There’s a story at the Christian Science Monitor about makerspaces across America, like the one we have in town @ whitewatermakerspace.org, 1206 E Bluff Rd, Whitewater, WI 53190.
It’s a new-old idea, as Noelle Swan writes:
The ‘maker movement’ is heralded as a new industrial revolution – combining the spirit of the old shop class with modern tech in community ‘Do It Yourself’ spaces….
DETROIT — Think of the colorful Mt. Elliott Makerspace as a playroom where tools – such as soldering irons and electronics – are the toys.
A bank of Macs and PCs lines one wall where kids can research how to make things, learn to mix music with Garage Band, or build their own digital world with Minecraft. Windows behind the computers – a sort of bridge between the 20th and 21st centuries – offer a full view of a retired machinist’s woodworking shop. Bookshelves stuffed with remote-control cars, arts-and-crafts supplies, and beginning robotics kits flank a doorway leading to a bike shop. A pile of circuit boards and hard drives sits in a corner next to a disassembled electric wheelchair lying in wait for curious tinkerers….
We are a creative and inquisitive people; we have been this way from our beginnings.
I’ve been listening to Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, and Jobs in his youth was part of a club (“Homebrew Computer Club”) of precocious builders and dreamers.
They, in their time had the power, as a younger generation now has the power, to build a more advanced and prosperous future.
The magazine Make offers page after page (in print or online) of clever projects: electronics, science kits, and crafts.
A recent episode of Whitewater Community Televison’s Park Bench Series recorded a discussion of microcontrollers, principally Arduino ones. (It’s a solid, informative discussion.)
(Those looking for a project with historical meaning might consider The Open Enigma Project, although I understand that it’s a pricier undertaking than many equally-fun and instructive projects.)
Here’s one from Make, for a Drawbot:
Those who work on these projects may not change the world tomorrow, but not so very long thereafter, really, they and others similarly inclined surely will.