Make:cast: Recent Episodes
Dale Dougherty
Make:Cast is a podcast from Make:Community (make.co), producers of Make: Magazine and Maker Faire, and hosted by Dale Dougherty. We are exploring ideas, tools and people behind the maker movement.
Sarah H Chung is the manager of Maker Learning at Center City Public Charter Schools in Washington DC. Sarah shares her journey into maker education, starting with her diverse interests in hobbies and previous positions in teaching computer science and making at Lighthouse Charter Schools in Oakland. She discusses her experience setting up a makerspace during her time in Scandinavia and then moving back to the US. Sarah took a job to develop a new 20,000-square-foot makerspace for this charter school network of five urban schools. She talks about the challenges of integrating making into the curriculum, and her efforts to connect staff and students with maker-centered learning. She emphasizes the importance of experiential learning, community building, and the benefits of fostering creativity and practical skills.
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of Make:cast, host Dale Dougherty is joined by Hannah Hagon, author of "Unplugged Tots," and Brian Jepson, publisher at Raspberry Pi. The discussion centers on Hannah’s new book, which offers screen-free, play-based activities designed to introduce young children to computational thinking and logical problem-solving without the use of computers or coding apps.
Hannah shares her inspiration for the book, rooted in her experiences as a parent seeking ways to bridge the gap between early childhood play and later engagement with technology. The activities in "Unplugged Tots" use everyday household items and focus on concepts like sequencing, pattern recognition, and problem-solving, making them accessible to all families regardless of technical background or resources.
The conversation explores the importance of fostering creativity, resilience, and metacognition in children, emphasizing that learning to think computationally is about more than just coding—it’s about developing a toolkit of skills for the future. The guests also discuss the challenges parents face with screen time and the value of hands-on, collaborative learning experiences.
Promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRFT10ec5A
Coming soon (preorders available):
- Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unplugged-Tots-Introduce-Children-Foundations/dp/1916868223
- Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Unplugged-Tots-Introduce-children-foundations/dp/1916868223
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of Make:cast, Dale Dougherty from Make Magazine chats with Marilyn Nash and Amber Hudson, authors of 'A Maker's Life'. Both of them are former teachers - Marilyn is retired and Ambers works at 1st Makerspace in Indiana. They discuss the impact their book has had on readers, igniting meaningful conversations about the maker mindset among people of all ages. Amber shares the story of how she and Marilyn met and collaborated on the book, which serves as both a personal narrative of Marilyn's life as a maker and a reflective guide for developing makerspaces. They delve into Marilyn's background, influenced by her mother who was a diarist and a creator, and how art and making provided her solace during tough times. They emphasize the importance of self-expression, creativity, and the generational influence of making. The conversation also touches on the educational system's challenges in integrating a maker mindset and its potential to transform learning environments. The authors hope to inspire not just students but also older generations and educators to embrace their identity as makers.
A Maker's Life email: amakerslifebook@gmail.com
A Maker's Life website: amakerslife.org
To purchase the book visit on Amazon: bit.ly/3Ex3tn8
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of Make:cast, host Dale Dougherty speaks with Kirk Pearson, author of 'Electronic Music from Scratch,' and Kevin Toyama, the book's editor. Kirk is a musical experimenter and he encourages others to do the same. Kirk shares his journey from a traditional music background to creating electronic music and building custom instruments. He discusses his workshops, where participants learn to build synthesizers and other electronic instruments. Specific topics include circuit bending, synthesizer design, and the use of capacitors and potentiometers in creating electronic sounds. The conversation also touches on the challenges of translating workshop experiences into a book and the collaborative process with the book's illustrator, Maisie Byerly. Kirk also mentions his other projects, including a new album and a show called 'Radio Pacific.' The episode highlights the intersection of creativity, music, and DIY electronics.
To buy Kirk's book, visit Maker Shed https://www.makershed.com/products/make-electronic-music-print
Check out Dogbotic Labs. https://dogbotic.com
https://make.co/make-cast/
This is the keynote talk I gave at the Trenton Computer Festival 2025 at the end of March. The theme of the festival was Fun with Technology and I talked about how Make and Maker Faire have been dedicated to people who have fun with technology. I slightly edited this talk to remove references to the slides I used in the talk.
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of Make:cast, Dale Dougherty is joined by Ken Kahn, author of 'The Learner's Apprentice: AI and the Amplification of Human Creativity,' and Sylvia Martinez, co-author of 'Invent to Learn.' Ken discusses his experience in AI from his high school days to MIT's AI Lab and his journey into integrating AI into children's programming tools. Sylvia sheds light on the importance of empowering children with modern tools and technology. The discussion centers on creative uses of AI in education, including creating web apps and historical dialogues using chatbots, personalized learning, and the impact of AI in the classroom. This insightful conversation aims to inspire educators, parents, and students to adopt AI creatively and constructively.
