I’ve always loved engaging in creative work and fostering creativity in others, so I’m extremely excited for this course. While I definitely salivated over the list of what a well-equipped makerspace needs in “The Maker Movement Manifesto,” I agree with Diana Rendina’s broad definition of makerspaces as places “where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials,”  whether that means a cart of simple craft supplies or a fab lab full of high-tech equipment.  As a public librarian and community volunteer, I’m also interested in flexible makerspaces that can be used with multi-generational groups in a variety of contexts outside of the school setting.  I’m especially interested in makerspaces promoting repair, creative reuse, and creative placemaking.  While my library doesn’t have space for a permanent makerspace, my supervisor is open to the possibility of a makercart, so I’m looking forward to developing a proposal for that in this class. 

If I could truly make anything, it would be "The Big Dig: Pennington Edition."  The original Big Dig was “the largest, most challenging highway project in the history of the United States” (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-big-dig-project-background).  Boston replaced a deteriorating major highway that cut through the center of the city with an underground highway topped by a series of beautiful parks.  The project took far longer and was much more costly than was originally anticipated, but it improved quality of life in the city immeasurably.  Here in the much smaller town of Pennington, NJ, our downtown area and parks are cut off from schools and the library by Rt-31, a busy, smelly thoroughfare with constant truck traffic.  If I could make anything, I would bury this stretch of 31 and the street-level parking lots alongside it, and design a pedestrian plaza to go on top.  This would include a green affordable housing complex;  a playground with a splash pad; a facility for bike commuters including showers and secure bike parking (like this); an amphitheater; a senior center; a community garden; a solar shade pavilion (like this); and open space for public events, performances, and recreation.  I'm attaching my sketch below.

I’m so excited to learn and create with all of you this summer!

I would define a Makerspace as a place that offers access to resources that facilitate creativity. I also would consider space to be a resource. A lot of people may not have access to technological equipment like 3D printers or other tools, but I think a lot of people also do not have access to space where they are able to be creative. Even if you only have legos and cardboard, like Diana Rendina (2015) mentions in her article, you are still providing that physical location.

Something I am also interested in is using makerspaces to help older adults. Many seniors didn’t grow up with certain technologies, and I think that providing an environment for them to feel comfortable exploring and learning about technology is just as important as it is for children or teens. I also think that kind of reflects the type of environment that is discussed in the first video in this week’s module. Nathan Holbert describes makerspaces as places where people can “construct knowledge”, and he cautions against the idea of turning them into more rigid classroom learning spaces, basically, with tests and homework. The freedom of being able to learn at your own pace and to explore different technologies as much or as little as you want, and to have that sandbox kind of environment, is what I really love about the concept of makerspaces, and I think for both children and older adults, that kind of flexibility can inspire confidence more than any kind of class would.

So to answer the question, if I could make anything, what would I make? I would love to make a speech-to-text story maker for seniors that can create short books from their personal stories. It would be designed for older adults, so maybe with soundproof headphones and a mic and with a large screen for easier visibility. I would add a very basic scanner if they wanted to include their own photos, as well. The idea is for them to dictate a personal story and have it printed up as a booklet. It would be great if it could access some kind of database of local historic photos so they could include how the neighborhood looked at the time, if they lived locally. I can’t draw at all and ended up just “sketching” something vaguely computer shaped. I originally envisioned it as kind of a booth, since it should probably be made of soundproof material as they would be talking out loud. It would need a large monitor with an attached printer and scanner—the software would be the most important thing. I have no idea how to design that part of it, though, so this is just me dreaming.

Anyway, that is my probably overly long introduction. It’s nice to meet you all!

I struggled with the question about what I would make. I found myself nodding and heartily agreeing with all of the reading this week--I absolutely love the maker mindset and the emphasis on tinkering and inventing. I feel strongly that every learner should have access to a space of infinite possibilities, a makerspace. Yet, I had an incredibly difficult time allowing myself the same space to imagine. I think I might have been experiencing some overwhelm at the open endedness of the question. I decided to connect more with what I know. I am an extremely amateur knitter. I would like to make a sweater. I would like to create my own pattern, dye my own wool (did you know that cochineal beetles make an amazing dye?), and knit a proper cardigan. I like the idea of learning many different things by making one product. 

I mentioned that I thought a makerspace is a space of infinite possibility. I think that this applies to the learning opportunities inherent in a place where learners are allowed time and space to imagine, create, and invent. I love Dale Dougherty’s TED talk because he calls all of us makers. I also appreciated the term “put togetherers”. I define a makerspace as a space where everyone belongs, everyone enjoys ownership, and everyone helps. I would also like to emphasize the spirit of play, creativity, and exploration are included in my definition of a makerspace. 

