Waiting for this moment to arise
The maker movement is here and now. Let's celebrate.
I was away for the month of June. The first part was for work, visiting Maker Faires in Vienna and Prague. Then I went on vacation with my family in Greece. So that’s why I haven’t published anything in a while on MakerEd.
I want to tell you about Maker Faire Prague. I want to talk about the feeling I had when I walked into the first of four buildings at the Krizikova Fontana in Prague. On the previous day, I had visited the site in the afternoon and frankly I was a bit concerned because on Friday the buildings were nearly empty. Not much preparation was happening in advance.
Now this was my first visit to Prague, which is a beautiful and historic city. On Friday I spent most of the day at Prusa Research. I saw their factory of 600 printers, which run 24/7 making parts for their 3D printers. Ten years ago, there were dozens and dozens of 3D printer manufacturers, and it seemed like every country in the world had its own 3D printer company. Today, after waves of consolidation, there are really only a few companies making consumer 3D printers outside of China and Prusa Research is one of them.
A super-nice man, Ondřej Kašpárek, runs the incubator called Prusa Labs, a makerspace for Prusa Research. He is also the organizer of Maker Faire Prague. His team organizes a dozen Maker Faires in Czech Republic, some of which reach about 1,000 people. Prague is, by far, the biggest. On Friday, while Ondřej was giving me the tour of Prusa Research, he didn’t seem pre-occupied with the set up at Maker Faire Prague and I was bit worried.
So I was surprised when I walked into the building on Saturday morning. Maker Faire Prague was full of makers and it was buzzing with people, especially families. An entire transformation had taken place over night. I had this particular feeling of astonishment — “wow, look at it; it’s really happening and it’s amazing.” I was where I wanted to be and what I saw was what I hoped I’d see at Maker Faire Prague. This celebration of maker culture was happening here in Prague and I could experience it throughout the weekend.
Let me explain why the moment meant so much to me. I might be too conscious of the state of the maker movement. I worry about its future. I worry that the opportunities it provides for people, the possibilities it opens for their future, might be somehow disappear if the maker movement is diminished.
In the United States, the maker movement seemed to take off in and around 2014, at about the time the White House organized its own Maker Faire. At that time, you could feel that the maker movement was going somewhere — we didn’t exactly know where but it was going but it had momentum. What learned is that the more people who came to Maker Faire, the more people there were who wanted to become makers; they wanted to create, play, tinker, craft and build. Making became a kind of normal thing to want to do.
While the maker movement continued to grow, it also spread out in ways that made it harder to see. At a Nation of Makers conference, I offered this analogy: at one time the maker movement was like a big wave coming to shore and it looked bigger the closer it approached the shore. Then it hit the sand and spread out far and wide, and the water was still there but it wasn’t tall like a wave anymore. Ever since, it’s been hard to see its impact.
I must admit for past few years I’ve been waiting for that next wave. I have been holding on to hope that it would come but there was the pandemic and many other reasons why that wave didn’t come.
MakerEd was once riding that first wave, and the nonprofit crashed about a year ago, unfortunately. Yet I knew then that while I couldn’t see all the signs, there was a lot of making activity in K-12 schools, in community colleges and universities. Makerspaces were coming back in libraries and community centers too. I felt MakerEd had to keep going because we’d see better days.
This generation needs the maker movement. Kids growing up today need the maker movement as much if not more than those ten years ago. Education needs the maker movement more than ever, post-Covid. I wish that the maker movement rise like a wave in education and lift up our young people, and help them create a productive, creative life for themselves. I worry that this might not happen. I worry that the adult world might just ignore it because it’s hard to do.
Walking into Maker Faire Prague, I had this wonderfully satisfying feeling. “It’s really happening. Stop worrying. The maker movement is right here and now.” I wanted to celebrate that moment.
At Maker Faire Prague, I could feel the energy and beauty of makers who were busy sharing their ideas and their work with many others of different ages and backgrounds. This celebration was not something in the past or something to wait for in the future. It was alive now. It was sparkling in the eyes of makers. It was in the joyful sounds of children given the opportunity to create and play.
It reminded me of the first Maker Faire in the Bay Area and how it felt to have this emerging community come together. Prague is almost 6,000 miles from San Francisco and the first Maker Faire was seventeen years ago, yet that same spirit was there. It felt exhilarating to see the maker movement flourishing in Prague.
As I was leaving Maker Faire Prague on the last day, a mom walked up to me and introduced me to two 14-year-old boys, Viktor and Kristof. One of them was her son. “I want them to tell you what they are doing,” she said, also asking me to take a photo with them. The proud mom added: “These two boys are the youngest makers at Maker Faire.”
The two shy boys explained their Re-vape project to me. Vape pens are powered by batteries that are thrown away when the pen is empty. The boys began collecting the batteries and converted them into power banks that can recharge devices. Their mom helped them set up a few collection bins at vape shops and then the two boys would take the batteries apart and solder new wires and connectors to transform them into something useful. (I was also glad to learn that the boys don’t vape.) How ingenious of Kristof and Viktor! How wonderful that they had a place to showcase their project and their talents! They really belonged at Maker Faire and I was happy to see them having their moment.
This week, we are announcing the return of Maker Faire Bay Area after a three-year hiatus. I’m really excited to see “the mother of all Maker Faires” come back. (I won’t share my worries, just my optimism.) We will be at a new waterfront venue at Mare Island, near Vallejo, a historic former naval shipyard. Maker Faire Bay Area will be held over two weekends (Friday through Sunday) October 13-15 and the 20-22. There’s more information to come at MakerFaire.com.
I believe this is the right moment for a new edition of Maker Faire for the Bay Area. Will you come celebrate with us and experience the incredible community of makers once again or for the first time?
P.S. I hope to hold a maker educator meetup at Maker Faire Bay Area.