00:39 Ken Kahn's Journey into AI
02:15 Sylvia Martinez's Background and Publishing Journey
03:17 AI's Role in Education
03:49 Ken's Book and Its Audience
06:44 Practical Applications of AI in the Classroom
08:08 Interactive Learning with AI
19:54 Personalized Learning with AI
22:30 Creative Uses of AI in Education
28:19 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
To learn more about the book, visit https://cmkpress.com/product/learners-apprentice/
https://make.co/make-cast/
Dale Dougherty discusses the launch and evolution of Make: Magazine, a DIY technology publication, since its inception in February 2005. The conversation includes insights from original team members Mark Frauenfelder, Dave Albertson, Shawn Connolly, and Paul Spinrad, as well as current editor-in-chief Keith Hammond. The magazine, launched amidst a declining print industry, aimed to share project instructions and inspire readers to engage in DIY activities. The first issue showcased a kite aerial photography project by Cris Benton, exemplifying ingenious solutions like using popsicle sticks and a Silly Putty Viscous Timer. They reminisced about early decision-making, the importance of design, challenges in documenting projects, and how the community's growth influenced by Maker Faires. The script highlights the magazine's impact on the maker movement, transitioning into various mediums and reflecting on personal anecdotes from team members over the years. The call ends with updates on their current pursuits and the lasting significance of Make: Magazine.
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of Make:Cast, Dale Dougherty interviews Ellie Weinstein, founder and CEO of Cocoa Press, a company that manufactures 3D printers that print chocolate. Ellie discusses her 10-year journey from a high school project to launching the second model of her Cocoa Press printer. The discussion highlights her background in mechanical engineering, her experience with 3D printing, and the challenges of creating a unique product that combines technology and confectionery. Ellie also shares her experiences at Maker Faire, the difficulties of manufacturing in the US vs. China, and the significant milestones in developing and marketing her chocolate 3D printers. She explains how the company grew, the hurdles she faced, and the innovative culture and community support that are central to Cocoa Press.
https://make.co/make-cast/
In this episode of MakeCast, Dale Dougherty interviews Steph Piper, a creative technologist from Queensland, Australia. They discuss her Maker Queen website, her Skill Trees project, and her new book, Skill Seeker Maker Edition. Steph shares insights into her role at a university library makerspace, her electronics kits for kids, and her GlowStitchLEDs project. The conversation also covers the development and application of skill trees as a tool for self-directed learning and maker engagement, as well as the importance of community in makerspaces.
00:00 Introduction to Steph Piper and Skill Trees
01:32 Steph Piper's Journey and Maker Queen
02:59 Library Makerspace and Hands-On Learning
08:45 The Concept and Development of Skill Trees
20:57 Fun Projects and Final Thoughts
Book: http://makershed.com/skillseeker
https://make.co/make-cast/
"Tinkering is a fun way to learn about the world around you," says Ryan in his new book, 'The Tinkering Workshop,' which promotes creativity and playful experimentation with everyday materials for families, children, and educators.
I've known Ryan for many years from when he worked at The Exploratorium's Tinkering Studio. Ryan will be at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend where he will organize hands-on workshops and talk about his book.
https://make.co/make-cast/
Dale Dougherty interviews Camila and Diego Luna of Moonmakers at the Fab 24 conference in Puebla, Mexico. Moonmakers is an educational non-profit focused on promoting science, technology, STEAM education, and the maker movement. They share their journey from starting with robotics and participating in international competitions, to creating content and resources for teachers and students. They highlight the importance of peer-to-peer learning and the challenges faced by the maker community in Mexico. They also discuss their involvement in the Fab 24 conference, showcasing workshops and the importance of breaking language barriers in STEAM education.
https://make.co/make-cast/
Chad Orcutt created Community Shop Class in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, California. What started out as the ADHD Inventor's Club in his garage grew into a new space, unlike any makerspace you've seen. He saw it as way to help people, particularly neurodivergent people like himself, learn to use tools safely. He's built a shop class for people who never had shop class.
http://makezine.com
Jenny Young is a mechanical engineer who founded Brooklyn Robot Factory thirteen years ago and introduced it at World Maker Faire in NYC to bring hands-on learning experiences to kids in schools and afterschool programs. Her company has evolved into a franchise business where they train and equip others to provide hands-on classes. Jenny says: "I'm not selling kits; I'm selling a service."
http://makezine.com
Matt Zigler is the author of a new book for educators titled "3 Modes of Making." He talks about imitation, modification and innovation as three different modes of student projects, which can develop different maker skills. Matt is an artist and educator who has been running the makerspace at Bullis, an independent school in the DC area. He brings a background in art and creative practice to the makerspace and his school. it's not that every student is going to be an artist but every student should develop a creative practice, regardless of subject or area of interest.
https://open.substack.com/pub/makered/p/maker-clubs-classes-and-hubs
Print - https://www.makershed.com/products/3-modes-of-making-print
PDF - https://www.makershed.com/products/make-three-modes-of-making-pdf
For a transcript, go to: https://makezine.com/article/education/making-as-a-creative-practice/
http://makezine.com
Trying to repair almost anything can be a frustrating exercise. Repair is made more difficult by the way devices are designed and the ability to repair a device could be improved greatly if different design decisions were made. This moment in time demands a new generation of designers, engineers and makers to consider how to make products that can be more easily and safely repaired by more people.
My guest on this episode is Jude Pullen, a creative technologist from the UK. "What's really exciting, both about technology and creativity, is putting them side by side and seeing why we do things and considering what we can do given the capabilities of technology and our own imagination." Pullen's curiosity about why he couldn't easily replace the batteries in his headphones led him to explore the reasons why repair has become even more difficult over time. He wrote a multi-part series called "The Fight For Repair" on Design Spark.
https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/the-fight-to-repair-intro
The global Right to Repair movement was a subject we featured in Make: Magazine Volume 80 last year, The War on Repair.
