Here at Make:, every single day is devoted to makers. We celebrate you, our community and help give you exposure to the rest of the world. This week has been very special to us though. This has been the National Week Of Making, where we see the rest of the nation joining us in celebrating makers. It has been so inspiring and heartwarming to see the things that companies, clubs, makerskpaces, and websites have done this week to elevate the makers around them.
This is the third year for the National Week Of Making, organized by the Nation of Makers, a non-profit organization that spun out of the Obama administration’s efforts to promote making and S.T.E.M. education. The idea was that we, as a nation, would take an entire week to celebrate ingenuity and creativity by participating in activities to promote making. Some of the ways you could participate were to host an event locally, like a maker party or dinner, or even a class on how to make something. You could tell your story as a maker by publishing videos or stories on social media. Finally, you could make some kind of a commitment to grow your maker community. This last one is of extreme importance as it is the most difficult, but often the most rewarding.
Here’s the section about making commitments from the National Week of Making Website:
Announce your organization or agency’s commitment to the maker movement in 2017. Commitments are simply a public announcement of your organization or agency’s intent to commit to an action around making. Some examples of possible commitments are:
- Committing to hosting or sponsoring a monthly community Maker Town Hall with other maker organizations in your local area
- Committing to create a prize challenge or other competition that invites makers to solve a community challenge
- Committing to funding a granting or micro-granting program in partnership with a local or national organization
- Committing to a partnership with a local school system to create new opportunities for maker education
- Committing to partnering with a disaster relief agency or group to provide makers/hackers who can ideate and make for social good
Commitments can be new or renewed, but should demonstrate an impact to a large community, clear, measurable, outcomes, and should not be publicly announced prior to to this year’s National Week of Making. For an example of last year’s commitments, please see click here.
This being the 3rd year, the initiative is still picking up steam with individuals out there. This fun video popped up in my feed. It is a great reminder that the activities of the National Week of Making don’t have to be specifically about the event itself, just make stuff!
Adam Savage’s Tested.com has been doing a daily series of spotlights, giving makers a platform to tell their story. Adam is on the board of directors for the Nation of Makers and has been an incredible help in promoting this initiative through his various activities and tours.
Where I really saw the most action though, was on Twitter! There were tons of tweets carrying the hashtag #nationalweekofmaking! There were simply far too many to list, so here are a few that caught my attention.
https://twitter.com/AndreaCMozo/status/876933287641567232
#NationalWeekOfMaking #crochet building up the inventory of the #TurtleArmy 😁😂😁love creating these little weirdos so much! #MentalHealth pic.twitter.com/0DA75Xg2gF
— 🕷Erika Reva🕷 (@TheWeInMe) June 20, 2017
We asked a #nationalweekofmaking prompt: "You know you're a maker when…", w/amusing results. How would you answer? https://t.co/JHP1tpGg58 pic.twitter.com/RXRXwoe9De
— SparkFun Electronics (@sparkfun) June 19, 2017
It's the #NationalWeekOfMaking! #make something! This is one of my 36" #crochet mandala hoops in @LionBrandYarn pic.twitter.com/Mqw6JNRc66
— Shara Narayan (@Bollywoodcowgrl) June 20, 2017
MechE students are always making something. Here, they prepped their #autonomous robotic vehicles for a race. #nationalweekofmaking pic.twitter.com/6t675P8HcG
— CMU Mechanical Engineering (@CMU_Mech) June 19, 2017
This year was a blast and I can only imagine that next year will be even more fun. Don’t let the celebration end here though, keep sharing your stories and your pictures! If my Twitter feed and Youtube list were only filled with makers enjoying their projects, I couldn’t be happier.
If you’re not sure where to get started, or you’re looking for ways you can share your projects with the rest of the international maker community, check out Maker Camp for fun projects to do with kids, our recently launched Maker Share platform to publish your own projects, and while you’re at it, why not apply for the Call for Makers for Maker Faire New York this September?
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