 Well, maybe not my shop … |
I note in a recent Make Magazine Blog that Make‘s publisher Dale Dougherty sat forward in his seat about the same time I did during Tuesday night’s presidential debates. Tom Brokaw had just asked whether, in order to solve the energy and climate crisis, we should support a Manhattan-style project or support work in 100,000 garages across the country. Well, the question didn’t get answered by either candidate — but it was the right question. And not just with regard to the energy challenge — it’s the right question for the troubled economy, as well as for the continuing impact of the offshoring of America’s manufacturing and productive capabilities.Of course the reasonable answer is, “Some of both.” Without ducking the realities or benefits of globalization, the debate question recognizes that a part of our best response to all these challenges is in our own distributed ingenuity, creativity, and productivity as individuals. Relying on the responses of our big institutions simply is not enough. |
It isn’t all just hand-waving either. We have new tools, the most significant being the internet. The tools bring communication and research resources to all — giving individuals and small enterprises fast and efficient access to data, information, and ideas not possible even 10 years ago. The PC and today’s electronic technologies also make possible powerful garage devices for mechanical, electrical, and even biological work. And, I’d like to believe that a few ShopBots (not that long ago a garage project of my own) are contributing to the inventiveness, creativity, and productivity in garage workshops across the country.
 Bill Young tinkers with early ShopBot |
Technology tools provide a new kind of leverage for wide-spread, small-scale innovation and manufacturing operations and make distributed micro-development and micro-manufacturing viable. This attitude towards the power of tinkering, the power of emerging technologies, and the power of increasingly accessible knowledge and information is the excitement of Make and the Maker Faire. Sure, there is the fun of contemporary potato cannons and water rockets too. Yet, a new type of D-I-Y movement that embraces science and technology is emerging. It’s all much bigger and much older than Make, of course. But we’ve certainly arrived at a time where a growing urgency combines with fresh tools for pioneering. The spirit is alive. And, well, gee … that’s just part of the reason I’m so looking forward to this year’s ShopBot Jamboree and Maker Faire in Austin. |
I’m all for the 100,000 garage workshops (points of light?) — they’re going to be part of the answer. Now, if each one has a ShopBot …