For a transcript, video and photos, check out the companion article on Makezine:
https://makezine.com/article/electronics/design_to_repair/
http://makezine.com
This episode features an interview with the authors of a new book titled "AI Robots." which includes Reade Richard, Andy Forest, Brenda Shivanandan and Denzel Edwards. The book is designed to teach kids how to build AI-powered projects using hands-on activities and coding. The authors discuss the different sections of the book, which include physical build, electronics, coding with Micro:bit, and adding AI capabilities. They emphasize the importance of integrating different subjects, such as STEM, in a project-based way. The book aims to empower students and parents to explore AI technology and learn how to use it responsibly.
https://www.makershed.com/products/make-ai-robots-print
http://makezine.com
My guest on this episode of Make:cast is Jim Sweeney, the treasurer of NoVA Labs, a community makerspace in northern Virginia. Jim talks honestly about the challenges of growing a makerspace. With 700 members and many programs for young makers in the community, NoVA Labs has a bold vision of what a makerspace can be and Jim is determined to realize that vision in his community. NoVA Labs is thriving with plans to host a Maker Faire against next spring.
http://makezine.com
A conversation between Dale Dougherty, the founder of Make Magazine and Maker Faire, and Brian Wagner, an educator, coder, and maker. Brian Wagner talks about his life as a maker from his first encounter with computers to his current career in teaching and creating a how-to-code video course. They discuss his early fascination with computers, transitioning into engineering and teaching, his experiences in founding a hackerspace, and his efforts in introducing youngsters to coding. Brian emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset and talks about the connection between making and coding, indicating both to be essential skills. He also shares his experience about launching his own online platform "Coding with Mr Wagner".
http://makezine.com
Chris Walker dropped out of Dartmouth and became a Thiel Fellow in 2013. He had an idea for a math video game that was inspired by the TI 84 graphing calculator. He tried creating an educational video game studio but it didn't work out. He joined Hack Club, a student-led educational intiative that started teaching coding but has branched out. Hack Club's founder, Zach Latta, was also a Thiel Fellow.
Chris started Castle Bravo as a personal project -- with the idea of turning a bouncy castle into a boat -- a motorized floating bouncy castle. He's now working with young people to create a solar-powered version. Chris will bring the current version to Maker Faire Bay Area
http://makezine.com
Donnell Layne and Jason Kennedy developed the iMAKE Innovation Center Makerspace at Moreno Valley College in Southern California, an Hispanic-serving community college. They talk about developing the space to meet the needs of students and faculty as well as the broader community. They also see it as a space that is growing into the future, just like the students.
iMAKE Innovation Center- https://mvc.edu/student-support/academic-support/innovation-center.php
Moreno Valley College - https://www.mvc.edu/
http://makezine.com
My guests on this episode are the authors of Make Trigonometry, Build Your Way from Triangles to Analytic Geometry, Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron. Make Trigonometry is the third math book that Joan and Rich have written with us, the previous books being Make Geometry and Make Calculus.
Joan calls herself a recovering rocket scientist. In that career, she worked on spacecraft headed to distant planents. Her co-author, Rich, has a very different background as an open source developer who has been involved in 3D printing since its emergence in the maker community.
Together they have come up with a way to teach math using 3D models that turn math into a hands-on learning experience for students.
Book: https://www.makershed.com/products/make-trigonometry-print
Visit Makezine.com for photos and a video of some of the objects discussed in this podcast.
https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/trig-the-oldest-practical-math/
http://makezine.com
Assemble is a leading example of a community-oriented creative space focused on the needs of youth, providing summer and afterschool programming that is fun, expressive and personal. Nina Barbuto is the founder and director of Assemble, which serves youth and adults in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Starting and growing a community makerspace is hard, but Nina has persisted in building out this creative space and its programs since 2011.
Before starting Assemble, Nina graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in architecture and she got her master's at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI -Arc). While in LA, she was inspired by the creative space, Machine Project, that was developed by Mark Allen. And when she returned to Pittsburgh, she did odd jobs and such while she reached out to people in the community to join her in making and creating Assemble.
Links:
https://make.co/educationforum
http://makerfaire.com/bay-area/
https://assemblepgh.org
http://makezine.com
Daniel Brateris is Director of Experiential Learning at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey. We talk about the practice of hands on learning and its value to students in engineering.
Daniel was responsible for building out the manufacturing and makerspace facilities at NJIT. We talk about the social value of these spaces that bring students together to collaborate and also form friendships. Plus, he is seeing that the kinds of things you learn to do in a makerspace can make students stand out in the job market.
Dale Dougherty talks to Michael Stone of the Public Education Foundation of Hamilton County in southeast Tennessee. Michael is responsible to developing a network of 34 Fab Labs in K-12 schools with more to come next year. In this conversation, Michael talks about making as authentic learning, involving real problems and solutions, and which leads to authentic assessment.
