Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Fabricating Futures: Envisioning Scenarios
for Home Fabrication Technology
Joshua G. Tanenbaum and Karen Tanenbaum
11.1
Introduction
11.1.1
If You Aren't a Maker Yet, You Will Be Soon
Making and Maker culture are growing at such prodigious speed that there are very
few people whose lives aren't touched by them, even if they don't realize it. The
scope of activities and practices that fi t under the heading of Maker Culture is
vast: woodworking, electronic prototyping, robotics, urban farming, software
development, fi re-art, weaving, circuit-bending, citizen science, prop-making,
cosplay, reenactment, soapbox racer rallies, home genetic sequencing, bio-art,
homesteading, knitting, rocketry, and many other more obscure practices all fi t
inside the “tent” of Making. Making is many things: it is a practice, a set of values,
a culture and a community, a return to the past, an embracing of the future, and a
new mode of production and consumption. While much of the best making involves
a return to lost handcrafts and traditional “boutique” production techniques, one
cannot underestimate the impact of recent innovations in small-scale fabrication
technologies. Machines that used to only be available at industrial scales, at prices
that could only be borne by large corporations, are now becoming accessible to the
home Maker. And some machines, like 3D printers, are creating new workfl ows and
prototyping processes that defy traditional industrial production methods.
