28 February 2017

Hackerspaces - Making the Maker Movement

NEW book about hackerspaces

Synbio center researcher Sarah R. Davies' new book on hackerspaces and the DIY-bio movement

A new industrial revolution. The age of making. From bits to atoms. Many people are excited by the possibilities offered by new fabrication technologies like 3D printers, and the ways in which they are being used in hacker and makerspaces. But why is the power of hacking and making an idea whose time has come?

Hackerspaces: Making the Maker Movement takes the rise of the maker movement as its starting point. Hacker and makerspaces, Fab Labs, and DIY bio spaces are  emerging all over the world. Based on a study of hacker and makerspaces across the US, this book explores cultures of hacking and making in the context of wider social changes, arguing that excitement about the maker movement is not just about the availability  of new technologies, but the kinds of citizens we are expected  to be.

Reviews:
‘This is a well-written guide to hackerspaces and the rise of the maker movement. The book pleasingly embraces all kinds of making – a point made from the first page onwards, where sourdough-making is equated with more high-tech practices – and includes honest discussion of gender issues and exclusion. Excellent.’
David Gauntlett, University of Westminster

‘Sarah Davies provides deep insight into how hackerspace culture came to be, what makes it tick, and what questions we should be asking in this context.’
Austin Toombs, Indiana University

Get the book here ...> or come look in it at the synbio secretariat, where we have a growing collection of synbio related literature