00:00 Authentic Learning and Making
02:09 Michael's Background
03:54 Stumbling into Fab Labs
05:46 From Master Teacher to Master Learner
07:57 Coaching
12:06 Authentic Assessment
18:44 Expanding from one school to many
20:21 Pioneers and Settlers
26:37 Blending Personalized Fabrication and Personalized Learning
Make: Education Forum for maker educators will be held online on September 22-23. For more information, visit https://make.co/educationforum
Rose Hedges of UnityPoint Health in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Anna Young of Maker Health join me to talk about how a makerspace on the first floor of a hospital has created opportunities for nurses and other medical staff to prototype solutions to problems they encounter in their jobs. Rose is a nurse and manages the makerspace called Generate Lab. She is also organizing a Maker Faire at the hospital makerspace on May 17th. Anna and Rose provide insights into a bottom-up innovation process that is very different from the way the medical system normally works.
Galen Powers is a multi-faceted person: a maker and an inventor who has been successful in business. He credits his success to working with people who are passionate about their craft.
In this conversation, Galen talks about growing up in rural California, learning about plastics and engineering graphics in high school and then figuring out how to get a job doing something useful. He talks about his many jobs, and how we came to get patents on the fabrication of eyeglasses.
Joining the conversation is Jeff Johnson, who is with ChatLab in Chattanooga Tennesee and a friend of Galen's. Together, they were part of the founding of LVL1 makerspace in Louisville Kentucky.
Galen talks about finding talent in makerspaces and helping them find jobs -- and he doesn't quite understand why some makers aren't interested in making money. He also has his own way of interviewing job candidates, asking them to bring and talk about a portfolio of their work as well as a hobby that is connected to their career. He's accomplished quite a bit with 37 patents to his name but no college degree. I see Galen as a kind of valuable prototype of a person, which I wish we knew how to create more of.
I enjoyed this conversation with Galen for many reasons, as you'll see.
Organizer David Caulkins and Combat Robot Legend Ray Billings talk about the return of Robogames, which takes place at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton CA on April 9th through 12th, 2023.
Robogames is the world's largest robot competition with over 54 different events -- everything from tiny little Rubik's cube-sized Sumo robots that act autonomously to humanoids that play soccer. The big thing is always the 250-pound robots in our 40 foot by 40 foot, 130,000 pound arena.
When I asked David Caulkins towards the end of this interview, how he was able to bring back, Robogames after a four-year absence, he said that his arena was so badly damaged in 2018 that he couldn't continue but an anonymous contestant offered to put up $1M to bring back Robogames.
David is also joined by Ray Billings who has been competing in combat robot events for 22 years. His robot "Last Rites" was a previous winner at Robogames, and this year he'll be featuring "The Mortician," which is another variation of the offset horizontal spinner. Ray gives some great advice to those thinking about competing in combat robots: "start small", advice which no one seems to follow.
Maks Volin wanted to build a better, faster printer that was also quieter. He set out building the Voron printer in his garage but he ended up deciding that he didn't want to run a 3D printer company. So, he open sourced his work and invited others to collaborate with him. That's how Maks came to launch Voron Design, an innovation community pushing the limits of what 3D printers can do.
In this episode, I asked Maks Zolin to tell the story behind Voron Design.
Maker and educator, Debra Ansell is my guest on this episode of Make:cast. She is obsessed with orbs -- colorful, LED orbs and she shows us how to build a brightly lit orb in the new issue of Make Magazine. Debra and I talk about the process of developing her orb project. She also talks about her LED pillows based on the Pixel Blaze controller, as well as an LED neck pendant, both of which have been featured in Make Magazine. She volunteers in schools, teaching kids to code using MicroBit. She is as bright as her many LED creations.
A lot of makers struggle to learn CAD. Why is this keystone piece of software such a challenge to learn? This is what I talk about with Jake Sugden and Josh Manley, who are the teachers of CAD Class at cadclass.org. Jake and Josh met at Urban Workshop in Costa Mesa, California, a professional makerspace where they had a lot of opportunity to see people struggling to learn CAD. They have put together an online 12-week class for those who want to learn CAD along with others.
Microsoft's Bryce Johnson and John Helmes Join Make: Editor Caleb Kraft to talk about creating adaptive devices that can be customized, hacked and modded easily by makers using 3D printers as well as the people with disabilities who use them. Bryce Johnson works at the Inclusive Tech Lab at Microsoft who is one of the co-inventors of the Xbox Adaptive Controller and the Surface Adaptive Kit. John Helmes is an industrial designer at Microsoft who began creating and customizing devices for his daughter, Jara, who has cerebral palsy to help her interact with a PC. His work has led to Microsoft Adaptive Accessories, which allows users to adapt devices using 3D printed parts. Make: editor Caleb Kraft has his own side project, The Controller Project, that he and volunteers around the world 3D print accessories for free for people to be able to game. Bryce, John and Caleb have a fascinating conversation about how these capabilities are changing lives.
Links
Microsoft
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controller
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/accessible-adaptive-devices-accessories
Other organizations:
www.makersmakingchange.com
Ablegamers.com
www.thecontrollerproject.com
Specialeffect.org.uk
The world needs more maker microfactories and I wonder if Santa might be interested in learning more about them from Tim Keller, the head of Inventopia in Davis CA, my guest on this episode.
A maker microfactory is a kind of makerspace that focuses on the needs of startups and individual entrepreneurs who are creating prototypes for a business. Keller started Inventopia because he wanted such a space to work. Now, with his proximity to UC Davis, he offers space and equipment for all kinds of startups, particularly in bio-manufacturing for food and medicine.
