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.
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On Saturday, the Hardware Unconference took place at the offices of O’Reilly AlphTech (OATV) in SF The organizers of the unconference were Rachel Kalmar who runs the Facebook group, Sensored; Nick Pinkston who has put together Hardware Startup Meetups in SF, and Renee DiResta who works for OATV and has been following the hardware development community in SF and elsewhere.
It’s interesting to me to see such enthusiasm and interest among makers in learning from each other and sharing their challenges and their aspirations. -
At the #HWUncon ! http://pic.twitter.com/bWr3gKsH0
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. @fitbit kicks off the first Hardware Unconference at the @OATV offices! Excited by the awesome turnout, looking fwd to sessions #HWUncon0
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#Hwuncon we are ready to begin http://pic.twitter.com/8IiRpmkf0
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Great discussion on maker culture on this sat morning #HWUncon0
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At the #hwuncon great session on distribution and retail sales channels0
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A session on raising capital ended up focusing mostly on the role of Kickstarter. Eric Klein of Klein Venture Partners said that VC’s now consider that when you are going up on Kickstarter, it’s a product launch and they’re watching the numbers. So, take it very seriously, he said. Don’t just throw something up. It’s says a lot about your ideas, your product and your team. It’s becoming more than a dress rehearsal – it’s the show.
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What makes a Maker? Positive naïveté and a desire to understand the physical world. #HWUncon0
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A group led by Jeremy of Blossom Coffee shared a list in answer to the question, What Makes Us Makers?
I wrote them down with some interpretation (2 and 6 may be the same idea but there are some different nuances.)
1. Interest in interdisciplinary projects2. Naive pursuit of solving big problems. Naive meant as a positive.3. Ability or desire to visualize and understand physical world.4. A mindset of playfulness.5. Share in open source communities.6. Sense that world can be improved, problems can be solved, and things can be changed. -
Hearing the hardware war stories at #hwuncon – great experiences freely shared #goodstuff0
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Would you use an open-source pacemaker? #HWUncon0
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.@jeanrintoul rocking the #DIYbio session at the #HWUncon http://pic.twitter.com/cjxH6irE0
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Who is doing work on fertility sensors? It’s a huge market and involves so many quantifiable markers, but I never hear ab it. #HWUncon0
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I enjoyed talking to Shannon Kennedy, a product designer. She and I talked about the need for a researcher to study a group of Kickstarter hardware projects
Eric Klein of Klein Venture Partners said that there are some VCs interested in hardware because there are investors who are makers themselves and they want to follow this area. That was a “Wow” for me.I met Cameron and Greg from LockItron whose product is a door lock that can be set and opened via iPhone.Jeremy Conrad of Lemnos Labs and Ben Einstein of Bolt were both there, and they will be on the closing panel about hardware accelerators/incubators at Make’s Hardware Innovation Workshop this week. I also met Aymerik Renard of PCH International, who has set up a new accelerator in SF. -
Is 3D printing & digital fabrication the third Industrial Revolution? http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/13/3d-printing-digital-manufacturing-industry #HWUncon0
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One of my favorite sessions was so because I knew so little about about the subject. The session was led by by Brent Polishak, a materials chemist and engineer. I wanted to learn more about “dielectric polymers.”
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Nick Pinkston led a discussion on how makers find the manufacturing resources they need, especially for small-to medium-scale manufacturing. Many times, it requires a personal introduction to a job shop. Others commented that they do protect their sources as a kind of trade secret but also to prevent them from being inundated by people who don’t know what they’re doing. Nonetheless, the discussion centered around ways that technology or information might improve the discovery of resources and perhaps provide more automated interfaces.
Dan M. of the Ninja Standing Desk talked about contacting 9 businesses that do sewing in the Bay Area but had trouble getting them to respond. He finally just walked in the door of one of them and he said even then he had to sit down at a machine and show them what he needed done. The owner said if you know how to sew it, why don’t you do it yourself? He told them that needs hundreds done and can’t do them all himself.
Justin Smith said he’s looking for a shop that can do larger runs on a laser cutter. He’s a TechShop member but can only do so much there.Mike Wirth, whose area is assistive technology, mentioned design2part, which is a trade show for job shops. d2p.com.Jon Thomas is with Pocobor, an industrial design shop. Jon said he used to work at the Stanford Product Realization Lab and said it was such fun helping students build a product they had designed. “It was magic” for students to realize an idea. Jon seemed to know where to get things made in the Bay Area.Ben Einstein knew a lot about the choices and processes available to makers. Hearing him answer questions demonstrated that there’s a big role for mentoring makers. -
#hwuncon Are makers taking over the world? Is world bigger than SF? Good answers.0
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RT @grapealope: Thanks all (esp. @nickpinkston @noupside @davidtlang) for an awesome #HWUncon today! Such a great hardware/maker/sensor community here.0
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There were a lot of people I didn’t get to talk to. What an excellent opportunity for everyone to share what they’re doing and connect with others who are doing similar things.
We will be continuing this conversation at Make’s Hardware Innovation Workshop at PARC in Palo Alto, May 15-16.
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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 DoughertyADVERTISEMENT
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