Calling All Makers: Welcome to Maker Share

Maker News
Calling All Makers: Welcome to Maker Share

I’m excited to announce the public launch of Maker Share, a “show and tell” hub for makers to share their projects and discover new opportunities to learn, connect and contribute. We have developed Maker Share with our partner, Intel, as an online platform for innovation and collaboration — a showcase of all the things that Makers can do. I invite you to register as a maker on MakerShare.com, set up a profile and begin adding projects to your portfolio. Think of your portfolio as something that reflects your interests and identity as a maker.

How do you explain to others what you make? At Maker Faire, makers use “Show and Tell” to talk about what they do. At Maker Share, we encourage you to use video to present a Show and Tell, which might be a two-minutes long demonstration. A good “show-and-tell” explains what you made and how you made it but should also talk about why you made it.

YouTube player

Maker Share is a logical next step for us — an online version of Maker Faire, if you will. It is also an opportunity to connect makers around the world, some of whom exhibit at Maker Faires but also many who do not.

Sharing is what creates the maker community. We learn from each other’s work and we are inspired seeing what others can do. We can work together to do things we might not be able to do by ourselves.

Maker Share is a place where you can contribute your skills to Missions and help solve problems for others. One of our first Missions is to help create a device to help 11-year-old Malia communicate more clearly with her friends. There are many, many problems that need solving.

There is real power in belonging to a community and interacting with members who like to help each other. Rajiv Mongia, our partner at Intel, was already “discovered” on Maker Share by a high school friend who sent him a message via his profile. It turns out this friend’s son has communication problems very similar to Malia, the subject of the Malia Project Mission, and he’s very interested in seeing what our community can do for kids like his own.

Some of the projects that you can find on Maker Share:

Tepmachcha: Flood Early Warning in Cambodia by Rob Ryan-Silva

Tepmachcha is an open-source sonar stream gauge designed to give early warning of flood conditions, triggering a voice call to affected residents through the RapidPro interactive voice response (IVR) system.

Lightning Detector – 300 kHz Receiver by Wayne Roshida

This detector is capable of indicating lightning from several hundred miles away.


You can also find some of the makers and their projects from Maker Faire Bay Area 2017.

Ashley Qian and Musical Corgi Keyboard.

YouTube player

Asia Ward and Solar Rover

As you can see, each maker and each project has its own URL.

We expect Maker Share to be used in education by young makers who can show their own growing capabilities through personal maker portfolios. Check out these talented young Makers:

Join us on Maker Share. Let us know what you make and find others like yourself who share a passion for making. Belong to a learning community that shares values such as creativity, generosity and kindness. Use your skills and talents to shape the world for the better.

Find me on Maker Share and send me a message. I shared how to make really hot pepper sauce. Share what you make!

Discuss this article with the rest of the community on our Discord server!
Tagged

DALE DOUGHERTY is the leading advocate of the Maker Movement. He founded Make: Magazine 2005, which first used the term “makers” to describe people who enjoyed “hands-on” work and play. He started Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, and this event has spread to nearly 200 locations in 40 countries, with over 1.5M attendees annually. He is President of Make:Community, which produces Make: and Maker Faire.

In 2011 Dougherty was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” through an initiative that honors Americans who are “doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.” At the 2014 White House Maker Faire he was introduced by President Obama as an American innovator making significant contributions to the fields of education and business. He believes that the Maker Movement has the potential to transform the educational experience of students and introduce them to the practice of innovation through play and tinkering.

Dougherty is the author of “Free to Make: How the Maker Movement Is Changing our Jobs, Schools and Minds” with Adriane Conrad. He is co-author of "Maker City: A Practical Guide for Reinventing American Cities" with Peter Hirshberg and Marcia Kadanoff.

View more articles by Dale Dougherty

ADVERTISEMENT

Maker Faire Bay Area 2023 - Mare Island, CA

Escape to an island of imagination + innovation as Maker Faire Bay Area returns for its 15th iteration!

Buy Tickets today! SAVE 15% and lock-in your preferred date(s).

FEEDBACK