Jasmine Florentine has her BS/MS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering. She's worked at FIRST Robotics designing play fields for robotic competitions. She's written a new book to explain making and STEM to middle-schoolers. The book, Hex Allen and the Clanksmiths, is part fantasy and part hands-on projects. Jasmine is driven to connect young people to STEM, not just as a field of study, but a field where they can apply their creativity as well as intelligence. She believes if more kids knew what STEM really was, they'd think it offered something for everyone -- a no-brainer.
Dorothy Jones-Davis has been Executive Director of Nation of Makers for six years. She recently announced that she is leaving to join the KID Museum in Bethesda Maryland as Chief Impact Officer. In this episode, we talk about how Nation of Makers got started, some of its accomplishments and where it might go. I also asked Dorothy how working in this role has changed her as a person as well as in her career.
Jason Pohl calls himself a "pretengineer" because he's self-taught. Trained as artist, his design work has taken him from creating video games to actually designing and fabricating parts for Orange County Choppers. Jason moved into CAD design and working with CNC machines. He has boundless energy and enthusiasm as someone who is doing what he always wanted to do -- make things that are real. And it just might have been a high school art teacher who pointed him in the direction he would follow. She told him that all the things around him have been designed by someone and he could be that person.
Meet the winners of this year's Amazing Maker Awards. Our top winners come from the US and Canada, Turkey, Japan, and Germany and they are as young as 14. Their projects represent social impact, art, technical achievement and education. This is an audio recording of our October 4 Live Showcase in which I talked to our top winners about their projects.
I'd like you to meet Amy Zell - mother, librarian, grief counselor, and maker. In this episode, she talks about the power of making to change things, to change people. She credits Casey Shea, a Sonoma County maker educator with telling her about "maker empowerment" at the Fab Institute in Pittsburgh in 2018. She understood "maker empowerment" to mean the wherewithal to change things through making, and she applied it to her own life to move forward after suffering the loss of her son. Now she works with others who have experienced loss and trauma and she is weaving making into mental health practices. Frankly, I don't want to summarize her story here because you should really hear it from her.
I can't think of a better way to explain to educators and parents how making changes lives than to hear Amy tell her moving story in her own words. For this conversation with Amy Zell, which took place this summer, I was joined by Casey Shea.
Authors of the new book, Make: Calculus, Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron talk about using Legos and 3D printed models to create visualizations that help anyone learn calculus. After we talk about the book, Joan and Rich show some of the models that demonstrate Lotka Volterra equations, for instance. You might prefer to see that portion as a video, which is available at: https://youtu.be/a0v4fUSFl2U
For a transcript and additional info, go to https://makezine.com/article/education/a-better-way-to-learn-calculus/
Make: Education Forum link: https://make.co/educationforum/
Susie Frazier created the Maker Town app for makers and artists working in Cleveland and Northern Ohio so that more people can find them and learn about what they make. Susie is a maker, creator and artist. Her own journey led her to Cleveland, Ohio, where she began developing her own functional and decorative art, working with stone and then organic materials. She hosted a TV show. Then she wrote a book called "Designing for Wellness." Through the pandemic. Susie realized that many people who made things were struggling to sell them and she wanted to help people find them. Susie Frazier wants to foster a local maker economy where makers are found and valued by members of their own community.
A refugee from TechShop in SF, Ryan Spurlock took what he learned there and applied it to a new makerspace called Humanmade located in the design district of San Francisco. Two things stand out about this makerspace. One is how it was funded: a local developer whom the City required to set aside funding for community development worked with Ryan to locate space and build it out. Second, Humanmade has worked with the City of San Francisco to establish a Next Generation Advanced Manufacturing training program.
Maker Faires are slowly coming back. After not happening for two years, Maker Faire Long Island took place in June at Port Jefferson Village's Explorium. Everybody was happy to come back. said co-producers of Maker Faire Long Island, Angeline Judex and Lisa C. Rodriguez. Angeline is the Explorium's Executive Director and Lisa is in digital media marketing for the science center. They share that with the makers back and families gathered, the magic was back.
Tyler Kerr runs the Innovation Wyrkshop, a makerspace at the University of Wyoming. During COVID, state officials saw the potential for makerspaces in vocational rehab and developing skills in local communities. And so they are funding the build out of a network of makerspaces throughout the state.
Tyler and his students set out to build a safety pass, the Maker Access Pass that would allow students to be trained in one makerspace and work with machines in another makerspace. He believes that having standardized safety training as courses is important and he'd like to share this work with other makerspaces around the country.
For more info, see https://makezine.com/2022/06/09/wyomings-maker-access-pass/.
For info about Maker Access Pass, see https://www.makeraccesspass.com/
Makey Makey, a creative platform for children of all ages, turned 10 years old this month. In this episode, we talk with Jay Silver, the creative technologist behind the platform, and Jay Melican, formerly of Intel who runs the business. Jay Silver talks about creative play and learning, and the community that has grown up around Makey Makey.
DIY lifer Gareth Branwyn has compiled a new volume of his series, Tips and Tales of the Workshop, Volume 2. He joins Dale Dougherty to talk about how he collects tips — asking a person directly to share a tip is not very productive. He shares some of his favorite tips he has found. He talks about the aspirational quality of tips, how picking up an idea from someone can help us become better. Learn more about Frankenstein prototyping, that things aren’t perfect in the vaults of a Gothic Cathedral and that details layer one on top of another.
