. And what they can’t purchase, they build from scratch.
- Meanwhile, flexible manufacturing technologies, such as 3D desktop printers that allows users to print out parts and components, will change fabrication from massive and centralized to lightweight and ad hoc.
These trends sit atop a platform of grassroots economics - new market structures enabled by technologies of cooperation that embody a shift from stores and sales to communities and connections. These makers are also helping craft a culture of tinkering, sharing, hacking, remixing, and collaborating. They are blending open-source principles (in which code, blueprints, and designs are shared openly for the purposes of catalyzing innovations) with making practices that celebrate individual craftsmanship and ingenuity. Maker Magazine and their eponymous Maker Faire are examples of ways that home producers, hackers, and tinkerers gather and share their creations.
In the maker economy, "do it yourself" is becoming "do it ourselves," as social technologies are amplifying individual makers and stimulating citizen R&D. These emerging industrial markets are driven not solely by profit but also by play - genuine excitement about making is inspiring these artisan networks. They use social media sites, such as Instructables to explain their inventions and creations to others. They develop close connections with their markets and communities, tapping this relationship in order to develop new ideas, iterations, and solicit feedback. They participate in solutions markets like InnoCentive to solve design, technical, and scientific problems that lead to new products and solutions.
The maker culture will not replace industrial society, but traditional manufacturers and the maverick makers will remain inevitably linked - sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing, but frequently blurring the boundaries that separate them. Success will occur when the two cultures are woven together in new and interesting ways. Look for the rise in makers, networked artisans, and ad hoc factories to redefine the significance and role of the industrial arts and crafts in society.
Implications for Learning
The emergence of the maker economy will increase the status of the industrial arts and crafts as it becomes a source of economic and social innovation and customization. The maker economy will draw inspiration from local communities and markets, yet collaborate and share knowledge at a global level.
- Expect the maker economy to influence traditional curriculums, school to work programs, and vocational training.
- The maker economy will give new meaning to efforts in project-based learning and purpose driven knowledge acquisition.
- Design will become an effective entry to learning critical skills, ranging from designing production teams and work processes to physical goods themselves.
- Cooperation across disciplines, skill domains, and national boundaries will trump competition as makers demonstrate the value of open, cooperative practices.
- Kinetic learning from interacting with physical objects and materials will open up new ways to experience complex concepts and principles.