Having a blog has opened up new conversations with people I would otherwise never encounter, and I’ve really enjoyed the exposure to new ideas. Last year, Karen and I were asked to comment on a person’s choice of avatars. We had to do a bit of research into this area before responding, but we had a lot of fun with it. Recently, I was approached by a group of Canadian journalism students who wanted to know what I thought of “Maker Culture.”
I had to confess that I had never even heard of Makers, but the students kindly forwarded some links that would give me some background. My immediate impression was that the Makers are tapping into some type of biological reward system. Mr. F and I had experienced similar feelings when puttering in our garden–there is something innately satisfying about producing your own food. So in my interview with Mark, I framed the Makers in evolutionary psychology terms. Why do people still enjoy gardening, woodworking, hunting, and fishing when you can buy food and furniture at the local store? Sure, the food is fresh and tasty and handmade crafts are special, but is that the only source of pleasure?
I have to say that the most bizarre example of Making was the mouse mouse–literally a dead mouse converted into a computer mouse, featured on the website Instructables. I may be a psychologist, but the motivation for this one eludes me completely.
Instructables' Mouse Mouse may be taking maker culture a tad far....
The students are beginning to report on their findings, and you can see Mark’s blog post here. If you’d like to learn more about the Makers, follow the Ryerson links above and check these out:
8 Comments
mmoeinaz · November 22, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I just read the article on what the Maker culture is, and it actually seems like a very nice concept with keeping things homemade and simple. I feel like it can be a practical application to how we live our daily lives. However, this mouse mouse is extremely disturbing. When something becomes vulgar, and disrespectful to the poor little mouse, then maybe that Maker culture is bending the definition a bit too much. However, when it comes to keeping things clean and simple, then Makers, go for it! We can even get the brain activated as we are creative and use tactical skills to build things!
Lyaeus · November 24, 2009 at 1:09 am
Hi Laura
Got your kind email and logged in just fine! I think you’re right about the financial aspects of Maker Culture and Edupunk in general. Going fishing can be it’s own reward, but it’s not a full time job. If anything perhaps the Makers and the Punks are just symptomatic of a general ill feeling and impatience toward a slow moving education system, but I kind of hope they don’t sell out in the end. Would be nice to push these boundaries, while also recognising that for many this is still a day job rather than a hobby. Plus you’re right about the benefits of collaboration. I think maybe the next step will be half way: text books still peer reviewed, but opened up online for comments and additions and connections to other works. Which in turn might lead to unexpected new directions. Makers still get to make what they will, but both sides get something. Top of my head here!
Laura Freberg · November 24, 2009 at 8:20 am
Oh, I agree completely with the ongoing, online additions and links. It is frustrating to have to publish in a rapidly moving field like biological psychology, and then not be able to update for 2-3 years. And I would love to see eBooks with added connectivity, within the work, with ancillaries like our animations, and then with original sources and other works. We just have to find a business model that makes all of this happen.
jessie ysunza · November 24, 2009 at 8:54 pm
The maker culture seems to be a very popular trend, along with that of “being green”. I can see it’s ideas as very useful in recycling and making use of things that otherwise may be put to waste. Also, besides the benefits of recycling that one would get out of various projects, I like the idea of making a point against consumerism. American culture is a consumerism culture and it is nice to see a rise in this Maker culture. It is interesting because I never really knew that the whole idea of maker culture really had a title.Of course I would hear of people utilizing resources and what not to the best of their ability, yet never knew a name existed. This gives us a good example, good footsteps to follow and hopefully the maker cultures ideas and practices will be spread to the majority of people out there who havent thought into it much.
khoffert · November 30, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I always knew this sort of thing existed, but I didn’t know it had a name! It is very similar to the “go green” surge that is going on right now, as Jessie noted. It also reminds me of computer hacking or the more real-world relevant “life-hacking,” as friends of mine call it. These are the do-it-yourself alternatives to consumerism and mental decay. It is an attempt to rise above the dependence on department stores and instruction manuals to create a world that is individualized to the Maker.
http://lifehacker.com/
BreehanYohe · November 30, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I can absolutely make sense of this “maker” hypothesis, especially from an evolutionary point of view. We have so much given to us, from our ready-made food supermarkets and restaurants catering to all palettes, which if you had unlimited financial means, would allow you to never have to cook or wash a dish a day in your life, to Web sites like Amazon.com that allow us to order just about any fun thing we want without moving more than a finger a few neurons.
Although the mouse mouse may be offense to some, it is an example of what we were literally made to do (besides reproduce). We evolved from hunter-gatherers who survived by using our neighbors, the unfortunate animals who fell to our spears, to furnish our caves as well as our bodies to keep warm and waterproof. Reverting back to killing a mouse and using it to make something useful should be second nature to those of us who aren’t too disgusted by it. In a word, we were made to be Makers.
Laura Freberg · November 30, 2009 at 5:10 pm
We had a lot of fun this year with our apple tree–we attended pruning class at Cal Poly, and ended up making alarming numbers of pies and containers of applesauce and dried apples, but it was great fun! There’s clearly something different about DIY than buying stuff in a store. I’d really like to build my own computer some day…..
Laura’s Psychology Blog » An Update from the Makers · February 3, 2010 at 2:28 pm
[…] Mark originally asked me to respond to Maker Culture from the point of view of a psychologist, my first reaction is that Making might just tap into some evolutionary sense of pleasure at building one’s own […]
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