For more info:
https://makezine.com/2022/05/09/shop-talk-and-tips-with-gareth-branwyn/
Julie Darling, author/educator/librarian, talks her book "Social-Emotional Learning Using Makerspaces and Passion Projects: Step by Step Projects and Resources for Grades 3-6". She is a Media Specialist at A2 Steam in Ann Arbor, CA. We talk about getting fidgety kids engaged and excited. She explains that a Makerspace can be a creative place for students and an opportunity to develop social-emotional learning, which are both personal and social skills.
Mike Senese has been the Executive Editor for Make: for almost nine years. He started on volume 36 and leaves now after wrapping up issue 81. Mike joins Dale Dougherty to talk about his experiences at Make: and Maker Faire, as well as working with the maker community. See ya soon, Mike Senese.
Determination seems like the best word to describe the collective response of Ukrainians as they fight for their country, for their home and their freedom. One month ago, I spoke with Yuri Vlasyuk and Svitlana Bovkun who live in Kyiv. That was the day Russia invaded Ukraine. I knew them because they were producers of Maker Faire in Ukraine. I wanted to find out how they are doing and what the maker community was doing during the war. A month later, one month into the war, we talked again to find how determined they are to do anything they can to help others and resist the invasion.
For video and other info:
https://makezine.com/2022/03/25/determination-makers-in-ukraine/
To donate to makers in Ukraine, go to https://makerhub.org/support.
You might say that CNC is like a stepchild in the digital fabrication family, not the friendliest or easiest tool to get to know in the maker-space. Yet CNC is not something that most makers should be afraid of, especially as new software allows you to see in simulation what the CNC machine is going to do before you press go. In this episode, I'm joined by Anne Filson and Gary Rohrbacher, co-authors of Design for CNC. Both are professors of Architecture at the University of Kentucky and creators of AtFAB. @AtFAB_co @Fil_Ro @dalepd @make
https://makezine.com/2022/03/21/fearless-cnc/
http:atfab.co
My guest on this episode is Wayne Seltzer who is lifelong fixer himself. He started the U-Fix-It Clinic in Boulder, Colorado to help others learn to fix things. Wayne helped put the "you" in Fixit Clinics, making sure they empowered people to learn to do the repairs themselves rather than having an expert do it for them.
Wayne's article in the current issue shares the story of how he started his own repair business one summer in New Jersey. You'll get to know Wayne and his life story from the kid doing repairs in the summer to an MIT student, to a Bell Labs intern to working at Sun Microsystems.
Now retired Wayne is a technologist in residence at the "Blow Things Up" lab in the Atlas Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We talk about waffle irons, battery powered, lawn mowers, clogged vacuums, overheated hairdryers, transistor radios that his father worked on to digital radios that have become disabled by their manufacturers and all kinds of things that might be thrown into landfills when they could be repaired and reused.
https://www.boulderufixitclinic.org/home
https://makezine.com/2022/03/04/share-the-repair-with-wayne-seltzer/
Charles Helmholdt of Grand Rapids, Michigan designed and built a Kiddy Copter, based on the Bell 47 helicopter from the M.A.S.H TV series. In this episode of Make:cast, we talk about the how and why to build this ride for kids. What does stand out is that Charles likes to build things and he does it with and for his family. Kiddy Copter first appeared in Make: V76 in a Made on Earth article written by Mike Senese.
A companion article to this video is available at: https://makezine.com/2022/02/23/kiddy-copter---a-family-affair/. It has links to video version, a transcript and a 100-page documentation of the Kiddy Copter build by Charles Helmholdt.
William Gurstelle is the author of many popular technical books, including Backyard Ballistics and the three-volume Remaking History. He has been a contributor of projects to Make: Magazine, and currently writes the Remaking History column, which features a historical invention that you can recreate at home. For the last three years, Bill has been enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota, studying the history of science and technology. The concept of maker's knowledge comes the history of science and represents the idea that the maker of something comprehends how it works better than anyone else.
For links and a full transcript, visit: https://makezine.com/2022/02/03/makers-knowledge/
Over nine years ago, Raspberry PI was created by a small team, led by Eben Upton as a kind of academic side project. This single board computer was a PC without a keyboard, a monitor, any kind of enclosure, an inexpensive board that could be connected to power and other USB devices. It was completely open to whatever you wanted to do with. Raspberry Pi has had big impact by going small.
For Volume 79 of Make: Magazine, our board's issue, Executive Editor, Mike Senese talked to Eben Upton of the Raspberry PI Foundation. They mostly talk about the technical details of the new Raspberry Pi's.
An edited transcript of the interview, which was published in Make: Vol 79, is linked here:
https://makezine.com/2021/10/27/eben-upton-raspberry-pi-exciting-year-new-pi-zero-2-w/
This preview of Respiracon II (January 29-30) features Robert Read of Public Invention and Leith Greenslade of the Every Breath Counts Coalition. They are starting a conversation around open source medical devices and how makers can work more productively when the next pandemic or other emergency happens.
