Intwo

I visited the Austin Makerfaire this weekend. One day (with a late start) was not nearly enough to experience everything, or to participate in any workshops that were going on all around, but I did get a good idea of the makings and craftings going on around the U.S. and the world. Below, I’ve listed the people and projects that inspired me the most.

MIT FabLabs (article, video) are labs that make available to the public d-i-y fabrication of atoms from bits. Nublabs, a Cambridge, MA brainchild of three MIT students and alumni, is an independent effort to use the fablab model to empower the local community and “solve socially significant problems”. By hosting lecture series and afterschool programs, nublabs hope to spread the spirit of do-it-yourselfness to people and grow a small army of socially responsible crazy inventors. I wish these people the best, and hope to see something similar start up in Austin soon!

In terms of sustainable design, a couple of solar-energy companies were present. Sustainable Waves brought their fire truck converted into a stage powered (at least partly) by solar power. Austin EV and ACE Technologies were showing off Electric Vehicle conversions, and Austin Sun and Wind had solar panels on display.

Instructables.com had a table at the faire where they promoted their DIY Halloween Contest – anyone can enter with a project from one of many categories. Examples are “hack-o-lantern”, “green halloween” (scarily repurposed items), “gizmos that go zZapp”, and “scary food”. Enter by November 9th!

There was a lot of craft-related exhibitors as well. Brandy Davis of Pigseyart makes journals out of vintage books, and she will custom-make journals from books you send to her. She makes sure to keep a few pages of the old book in the journal. Some of the pulp sci-fi journals made me want to read the whole book!

Maker Store was selling DIY-kits for Make Magazine projects, and inventor Mitch Altman’s TV-B-Gone and Brain Machine. There was a workshop area where you got help putting the kits together by soldering parts and programming microcontrollers. This is an awesome idea, both in terms of business and getting people started with DIY electronics. Where do I sign up to be an instructor?

I do have some critique to offer for the event organizers. While new subscribers to Make or Craft Magazine received a free day pass, no discount was offered to current subscribers. It was hard for me and my wife (both subscribers) to afford coming in even for a day ($25 each), and we felt bummed that our support for the magazines wasn’t recognized. It doesn’t make sense to hunt for new customers while ignoring your existing ones. Come on, O’Reilly!

The branding inside the event was consistent. Each exhibitor had a standardized MAKER sign with a picture, description, and a weblink. There was also a lot of workshop-type booths where you could make something – a kite, a lunch bag, or blinking clothing, for example. What I found lacking was clear signage of WHAT you could make, INSTRUCTIONS how to make it, where to START, and WHO you could ask for help. (Some of) the volunteers helping out at the various stations did little to engage the crowd. Perhaps this was because we visited the faire late the second day, but I believe that this great part of the event (actually making stuff) could be made even better by just a few simple measures.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pm and is filed under technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.