Ideas that I think we should be looking into:

• raw material cost/availability/source for RepRap & other similar devices
• scaleability and price hiking material cost, especially when concerned with makers that try to progress past plastic
• intellectual property infringement and reverse-engineering protected items
• quality control/ legal responsibility for when homemade objects fail from other people's designs

-Colin

 

More ideas:

• stifling innovation due to the lack of monetary reward --> dangers of open source
• questionable safety of d-i-y projects (related to Colin's quality control) --> who monitors/certifies/licenses the products?
• feasibility/culture of convenience: some people just don't have time for MC
• market efficiency of mass production in low-cost labour zones
• the persistence of consumer culture (why? benefits?)
• MC around the world: "newer" phenomenon in West vs. East?

-Isabella

 

 

 

Good ideas here, but tell me something I don't know, remember you're also talking about the future, give me a taste of the future in the lead.

-w

 

 

The Elevator Pitch:

 

Does maker culture have a sustainable future or is it a fad?

 

As with everything else, the Maker Culture is a balance between vice and virtue. Will open access to high quality education, manufactured goods, or fashion lead to enlightenment? or confusions of assumed knowledge and lack of quality control.  The responsible escalation of the movement, and the road blocks to prevent it will decide whether the maker culture progresses organically, or falters and dies.

 

Research to Date

Assumptions

·         Maker culture does not maximize economies of scale. 

·         More environmentally friendly

·         Politically motivated choice (anti-consumerism)

·         Hobby/lifestyle choice.  Cannot sustain this without money.  How does someone live off of maker culture where everything is free?

·         Can’t eliminate corporate culture (they have the R&D budgets?)

 

 

Possible Interview Subjects

·         Contact other groups to find out who they are speaking with to find out counter views

·         Social Historian – expert on social revolution and change

·         Philosophers of science (Kuhn)

·         Psychologist to comment on what the culture is representing and the motivational aspects behind it.  Makers to comment on their personal motivation.

·         Lawyer to discuss legal ramifications

The Focus, Scope and Angle of the Piece

Areas of Focus: Corporate (Savithri), Legal (Julianne), cultural/philosophical-societal(Colin) and psychological-individual/personal impact(Mark)

 

 

Examine the before, during, and after in the transition from consumerism to post-consumerism

- SWOT analysis will be performed for each area. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Scope: trends and themes recurring throughout other areas (what are the common themes)

Questions we will ask:

Future: Is there one?  What will it look like?  Scaleability?

Maker culture is becoming trendy has taken on the image of urban sheik….ie. do your own canning, make your own clothes.  Will it continue?

Corporate response- will they want to participate/facilitate?  Will it force them to reduce margins or push them to focus more on branding and marketing.

Is this a fad?  If people start jumping on the bandwagon will the fanboys move on to the next trend?

If consumerism is brought down by maker culture, what do they think will replace it?  Accumulator-ism?  Clutter-culture….is maker-culture still a form of consumerism by another name (consumption)

Legal aspect- quality control, accountability?  Eg. If a design is posted and tweaked and creates a faulty product, whose fault is it?

Copyright issues?  Will it inhibit research and development?

What are the global ramifications and how will it develop in other parts of the world?  Will it affect development?

Media Choices

Podcast ideas:

3-5 minute feature on each area in our focus: Corporate, Legal, cultural/philosophical and psychological.  Will tweak as we find out more from our research.

At the beginning, middle and end discuss how the process is going.  Look into what the cultural bias will look like if maker culture picks up.  Each piece will have an evolutionary look at what will it will take to get maker culture into the mainstream and cross the adoption gap.

The video pieces will illustrate the evolution of maker culture.  Potentially re-enacting a theme through a skit.

Next Steps

We will contrast the views of our experts with interview subjects found by other groups.  We will then interview the makers found by the other groups (media, education, politics etc.).  It will be a continuous evolution of material as we discover more about makers and their critics.

 

 

 

Psychology-Mark Melnychuk

Description

This would examine the participants of maker culture on an individual scale, and go in depth on why their motivation is to create in a society where the norm is to consume. Those within maker culture could be interviewed on what their own personal reasons are for getting involved, and their responses would be compared to see if there is a trend in what motivates a maker.

Specialists in fields of psychology such as behavioural psychology and industrial psychology would be asked for their own thoughts on individuals who pursue this lifestyle. It would be worth asking these experts if the drive to partake in maker culture is something that inherently resides within most people, or is an exception to the rule in our consumer driven culture. They could also be asked what participating in maker culture has to do with someone’s own personal interaction with society, and if it relates to a desire for individualism.

Research:

Cyberpsychology.edu

Journal Article: An examination of the values that motivate socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours, By International Journal of Consumer Studies.

 

Corporate

Virginia Posterel's book review of Chris Anderson’s book for New York Times about the free model being profitable.

 

 

Possible Interview Contacts:

Dr. Laura Freberg- California Polytechnic State University

Faculty of Psychology

Office: 38-211

Phone: (805)756-2357

Email: lfreberg@calpoly.edu

-          This contact also runs a blog (http://laurafreberg.com/blog/) which has analysed hacker culture in the past, so she may have a very relevant perspective on maker culture.

 

Dr. Natalie Allen- UWO

Faculty Of Social Science

Psychology

Office: (519) 661-2111, ext. 83013

nallen@uwo.ca

-          Industrial psychology

 

 

Dr. Christine D. Tsang- UWO

Assistant Professor, Psychology

Affiliated Colleges

Huron University College

Office: (519) 438-7224, ext. 260

ctsang33@uwo.ca

-          Perception, social psychology

 

Corporate Focus

 

Virginia Postrel- author of “The Substance of Style” and the editor in chief of DeepGlamour.net.

Email: Virginia@deepglamour.net. 

Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired, wrote “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”

Twitter: @chrlsa

Gca2@earthlink.net

Noreen Javed, Marketing Consultant, The Daggerwing Group

Email: njaved@daggerwinggroup.com

Etsy

Email: press@etsy.com

One of a kind show

Janice Leung, Social Media Coordinator

Tel: 416 512 3817

Email: janice@oneofakindshow.com

Clive Thompson, writer

Email: clive@clivethompson.net

 

 

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You are raising important issues here, but strive for balance in the coverage of them. Also, keep in mind you're also looking at what's next? Will the Maker Culture scale, will it cross the Adoption Gap? What if the rich field of ideas laid out here comes to pass. Get folks to think out five, ten years.

-Wayne

 

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check out: http://www.innocentive.com/ <- it rewards people for their creations