“Make It Go” Turns Makerspace Collaboration into a Game

You know Exquisite Corpse? It’s that party game where you write one line of a story on a piece of paper, and then pass it on to the next person to write the next line, and so on until you’ve got — well, whatever it turns out to be.

Well, Pollen and Maker Network have partnered to create a project design version of the game, offering makerspaces around the world the opportunity to co-create a kinetic sculpture! It’s called Make It Go.

How Does It Work?

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell: Participating spaces sign up for a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday workday, with full access to the evolving design file for 24 hours. The file is then passed to the next space, progress is reviewed, and communications begin with the next team. This inaugural project runs for 5 weekends from June 18 to July 16.

Make: is excited to support this fledgling program, because we believe in the power of creative collaboration — in real life and online — as a key driver of the Maker Movement, and we see where this could lead in the future. Plus it’s fun!

This is all a big experiment, of course — we’re testing the waters to see if it floats. If it does, we can expand the program, and do projects targeted towards things like making for social good and solving real-world problems. Cool, right? We thought so.

Follow Along!

We’ll be sharing the progress of the CAD design here on Make:, hosting a live social media feed from the participating makerspaces, and bringing you Q&As and interviews with the participants. We’ll shoot a time-lapse of the Type A Machines maker team building the final artwork at The Gate 510 and testing it out at Factory 510, and we’ll display the final artwork at World Maker Faire in New York this October.

How You Can Participate

1. Any makerspace can participate in upcoming rounds of Make It Go. Start here and get into the mix.
2. Are you part of a maker education organization? Email hello@thisispollen.com about participating in global collaborative challenges for kids!
3. Does your company produce maker-oriented products? Email hello@thisispollen.com about including them in upcoming Make It Go projects.
4. If you’re a maker and just want to get involved, email hello@thisispollen.com about being part of the team!

Now … let’s get out there and Make It Go!!