COLUMN MAKE IT WORK David Cuartielles, Jonathan Bean, Daniela Rosner, Malmö University Bucknell University University of Washington Conversations on Making

n a column last year (“Making: crafts, and other fields over the past type of electronics is that they are Movement or Brand?” January – few decades. reprogrammable, and that the software February 2014), we argued that and free software for them is much simpler than the the maker “revolution” may be have somehow infected the physical software produced for personal best understood as a brand rather world, and many of us have started computers. It was just a matter of time than a social movement. While looking into ways to apply software- until people started making that code proponents view makers as part of like licenses in areas where people were open, which would also extend to the Ia new creative class that circumvents basically getting patents before. electronics. is a manifestation conventional mass consumption, we That revision of the licensing of that. Our system is based on the noted that many makers become good around physical objects is not new, fact that the software we build upon is capitalists, too—selling books, tickets, either. You can read texts by Victor open, so opening the hardware design and magazines as well as seeding new Papanek in the 1960s and ’70s, or even is only natural. businesses. By adopting and enacting check out his books about collecting This is the very basic aspect behind maker discourse, makers additionally examples of nomadic furniture—de the maker : sharing. The become proponents of an ideological facto predecessors of the current possibility of others reusing what stance wherein small-scale design Make magazine—which include clear some did to apply it in a different field. gets portrayed as a catalyst for social instructions on how to build furniture I see this a bit as a mix between the change. Finally, we pointed out that that is designed to be copied. Papanek U.S. “show and tell” culture and the surprisingly few women or people of designed furniture to be built out tech-nerd naivete and willingness to lower socioeconomic means participate of almost anything, and he couldn’t basically “show off.” in these worlds despite rhetoric that understand why other people wouldn’t I think you got blinded by the aims to be inclusive of everyone. be capable of doing the same. He fact that Maker Media is a company Shortly after the column was saw the process of designing as very dedicated to the production of printed published, David Cuartielles, co- democratic and declared everyone a materials and promotion of events. founder of Arduino, wrote us with designer. Sharing the blueprints of I also think you forgot they could some concerns. First, he pointed out design would help others get started. only build that small media empire if that we made an error regarding Chris The contemporary parallel there was a group of people interested Anderson’s involvement with Wired to Papanek can be seen in the in not only the content but also the magazine. We identified Anderson embedded electronics world. The production of the content. Maker as the founder of Wired. In fact, as life we live is becoming more and Media is a vehicle for a lot of voices that Cuartielles pointed out, Anderson was more digital; embedded electronics have something to say and couldn’t editor-in-chief for a long period. We are the bread and butter of many find room anywhere else. Having your regret the error. of our everyday artifacts. One of project shown in Make magazine is a Cuartielles also asked us to clarify the main characteristics of this validation that your work is relevant some of our other assertions. In email to this community. It is not peer- exchanges that followed, we aimed to reviewed; there is no academic review get a fuller idea of his concerns. We Open source and free panel; there is only a de facto expert decided to publish some of the points committee ensuring the content is new Cuartielles raised in this exchange. software have infected and unique for this community. the physical world, and Other experiments like this one Bean and Rosner: Where did we go we are looking into have failed—even, as you mentioned, wrong? Specifically, can you identify other magazines within the same the assumptions we have that you think ways to apply software- company. There are plenty of reasons are incorrect? like licenses in areas for this. I believe there is a better Cuartielles: I would say the vehicle for the content previously assumptions you made in your column where people were addressed by Craft magazine. The overlooked the history of electronics, getting patents before. blogosphere has been representing

22 INTERACTIONS JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2015 INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG the voices of people making crafts for a long time; there are traditional craft markets; there is Etsy as an alternative online market for crafts; and there are hundreds of books and magazines to be found in the second- hand market on stitching patterns and sewing techniques that are as up to date as anything you could find today. But electronics and software are evolving constantly. Bean and Rosner: We agree on the value of a historical lens in understanding the so-called maker movement. With this in mind, we wonder how you relate current creative modes of activity promoted by Maker Media with the design activities promoted by members of the 1960s Bay Area counterculture and thought leaders such as Kevin Kelly and Stewart Brand? In particular, we were intrigued by your mention of Victor Papanek. Are there direct connections between Papanek’s work and the maker movement of which we are not aware? Cuartielles: I don’t think there are. What I think is the work of Papanek, which is part of a context where other communities of creation were also looking into the idea of “democratic creativity,” is today becoming mainstream, as part of the technological “revolution” of Web 2.0. Everyone can be a designer; everyone can create things by themselves; everyone can publish content, edit content, remix, or make something new out of the work made by others. Consumers of popular culture see little to no difference between original content and remixed content (from the David Cuartielles point of view of consumption, what difference does it make, anyway?). is not a new construct coming from a Media, open software and hardware So I don’t think there is a direct series of assemblies made by people proponents) recognize the values, link. I think it is more of an emergent disconnected from the rest and then belief systems, and interests of people phenomenon that is taking some ideas going public. It is more an evolution of different genders? created 30 years ago and amplifying happening simultaneously at many Cuartielles: If that was a study them via the Internet to reach a larger locations, from people remixing ideas, among adults, I have no doubt that demographic. content, and tools. the study is right. A couple of years Bean and Rosner: You’ve described Bean and Rosner: We’re interested ago, after reading a series of articles the work of this “grassroots” activity in how you see gender issues cropping about gender participation in online as new, but might this tell a familiar up in these creative . Earlier forums, I decided to run a study on story? you said “we are winning the battle of the Arduino forum. My goal was very Cuartielles: I agree with you gender.” How do you account for the simple: identify the amount of women here. This is history repeating. The apparent fact that people who identify vs. men. Turns out the ratio was very m e l l i s difference is that we now see real as makers are overwhelmingly male low. There is an option in the Arduino d av i d effects at a global scale. One could (81 percent, according to a recent forum to show your gender, and there b y argue it is not truly grassroots in the study conducted by Intel)? How do was a much higher number of people i m a g e sense that it is not completely new; it the groups you’ve described (Maker who registered as men than as women,

INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2015 INTERACTIONS 23 COLUMN MAKE IT WORK but there was also a whole lot of users at younger ages. For example, the ask what cultural work hacking and who didn’t use this option. so-called Creative in making does, and for whom. I don’t have the exact data with the Classroom initiative that I run for We believe that Cuartielles—like me, but on the forum, female users Arduino is reaching 4,500 students many others involved in the maker were around one percent of the total. in Spain, 600 in Ecuador, and 600 movement— has been working The reasons for this are something in Sweden this year. Forty percent tirelessly toward advancing novel I couldn’t identify. I discussed with of the students in Spain are girls forms of technical understanding, forum members what they thought (I don’t have data from the other engagement, and empowerment. about it, and then I realized that countries yet, as the study just began Cuartielles, in particular, has made these issues are similar to those you in September). This is the optional unprecedented contributions to can read about in many other online class the kids take in high educational developments: running communities. My conclusion from school at around age 15. engineering workshops for under- that experiment is that a forum is not • At a more local scale, being represented groups and helping the right place for expression and that a company started by five men, to envision and build the Arduino it is hard to run a community of over we started hiring women at all of platform, a low-cost, easy-to-program 150,000 users using moderators/ our offices to take responsibility hardware development toolkit that volunteers and keep a reasonable for many of the day-to-day has seeded new modes of engineering discourse regarding gender equality— operations: global social media education through physical computing even when applying very strong manager, Chiasso’s office manager, and hobbyist do-it-yourself design. policies on how to use language and Bangalore’s office manager, Torino’s In closing, we believe that show respect to other users. office main project manager, members of the maker movement On the other hand, the thing that Malmö’s office art director, Malmö’s have made great strides in enabling struck me is that I teach mostly at art office main project manager, main new modes of participation within and design schools, at B.A., M.A., and UX designer, Malmö’s high school engineering cultures. Yet in bringing Ph.D. levels. And at those places, the education liaison, global press egalitarian participation closer to female-to-male ratio is unbalanced— liaison. We don’t have a 50 percent the fore, this work has also revealed there are many more women than men. female-male ratio in any of our possible impediments to those ends. So why this disconnect? In my opinion companies worldwide, but we do not Decades of social science theory it has to do with the differences in how judge people by their gender, age, and research show us that privilege each gender likes to use the Internet religion, social class, education, or reproduces power, even in the face for communication. political convictions. of good intentions. The next phase We also did some things within of making might account for these Arduino: Looking toward the future of making, issues by embracing a central tenet • We looked for people working we see the need for more reflection of feminism: the understanding that within technology who could on the subjects and engagements of categories such as gender and power show a different sensibility toward technology cultures. All three of us operate in manifold ways. Pointing technology. We started to work very have developed, led, and participated to these limitations could help our actively with, for example, Leah in workshops using Arduino over the communities continually work toward Buechley (creator of the Arduino past six years. But our observations more equitable, sustainable, and Lilypad) and with Limor Fried (owner may say little about how Arduino and peaceful societies. of Adafruit Industries), as well as other maker technologies get taken up with other players within the maker in people’s everyday lives. They might David Cuartielles teaches interactive technologies at Malmö University’s School of community like Ayah Bdeir and Alicia not tell us how these technologies Arts and Communication, and is one of the co- Gibb. We tried to highlight their work, could be used to promote civic justice founders of the open source platform Arduino. collaborated with them on multiple and community engagement. They → [email protected] projects, joined them in public may not tell us how these technologies discussions, and supported their could give certain people agency in Jonathan Bean is an assistant professor initiatives (and we still do). their technological relations. Recent of markets, , and design at Bucknell University. His research deals with domestic • We spent a tremendous amount studies suggest that gender is not consumption, technology, and taste. of time designing a documentation the only gap existing in the maker → [email protected] system for our online presence that community. A 2012 Intel survey on moves away from the traditional forum makezine.com of people who consider Daniela Rosner is an assistant professor and that is more centered around the themselves makers found the following of human-centered design and engineering at the University of Washington, where idea of allowing people to showcase of respondents: 81 percent were she co-directs the Tactile and Tactical their projects, make project collections, male, 97 percent attended college, 80 Design Lab (TAT Lab). Her research focuses and so on. It moves away from the percent did post-graduate work, and on how cultural histories are woven into traditional forum concept, which is their median household income was our interactions with things we create. hard to handle. It will be called Scuola $106,000. These results invite us to → [email protected] and should come online soon. • We started working with people DOI: 10.1145/2685366 COPYRIGHT HELD BY AUTHORS

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