Link to Respiracon II: https://www.pubinv.org/respiracon_ll/
Julie Legault and Dr. Justin Pahara are the Canadian co-authors of "Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero," a hands-on guide to biotech experiments for the classroom, home and makerspace. Justin, a Cree scientist-entrepreneur with a PhD in biotechnology from University of Cambridge, lives on a farm in southern Alberta. Julie is a graphic designer from Montreal and an entrepreneur with a degree from MIT Media Lab. Together they started AminoLabs and wrote this book on experimenting safely and ethically with genetic engineering.
Photos and URLs available at https://makezine.com/2021/12/16/leveraging-biology-to-make-things/.
FabLab ICC is located at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas. It's a small town of less than 10,000 people in southeast Kansas. Yet for a town of that size, FabLab ICC with 15,000 sq.ft. of space is large. Jim Correll is the Director of FabLab ICC and Tim Haynes is the Manager. They are my guests on this episode to talk about how their FabLab serves not just students, but also the community at large. Two of their programs are the Food Fab Lab and a Guitar Fab Factory. All of this you can find out by reading their newsletter, FabLab BLAB.
Links: https://www.fablabicc.org/
Transcript with images at: https://makezine.com/2021/11/23/the-biggest-makerspace-in-a-town-of-10000-or-less/
Making stuff, engaging in some form of material practice, is essential for students who are to become innovators, says Dr. Ann-Louise Davidson. She is an Associate Professor of Education and Concordia University Research Chair in Maker Culture in Montréal, Canada. She is the Director of the Concordia University Innovation Lab. She is also Associate Director of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology and she directs #MilieuxMake, the Milieux makerspace initiative. Her work focuses on maker culture, social innovation, inclusion and innovating with advanced pedagogical approaches and digital technologies. She has also created the children's book, Amber the Maker, which tells the story of a young amputee who learns that she can create a better prosthetic to help her compete in swimming, and she can do this at a makerspace.
nt State University, the Design Innovation Hub is a central resource on campus that provides makespace access and connects to the other makerspaces on campus. What is unique is its focus on fashion, design and art. In this episode, I talk to J.R. Campbell who is the Executive Director of the Design Innovation Initiative and Andrea Oleniczak who manages the hub. Campbell believes that a makerspace provides the on-ramps and off-ramps for a student to explore their interests outside of major. Oleniczak sees the opportunity to create an ecosystem that includes the larger community outside the school.
Makerspaces are becoming a fixture on college campuses. In this episode, the first of a series of conversations with the people who manage makerspaces at the Best Maker Schools in higher ed, we talk with two people involved in makerspaces at the University of Maryland, College Park. Rick Blanton manages Terrapin Works at the Clark School of Engineering. Dr. Bill Pugh is a retired professor of computer science who established the Singh Family Sandbox makerspace in a new computer science building, built with a donation from the founders of Oculus. Last year, a group of makerspace leaders on campus formed the Makerspace Initiative and began sharing knowledge and safety training protocols. They produced the 2021 Makerspace Impact report, which can be found at:
https://makerspace.umd.edu/
https://makezine.com/best-maker-schools-2021-from-make-and-newsweek/
Photos and transcript can be found at: https://makezine.com/2021/10/21/best-maker-schools-university-of-maryland/
Charles Platt, the bestselling author of Make: Electronics, talks about his background as a writer and how he wanted to explain electronics through hands-on demonstrations and full-color diagrams in his Make: Electronics book, which is coming out in a Third Edition. It's a book he wished he'd had as a kid.
https://www.makershed.com/products/make-electronics-3rd-edition-print
I met Dr. Steve M. Potter at Maker Faire Atlanta, which was hosted by Georgia Tech, where Dr. Potter was a professor of neuroengineering. His experience at Maker Faire led him to take a maker sabbatical and explore makerspaces around the world. He has written a book for educators, "How to Motivate Your Students to Love Learning". The book emphasizes engaging students in real-world problems. In this conversation, we explore how Steve became a scientist, maker and teacher.
Make: Education Forum - https://make.co/educationforum
"How to Motivate Your Students to Love Learning" book - https://stevempotter.tech/my-book/
A tool roll is a way to store all kinds of things that you might want to carry with you. Parker Thomas has created a customizable toll roll called the Tego Adventure Kit and it more kit than an end product. You can decide which kind of pouches or pockets suit you and what you want to carry with you. In this episode, Parker shares how this idea came to him, how he got it made and how he cultivated a community around it that added to his original idea and helped make the product better.
Kickstarter: Tego Adventure Kit - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tashtego/tego-roll-and-go-travel-bag?utm_medium=article&utm_source=dale&utm_campaign=
Transcript and photos: https://makezine.com/2021/08/12/making-customizable-tool-rolls/
Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron, authors of Make: Geometry, explain how to use 3D models to teach geometry, which can help students visualize and grasp the basic shapes. Joan describes herself as a recovering rocket scientist who worked at JPL. Rich was an early RepRap 3D printer enthusiast. Together they have created a practical, hands-on approach to teaching geometry. Make: Books editor, Patrick DiJusto talks to Joan and Rich.
