How the DIY movement could be a core part of becoming a ChangeMAKER!
(Picture taken from www.werepair.org)
About a year ago when I started working with this team, I became fascinated with the burgeoning Do It Yourself movement we started to notice. I am excited to see what the proliferation of 3-D printers will potentially mean for democratizing the means of production. It’s also fascinating to see how citizen scientists are using and spreading DIY technologies to monitor environmental degradation and increase civic engagement. Equally energizing is the work of the Open Source Ecology building a maker starter kit for a civilization. Businesses are seeing the potential too: check out this carMaking company, or Adafruit, a company that is a pioneer in the open source hardware field.
I think I find this movement particularly exciting because being and becoming a ‘maker’ requires iterative problem-solving. And nothing says iterative problem-solving like Changemaker!
I can definitely say I have been inspired to test out my own DIY skills since learning about the movement + I must admit that my artisan/artist brother is a big inspiration. So when my dresser started falling apart and I couldn’t find a decent, affordable replacement I decided to build it, mainly from recycle building materials. I am loving the process and encourage more people to try it out. Let’s see if I actually get a decent looking dresser in the end, but I have no doubt that I’ll be a sharper thinker by the time I am done.
- Hanae
