We need to make (almost)

76 Pages·2016·2.97 MB·English

We need to
make (almost)

everything
A social and
educational look
at Fab Labs and
the maker movement

César García Sáez
Fundación Orange, 2016
www.fundacionorange.es

Title:
We need to make
(almost) everything.
A social and educational look at Fab Labs
and the maker movement.

Author
:
César García Sáez for Asociación Descubre
la Electrónica Orientada a Objetos.

This work is licensed under the Creative
César García Sáez is a Technical Commons BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike)
Systems Engineer and graduated in East licence, which can be viewed at the following
Asian Studies from the Universidad address:
Oberta de Cataluña. He also graduated https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
from the Fab Academy digital fabrication sa/4.0/

programme. He has more than ten years'
Publisher:
experience in the ICT sector and
Fundación Orange
extensive experience as a technology
educator. © Illustrations in the work: Orange

He co-founded Makespace Madrid, a © Photos: see the end of the publication
community of technology and creation
Publication completion
enthusiasts who use digital fabrication to
date: May 2016
make their projects a reality.

Design and layout: www.sirius-
He is very active in technology comunicacion.com
communities, having been an organiser
of the Internet of Things Madrid group Printing and binding: Omán
since 2011. He is the spokesman for the Impresores
Spanish branch of the Internet Society
Impreso en España – Printed in Spain
and the International Fab Lab
Association. He recently helped to set up Deposit copy: M-19462-2016
the digital creation and fabrication
network (CREFAB). The paper used to print this book is chlorine-
free and graded as environmentally-friendly.
Since 2015, he has presented “La Hora
Maker”, a podcast which presents the This book was published by Fundación
Orange, which does not necessarily share
latest breakthroughs in the Spanish
the views expressed in it. The content of the
maker movement, highlighting its
book is the responsibility of its author.
pioneers while also encouraging the
creation of new spaces and collectives.
We need
to make
(almost)
everything
A social and
educational look at Fab
Labs and the maker
movement
Contents

Foreword / 4
Introduction / 6
Acknowledgements / 7

Chap. 1. / Fab Lab Story and Ecosystem / 18
Origin of the Fab Labs Network / 8 Maker
movement / 18

Chap. 2. / Education / 28
Introduction / 28 Peer-to-
peer learning / 29
Initiatives related to Fab Labs / 31 Maker
initiatives / 35
Other educational initiatives / 37
Education SWOT / 45

Chap. 3. / The social impact of Fab Labs and the maker movement / 50
Introduction / 50
Jobs / 51
Sustainability / 52
Infrastructures / 54
We need to make (almost)
everything / 2
Socially-oriented projects / 55
Citizen science projects / 56
Boosting employability / 56
Fab Labs SWOT and their contribution
to social impact projects / 58

Chap. 4. / Analysis of best practices and future proposals / 62
Working methodologies / 62
Education / 62
Social impact / 63
Sustainability of spaces and of the environment / 64
Boosting creativity / 64

Conclusions / 67
References / 66
Bibliography / 69
Photo credits / 70
Foreword

Gutenberg. Now there was a gentleman movements, inventions and technological
who deserved praise. He lived in the 15th breakthroughs. And when it has not
century and has been – stubbornly and, changed, you cannot tell me that it has
sometimes, wearyingly – cited as a not, at least, evolved. The evolutionary
model when parallels have been drawn process is key to innovation. Evolution
between the digital revolution and the means innovation, and vice versa.
consequences of the invention of the
printing press, credited to the And that is what, at the end of the day,
aforementioned native of Mainz. In truth, this book is about. It is about
his spark continues to burn and to innovation, evolution, and the future.
provide firm support for technological Albeit, all things considered, I prefer to
breakthroughs: in the documentary "Print talk about a present which, when it
the Legend", which tells the story of becomes commonplace, will be the
various companies involved in making 3D future. Because
printers, one of the protagonists cites it would be cheeky of me not to regard all
good old Johannes Gensfleisch zur Lade that follows this introduction as the
(for that was his real name) as the present. And it is a present that is
historical forerunner of his project. And resulting in culture shocks for people
he might well be right. whom the prevailing reality is making
increasingly marginal, because one of the
I think that, whatever the facts might conclusions you might draw from reading
suggest, there is an ideological and in this book is that digital technology is not
some ways spiritual link between necessarily only virtual. Of course,
Gutenberg and his distant descendants. without digital technology we would not
They all want to see the world be talking about the people who populate
not as it is, but as it could be. Changing these pages, about the spaces where
the world might seem far-fetched, they meet, and about what they make
something for idealists or crazy idealists, there. Digital technology is a necessary
if I am not repeating myself, but the truth means to an end. The human factor is
is that world has changed because of equally or perhaps more important.
people,
We need to make (almost)
everything / 4
And, talking about the human factor, we to shaping the citizens of the 21st
must mention the author. César García is century. And also because we trust in the
a well-known and recognised power and necessity of education, but
(and recognisable, dare I say it) person in in an expanded form of education, in
the Hispanic Fab Lab world. If it weren't which new concepts take precedence, in
for my fondness for him, I would even go which the starting points and indeed the
so far as to call him a guru in the field, points of arrival are many and varied.
but this type of language has become Because we want (digital) education to be
discredited, especially in recent times, discussed creatively and responsibly. And
because I think, it has – demonstrably – because we love innovation. Do you need
been used to describe people who do not any more reasons?
deserve it. But I would say he is a
learned figure who does not seek to Victor Hugo said that there is nothing
browbeat others, more powerful than an idea whose time
but rather to energise them. The ideal has come. Let us give a warm welcome to
person therefore to write a report that the makers, to Fab Labs, to 3D printing,
aims to be precise, concise and clearly to all that does not yet have a name but
defined: to map the concepts and will burst forth from the melting pot of
experiences that have arisen in the maker these realities. Their moment, their time,
movement and the Fab Lab ecosystem, is now.
with a special emphasis on education.
Manuel Gimeno