My name is Tack like a thumb Tack. This is my final course In TIM and Data analytic track for my masters and I am looking forward to what this class can bring. 

I recently finally made it to the eye doctor and got my first pair of glasses. While this was a treat on its own, I felt that the glasses underperformed. Ignoring the fact that I could just be having the wrong prescription, I was fully ready to have superman vision. To see miles into the distance. And that got me thinking. These glasses are already a very cool and ingenuitive piece of technology. But I think we can do better. I would like to see glasses that can “zoom” in miles away. Glasses with built in augmented reality displaying useful data in front of us. While we have seen some early developments into this technology with google glasses or Microsoft hololenses we can do better. 

To me a makers-space is the sandbox for creativity. It’s a space that inventors, engineers and curious minds can come to get inspired to or create whatever it is they dream. After the year we all just went though, I think spaces like these are ever so important. We need to create spaces where young individuals, curious minds can congregate and share ideas.  

To answer the question, what would I make, I need to do some explaining.  I am great with ideas, but not so much in the art of creation. I don’t sew, quilt, crochet, or knit.  That gene skipped a generation.  I am a great baker but not a good cook.  I need specific step by step directions.  In my last class I realized that I am much more of a curator than I am a creator.  That being said, IF I could create anything, I would want to create a sorting machine for books.  I watch those Lego sorters and think, wow, I wish there was something like that for books, that would sort them in their right categories to help with the shelving of books each week. (Fiction, Nonfiction, chapter books, board books, Leveled Readers ect.)

I would define a makerspace as a safe place for all people to be creative and to build.  In a makerspace, everyone is an engineer who needs to plan, design, create, and collaborate.  It looks different at any school or library.  You can not “put it in a box”, but you can create with a box!

Elizabeth here! I am a part-time School Librarianship student and full-time children’s librarian in Rye, NY. I just started my full-time position and am excited to learn from both my work experience and from all of you! I chose this course as my elective because I have not had many interactions with Makerspaces yet. To be honest, I am a bit intimidated by them.  I feel I’ve lost a lot of my own creativity in adulthood.  I’m ready to embrace my inner maker so I can better serve my community.

If I could make anything, I’d make custom costumes. I love to sew, but am completely self-taught and can only create when using a pattern. Being able to draft patterns would be the coolest skill in my mind. My sketch is of my dream Halloween costume. I’ve always wanted to be Sophie Hatter from Howl’s Moving Castle, but a dress pattern does not exist.....YET!

Makerspaces are judge-free zones. They are areas that provide the foundation for creation (materials, tools, etc.)  without expectations of a “right” or “wrong”. From the activity in The Kickstart Guide to Making Great Makerspaces, I recorded my least memorable learning experience as those with little wiggle room to insert creativity.  Makerspaces, as the video  These high-tech classes are the coolest thing happening in schools today, are “open-ended”. To me, they are an area to explore freely. 

 

If I could make anything right now, I would try my hand at a stop-motion video short, inspired by how I have been watching a certain plum tree take its time blooming near my house all spring and summer; a stop-motion film, compiled from pictures taken with an iPhone or iPad, could capture its slow but beautiful growth as the past months went by.  I can imagine making a coiled wire structure and flexible mesh material to make a base form for the trunk and branches, while brown modeling clay can overlay the wire frame to allow for impressions of bark-like grooves and tree knots.  To create the slow-growing purple blossoms and leaves, I could cut and crazy-glue progressively larger and larger pieces of colorful cardstock paper to eventually cover the branches (Please see the attached sketch.) I could use the Stop Motion Studio app or just my iPhone to record my photo sequence.

 

To me, a makerspace means the intertwining of an engaged, creative mindset for expression and learning within the physical space of a safe, educational environment that empowers all learners to discover, build upon, and act on their innovative, inspired visions by providing collaborative connections, encouragement, and access to material means that support the ambition of their makings.  A makerspace does not impress its makers with expectations, rather individuals bring their own visions into the space and work to craft their ideas into a tangible reality.  I believe Diana Rendina (2015) boils down the key components of a makerspace by saying a makerspace can be defined by “[p]lace… people… make things”; I think the dimensionality of a makerspace, though, is established by how the keeper of a makerspace (the school librarian, from my perspective) accommodates this creative potential, as well as what the makers make of it (n.p.).  I look forward to learning more about how to establish such a welcoming, explorative makerspace during this class.

