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example is the 'banana piano', a music keyboard made from a row of bananas.
8
Furthermore, as Matthew Hollow (
2013
: 70) notes, platforms such as Kickstarter
can support community-focused social projects as well:
For civil society activists and others concerned with local welfare issues, the emergence of
these new [crowdfunding platforms] has been hugely signifi cant: It has opened up a new
source of funding when governments and businesses around the world are cutting back on
their spending as a result of the on-going fi nancial crisis. [As well as artists and fi lm-
makers, a] number of local civic initiatives also have received substantial backing from
funders on online [crowdfunding platforms]. For instance, when… Kickstarter launched in
the UK in October 2012, the fi rst project to successfully reach its funding goal was a
student-led architecture project to design a new pavilion for a park owned by The National
Trust conservation charity.
This section was entitled 'The distribution and funding possibilities of the inter-
net are better than the traditional models'. In this kind of case, of course, the 'tradi-
tional models' - decent state funding for civic services and amenities - could well
be preferable (although the crowdfunded solutions offer a working alternative where
otherwise there is none). For individual people, though - or amateur groups, or an
innovative duo, say - the Kickstarter model is a powerful new way of making things
happen where otherwise they simply wouldn't happen.
2.2.5
Small Steps into a Changed World Are Better
than No Steps
In the second thesis, we have already discussed the value of having a vibrant culture
of 'interesting, creative things, regardless of their professionalism or audience
size' - where the value was in terms of the array of cultural items available to people
in the world. This fi fth thesis emphasises the value of making things, no matter how
small, for an audience, no matter how small, for the creators
themselves
. My research
for
Making is Connecting
(2011) and for other reports (Gauntlett et al.
2011
,
2012
;
Gauntlett and Thomsen
2013
) has clarifi ed for me the signifi cance of people taking
a step, however small, into the world of making, and the sharing of that making.
Making things is not a rare or elite activity, of course. Everyone makes things: as
children, when creative activity is common, and as adults, when preparing a meal,
or setting up a new home, or fi xing something in an inventive way. But the act of
consciously making something as a maker, and deliberately offering it to be seen by
others, may be slightly different. In a talk called 'Six Amazing Things About
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MaKey MaKey is described on its Kickstarter page as 'a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and
Experts doing art, engineering, and everything inbetween', and in June 2012, the project exceeded
its fundraising target by 2,272 % (with $568,106 pledged against a mere $25,000 goal). See
http://