And what exactly does the Fundación Managing
Orange have to do with all of this? Firstly, Director,
we have all created the reality described Fundación Orange
here. What is more, we all have
digital technology in our DNA. And we
have faith in the benefits of digital when it
comes
Introduction

In recent years, the number of digital The main body of this text is a series of
fabrication spaces has continued to grow case studies in which we have compiled
exponentially around the world. 3D information on some of the most notable
printing has become more widespread projects worldwide in the fields of
and promises a new industrial revolution education and social impact. As well as
based on a collaborative distribution the technical capabilities of the machines
model. However, for most people, these at our disposal in Fab Labs, we believe it
terms are still very alien. is essential to understand how new
working methods can be transferred
This study has several aims. On the one to other fields, and adapted to the
hand we will strive to uncover the story of needs of each situation.
Fab Labs and the maker movement,
something that has not been done before Hands-on, experimentation-base
in Spanish. This explanation will go hand educational courses and programmes are
in hand with the information needed to now offered by many Spanish schools in
understand the potential of digital technology and robotics classes.
fabrication and free culture. Internationally, programmes like BBC
We want to demystify technology and Microbit have enabled more than a million
make it accessible, using straightforward British schoolchildren to try their hands at
language. The map of national resources programming and working with circuit
and initiatives is unprecedented in Spain. boards. Given the repercussions of these
The very fast pace of development makes large-scale programmes, we will also
this analysis somewhat ephemeral, but discover that many of the spaces we will
we need to understand the framework in be exploring are relatively new, with
which we are operating to get an idea of limited resources, and are struggling to
where we might go next. establish themselves. This is not stopping
many of them from moving beyond their
initial remits, and seeking
We need to make (almost)
everything / 6
to have a positive impact in their local
ecosystems.
I would like to thank the

Fab Labs are a window on the future, a following people for their help
space for experimentation in which we
in producing this book: Blanca
can model new processes and ways of
creating. The maker movement is giving Villamía, Sara Alvarellos and
us tools for exploration, guides to Susana Tesconni.
discovering how things work and how to
I would also like to thank
tailor them to our needs.
In these pages, we will explore their full everybody who appears in
potential and begin to use them in our this book, those who found
day-to-day lives.
space in their diaries to share

César García Saez their opinions of the text, and
those who kindly provided
some of the images that
illustrate it. Lastly, I would like
to thank the members of
Makespace Madrid and the
other Fab Labs and
Makespace users and
managers for being a
constant source of inspiration.
Origin of the Fab Labs network
Chap. 1.

Professor Neil Gershenfeld started
teaching the "How to Make Almost
Fab Lab
Anything" course at the Center for Bits
and Atoms (CBA) at Massachusetts
story and Institute for Technology (MIT) in 2001.
Students from various disciplines were
invited to create their own projects
ecosystem combining different digital and electronic
fabrication techniques.

The demand for the course massively
exceeded expectations: more than 500
signed up for the first edition. With the

aim of finding a permanent venue for the

Fab Labs, Makespaces,
Techshops and Hackerspaces
offer variations on a theme and
a range of facilities, but
generally speaking they all offer
a common space equipped with
numerous machines.
These machines are computer- Neil Gershenfeld
controlled and are designed to
transform our drawings on the course, the first Fab Lab was launched at
screen into three-dimensional MIT.
objects.
The name is an abbreviation of
In this first chapter we will go
"Fabrication Laboratory" but also of
into more detail on their story,
Fabulous Laboratory, a place where
explaining more about the tools
people can make their designs and ideas
used and the way
a reality. The labs are all equipped in the
these spaces are organised. same way, with the following capabilities:

Fabrication by addition of material
using 3D printers

Fabrication by removal of material
using digitally-controlled milling or
turning machines of various sizes
We need to make (almost)
everything / 8