Something really cool I’d love to make is a “playground” for adults-picture the coolest playground when you were a kid-swings, tunnels, awesome places to climb, bridges, that swirly version of a fireman’s pole you slide, down, etc- but designed with adult sized bodies in mind. An extra five feet off the ground, a little wider of tunnels, slightly more challenging obstacles. I imagine parts of it are made from wood (like some of the best playgrounds ever) and have towers and secret passageways, and I imagine others as the climbing ropes structures that a lot of modern playgrounds have. Extra long swings, different types of relaxing swings, monkey bars that are high enough off the ground that you don't have to bend your body in half to go across. 

 I know there are adventure parks where you can do obstacle courses in trees, but those a) require a harness and can be fairly intense/scary and b) cost money. I’ve worked in a few different schools and at a few different camps, and I never shy away from getting on the equipment with the kids for part of a game if we’re playing something. This oftentimes invites other staff members to also start climbing/participating on the equipment as well. It also has started plenty of conversations about the importance of play, and how freeing it feels to get to climb to the top of the tower or slide down the slide, and the feeling of just doing things because a) you can and b) because they are fun. It invites people to explore and imagine, and have fun, it’s freeing. 

In one of my undergrad classes, one of our assignments was to go home and play for 30 minutes. For the most part, most of our class didn’t-myself included. I took a hobby of my own and said it was playing, and most of my classmates did the same. MY professor was able to tell that we hadn’t really embraced the assignment. The next day she brought in a box of her sons toys-cars, blocks, wind-up toys, dolls, all sorts of random things, and split us up into two groups and sent us out into the hall for thirty minutes to play. It was one of the weirdest, most interesting, and most memorable classroom experiences I’ve ever had. Everyone was really hesitant at first, awkwardly trying to figure out how to get comfortable playing with kids toys with other 20something year olds, but ten minutes in and it felt like indoor recess in the third grade.There was imaginative play, silly fights over certain cars, towns and cities being built, and jokes and laughter.The thirty minutes flew by so fast, and it was weird to go back to class. We had a different energy about us for the rest of the day though, more playful, more open to friendships, we were more understanding of each other. When I think about creating an adult sized playground- I imagine creating a space for an experience like that to happen. Hanging out with friends is one thing, but letting your guard down and just playing is something completely different. 

I think that I would define a makerspace, as a community space dedicated to opening up opportunities for creativity, exploration, tinkering, and play, through a variety of materials. I think that community is vital to a makerspace. In Diana Redina’s article, many of the different makerspace definitions include the word “gather”, and I think that is one of the keys to separating a makerspace from just a personal workshop. The idea of coming together to create, or the shared experience of creating, and creating a community is at the root of a makerspace. 

Please excuse my terrible drawing, I'm truly embarassed by it! If I could make anything it would be a quilted jacket. I took a sewing class in high school and haven’t really sewn much besides masks since but, I have a hoard of fabrics that I have accumulated through the years. There is a pattern that a sewist made for a quilted jacket that would let me use up lots of different fabrics. I follow the hashtag for the pattern name and am always amazed at how beautiful the jackets are and how each person customizes the jacket to fit their style and taste. I am not talented enough to make this pattern and am out of the loop when it comes to reading patterns and special sewing techniques so it would be useful to have a space to play around on the machine and have some guidance from an expert so I can attempt this. 

A makerspace is an interactive learning environment where people share in exploration and discovery to tinker, imagine, and create things.   

* If I could make anything, with the annual approach of ComicCon, I would make an authentic Lady Thor costume. I have never actually cosplayed, so I’d love to “do it right” and make my own costume. This would entail A LOT of skill building and specialized tools. 

* A makerspace is not necessarily a physical space. It can be mobile! A makerspace includes the tools and environment that, as Hatch explains in The Maker Movement Manifesto, “bring[s] about a natural interest in learning” (Hatch, 20, 2014). In order to be an effective makerspace, the space must be designed in a way that promotes collaborative learning. Hatch expands on this idea by saying, “We are not islands. Though there is a time to work in solitude, to focus, to push oneself without distractions, there is also a time, and I daresay most of the time, where it would be better to be working together, or at least sharing a creative space. The warmth of another human in the room or workspace is preferable to working in solitude” (Hatch, 28, 2014). There is no set of tools that define a makerspace. Instead, the collaborators must determine which tools and supplies are needed. Additionally, a makerspace needs inspiration. In the end, a makerspace is any space intentionally designed for collaborators to achieve their common goal: to make!