What is a maker you ask? A maker is a person imbued with the do-it-yourself (DIY) spirit, someone who would rather create than buy. A maker is bold and creative and they blur the lines between technology and art. O’Reilly Media has been capturing the maker spirit for awhile now with their Make: magazine. I’ve been an avid follower of the magazine’s blog. It’s full of more-than-interesting accounts and pointers to how-to instructions for projects that boggle the mind. I’ve written on my personal blog calling out to makers to form a group in our area. This, however is a public call out to local people of the maker persuasion to band together and find a space of their own, a “hackerspace”.
A hackerspace has been described as “a YMCA for geeks and artists”. In short, it’s a shared workshop with tools and equipment necessary to make stuff. But a hackerspace is more than the physical building and the tools it contains. The real value is the community involved, how they learn from and inspire each other, and how they reach out to the community.
If you’re interested in this idea, take a look at the wiki setup to describe the effort to setup a hackerspace in the Region of Waterloo…
… and be sure to spread the word.
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