Why I believe in Maker Culture
Hi, I'm willow bl00 (aka Willow Brugh), and you'll see me poke my head in here from time to time. I live in Seattle (I think it's the promised land), alongside the likes of Libby Bulloff, Noah Beasley, and Nathaniel Johnstone. I organize and moderate a Transhumanist discussion group, just applied to law school (interest in the overlap of information technologies and the human body), work at ZoomPop, train Parkour, and play in hacker spaces. I've spoken at Ignite and Dorkbot and on NPR and to Free Inquiry Groups. I'm also the director of Jigsaw Renaissance, which is what I'm here to talk to you about.
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All the things I do in life (which, admittedly, is a lot) are about Doing. I'm up to my eyeballs in Stuff to Do and up to my elbows in What I'm Doing because I love it, and because I so adamantly believe that Maker Culture is a healthy response to an unhealthy pop culture. Here's a glimpse at why I feel this way.
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Which is to say, you use the tools you have to solve the problems at hand. Tools and technology do, of course, range everywhere from a wrench to language to roads to electricity. And when your tool is the mindset of a maker, any system at hand looks like something to be tinkered with and improved upon.
I believe in maker culture because, at its core, it is interactive. Intrinsically, it has the desire to take a closer look at how something (anything) is made, to understand that, and to use that knowledge when interacting with other things. It's a bird's eye view, but with a passion for applicability and adaptability.
This is why I believe in maker culture. Because once you've noticed the belts on your local space's MakerBot work an awful lot like the belts on your sewing machine, and maybe even your car, it's difficult to not start to see how your other local systems work - your local school, your market - and see how to actively improve them. Because it's not about sitting around bitching. It's about doing things. As Jake tells me, "I don't want to just be a hammer, I want to be a big ole jobsite tool box filled with badass power tools."
Twitter:
@JigsawSeattle
@willowbl00
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Comments
Welcome Willow!
A great big Steampunk Workshop welcoming hug to Willow and Rehana from Jigsaw Renaissance!
Looking forward to it!
Looking forward to it!
Hello Willow
It's Dean Pulley (businessgypsy), currently in SWFL, but looking forward to my annual base transfer to Portland. I really like the idea of Jigsaw Renaissance, and wonder if you have an outreach program for our vanishing generation of crafts and trades people.
As a guy who started in letterpress and ended up in robotics, I've encountered a lot of tough old birds with amazing skills in lost industries that could translate to Maker skills. Cast metal mold making, for instance. Pretty much done with CNC and 3D modelers now, but the skills the old wooden mold makers used and the planning that went into a mold (like removable shims and channels) would seem to have uses elsewhere in our repurposing oriented future.
The cultural differences fade away once they see you're all about the work, and there's nothing like living history to understand process. Maybe a series of recorded interviews with props and audience questions? Bridging generations with common interests is always uplifting and perspective strengthening.