Maker Faire

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth — a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the maker movement.

Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these people come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.

Explore below to see the best of Maker Faire, and head to makerfaire.com for more information.

Magical vs. Hackable

Magical vs. Hackable

I meet more and more folks in education that are contemplating swapping out laptops with complete operating systems like Linux, Max OSX, or Windows in favor of tablets (or most recently the advent of Chromebooks). I’m in favor of more complete systems because, while not being sufficient conditions for creating the next generations of inventors, engineers, and makers, it certainly is necessary to do so.

Oakland High Schoolers Need Your Power!

Oakland High Schoolers Need Your Power!

Tony, Carlos, and Raul, students at Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland, have taken on an ambitious senior project they plan to exhibit at Maker Faire: converting a gas-powered truck to electric power. They’ve been working afterschool and weekends and already gave up at least one holiday to work on the conversion. These young men exemplify the self-motivation we see in so many maker projects.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Things About Karen Tanenbaum

Tech researcher and interaction designer Karen Tanenbaum is passionate about the maker movement and its ability to transform our relationship to computing and creativity. She holds a masters in linguistics and a Ph.D. in interactive arts and technology. Her research work has focused on wearable, tangible, and ubiquitous computing, as well as the maker movement, […]

Father/Daughter Raspberry Pi-Based State Poster Project

Father/Daughter Raspberry Pi-Based State Poster Project

With some help from her dad Scott, second grader Emma made this Raspberry Pi-controlled interactive trifold poster about the state of Vermont, for a school project. Pushing a button cycles through the different agricultural industries of the state, complete with lights and animal sound effects. Other buttons play recordings of the state bird singing and the state song. There is also a “quiz mode,” which tests the viewer on what they’ve learned.