Continuing our focus on the burgeoning world of makers and making,firstly the inimitable Phil Torrone on "Why the Arduino Won and Why It's Here to Stay ":
The Arduino is simple, but not too simple. It’s built around the idea that students will be using these to “do” something: get sensor data in, have a bit of code, do something with that. Maybe they didn’t even write the code, they cut and pasted it to get started. It’s hot glue, not precision welding. No one is going to cut a hand off or burn down the studio experimenting. One of the Arduino team members teaches designers and artists — everyday, the platform is being built and improved for step-by-learning, building on lessons and sharing code — these designers and artists are using Macs and tinkering in Processing (Arduino’s older sibling)...The barrier to entry isn’t a monetary one, it’s a philosophical one. This requires boldness and getting out of committee-think. A chip company needs to show off chips — they don’t care about Mac support, or writing tons of software, libraries, and IDEs. Chip companies are (historically) the ones who usually make the platforms. We’ll see some of the big players flood the market with subsidized hardware to beat the $30 price point of the Arduino, but that doesn’t matter if the Arduino support and quality stay high.
Arduino board
Why else is it here to stay? The community. How can you get 100,000+ people to jump ship? You can’t. To get close, you’ll need to develop something just like the Arduino, support its shields and accessories, and write a lot of code (something chip companies hate to do.) Great software for multiple systems, lots of libraries, drivers that work, simple, low cost, and open source. And you know what? I think that’s what the Arduino team really wants. They’re techno-hippies — they want to see other platforms with the same ideals — that’s the game they’re actually playing. And I think it’s what we all want, whether it’s called an Arduino or not...[continue reading]
For those seeking a primer they may want to take a peek at The Open Source Way Creating and nurturing communities of contributors If however you are looking for Arduino tutorials covering a wide array of concepts and techniques go no further than John Boxall's treasure trove of tutorials For more college hackerspace news take a look at the MIT MITERS crew
For your micro milling workshop you might want to assemble an MTM Snap: A snap-together Arduino-powered desktop CNC milling machine.
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| MTM Snap milling machine |
We are increasingly aware of how digital fabrication is democratizing product design consequently this is prompting vertical integration and moore’s law for atoms
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| Bryan Denton for The New York Times |
Furthermore we marveled at the hidden Workshops of the former Libyan rebels wondering what the future holds for their tinkerers.The OScar Project hopes to develop a car according to open source principles.
Adafruit's Limor Fried discussed D.I.Y. Revolution with Bloomberg. Over at P2P they bring to our attention the Free Technology Community Portal.
Meanwhile Emily Smith speaks to the importance of Crafters, Hackers, and Hackerspaces:
Where visions of crafting often conjure up images of glue guns, popsicle sticks, fabric and looms, hacking evokes soldering irons, microprocessors, and software. Truth is, there’s a lot of similarities between hacking and crafting, and even more to be gained from a dialogue between both groups of makers. Both hackers and crafters feel the same need to create things and manipulate materials, and have very similar basic requirements: access to equipment, space to work, and a supportive community within which to grow and share projects and ideas.
Image courtesy of Make magazine
As an avid crafter, when I first visited a hackerspace, I immediately felt inspired to bring my projects there. There were some hints of crafting in the space the first time I set foot there, but it was hugely dominated by hardware and software hacking. Some may have felt alienated by that, but I felt like it was a wonderful opportunity to learn and engage with a medium that I’d never worked with before – and to also bring in the softer side of hacking — and yarn bomb some of those cold-looking surfaces!
In relation to this Openwear founders Zoe Romano + Bertram Niessen discuss DIY Craft and Fashion Microproductions with Massimo Menichinelli:
Image courtesy of Open Wear
Massimo Menichinelli: The phenomena of Open Hardware, DIY and Makers have reached a remarkable level of development, fame and reputation. Perhaps less famous but equally important is the phenomenon of DIY craft and craft / fashion micro enterprises that are often visible on platforms such as Etsy. What are the differences and similarities between these phenomena and how do they relate to each other?
Zoe Romano and Bertram Niessen: All these new scenes have in common a desire to empower understanding what they have in their hands, how it was made and improved. This desire blurs the distinction between producers and consumers, not in the sense that everyone will make everything they need, but that everyone more and more often will able to produce or design something and make it available in a flux of exchange out of which everyone could benefit.
Both phenomena are related with crucial changes that are undergoing in our social and economical environment. The Peak Oil calls to 0 Km chains of production. The rise of 2.0 social networks, mixed with the spreading of p2p communities, encourages new forms of global/local communities of producers and consumers. New technologies in communication and material production foster distributed manufacturing.
The difference is that DIY crafters sometimes have the tendency to perceive themselves more far away from technology because of their handmade pledge. It’s more a problem of cultural background. But as long as they envision the possibilities of new on-demand machines, they realize how craftsmanship could be revolutionized without loosing its soul.
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| Image credit: The Urban Farming Guys |
Furthermore Treehugger profiled the methods for 'DIY Aquaponics: And building a Vortex Filter'(see image above). And lastly Fabaloo highlights a story of 3dprinting in South Africa:
Courtesy of Design Indaba Campaign 2009
There's a great story in Design Magazine describing how Kenneth van Rensburg came to create a 3D printing business (Protoform) in South Africa. After seeing the technology by accident during a Jaguar factory tour in the UK, van Rensburg created Protoform in 2008 to "bridge the gap between design and manufacture", initially focusing on boat design. Later, Protoform would reach out to other markets and now produces 3D models for a variety of industries, including medical models and artistic works.
More to come...