My guest is Victor Hwang, who organized the Right to Start movement that seeks to open doors for more people to become entrepreneurs and create an ecosystem in America that supports entrepreneurial activity. After many years leading entrepreneurship efforts at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Victor started his own organization built around the belief that becoming an entrepreneur is a fundamental right that anyone can exercise. In this episode, we talk about the four-decade decline in entrepreneurial activity in the US, how the pandemic has caused a spike in new businesses and why it can be a good time to get started. He also talks about a policy proposal that 5% of economic development funds, which usually go to support large companies, be instead redirected to supporting entrepreneurs. America -- and the world -- needs more people who try, who experiment, who start something that didn't already exist.
https://www.righttostart.org/
Transcript: https://makezine.com/2021/07/27/the-5-solution-for-right-to-start/
Debra Daun's superpower is fixing broken machines, such as 3D printers. She runs the MakerLab at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois. She has figured out that she can get used and abused machines that have been returned to Amazon. She bids for them at auction and then repairs them or adds the odd parts to her boneyard. She's been able to add more machines that she uses to teach students 3D printing in the makerspace. The more broken the machine, she says, the happier she is.
Photos and transcript available at: https://makezine.com/2021/07/19/fixing-broken-machines-from-the-amazon-return-bin/
Lydia Sloan Cline is the author of Fusion 360 for Makers, which is out in a new second edition. She teaches 3D design and fabrication at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, where she began as a drafting professor with a degree in Architecture. Patrick DiJusto, Make: Books editor, interviews Lydia in this episode. They talk about using generative design, a way of telling software what you to build and have it present you with multiple design options. She also talks about how 3D printing first came into the community college where she taught drafting and how it became an aid for students visualizing objects. She encourages her students to learn 3D design and thinks it can be valuable for anyone to learn.
In 2020, Dr. Andreea Gorbatai and two co-authors published a research paper in the journal Organization Science titled: "Making Space for Emotions: Empathy, Contagion, and Legitmacy's Double-Edged Sword." It's about the maker movement and what holds it together. It turns out, it's not skills and tools as much as it is emotions and empathy -- they are the glue for community.
Dr. Gorbatai is a professor in the management department at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Growing up in Romania, she is a sociologist by training and she is particularly interested in studying "new forms of organizations and organizing." Her "Making Space for Emotions" paper looks at how a new field of endeavor starts with a core community and then struggles to maintains its connections and coherence as it grows. As it becomes more popular or recognized, a process called legitimation, more people are exposed to it and the community grows but at the expense of losing some of its less coherence. This is the double-edged sword that the paper refers to.
Her own interest in the maker movement led her to use it as a case study. She wondered what role Maker Faire played in maintaining those connections in the community and inviting more people to understand makers and participate. She believes that having a shared emotional experience is what connects people to each other and the community. "What happens at Maker Faires that revitalizes the maker community and brings people together into a shared maker identity?" was one of her research questions. Her answer is that being a maker is less about credentials and accomplishments and more about how you feel about yourself, your projects and the stories that you share with others who realize, in turn, that they have stories of their own to share.
Link to research paper: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2020.1387
Transcript: http://www.makezine.com/2021/07/01/emotion-and-empathy-are-glue-for-makers/
In episode #22 of Make:cast, I learn about the new building for Fab Lab Tulsa from its Executive Director, Nathan Pritchett. The new building is under development and scheduled to open in 2022. The project had started well before COVID-19 but has stayed on track even during the pandemic. Overall, the future of Fab Lab Tulsa is bright. "I'm just really bullish on the future of fab labs and maker spaces," said Nathan. Tulsa has a lot of talent in the community but the makerspace needed more resources to keep up. "We started looking at what the right size facility would be for us and for our community," said Nathan.
See more at https://makezine.com/2021/06/07/making-and-thinking-big-in-tulsa/
Like many of us during Covid-19, Benjamin Cabé was baking sourdough bread at home in France. He wondered how he might tell if his dough was done proofing. He began working on an artificial nose that uses physical sensors to detect gas but also uses machine learning to identify the smell. His project is on the cover of Make Magazine, v 77. In this conversation, we talk about how his nose works, how it knows what it does and the limits of what it knows.
Links:
About Make Magazine - Vol 77 - https://makezine.com/2021/05/05/announcing-make-vol-77-machine-learning-and-more/
Buy Make Magazine - Vol 77 - https://www.makershed.com/products/make-magazine-volume-77-print
How Burnt food smells - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.728.1596&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Artificial Nose - Github Repo - https://github.com/kartben/artificial-nose
CO2 Tech Guru Guido Burger from Germany joins Dale Dougherty to explain his research into monitoring CO2 and show how to build his CO2 traffic light, which can warn if the level of CO2 is rising. We look at how CO2 sensors work as we go through the hardware and software that make up a CO2 device and graph the data it produces. These are devices that students can learn to build and create a full-featured Internet of Things application.
The CDC recently updated its understanding of the transmission of COVID-19 to focus on spread through aerosols, which are exhaled by people and can be circulated in the air. Larger droplets will fall to the ground, which is why the CDC guidelines emphasized social distancing and masks and avoiding contact. However, these aerosols are much smaller and are airborne much longer. When people gather indoors, proper ventilation is needed to move fresh air into the room and disperse the aerosols.
Monitoring CO2 indoors can be used as an indicator or marker for proper air ventilation. CO2 devices provide information that allows you to take actions to be safe and reduce your risk of exposure to COVID-19. While you can buy commercial CO2 devices, you can build them and deploy them to measure the accumulation of CO2 in a confined space.
A YouTube video of this conversation is available at: https://youtu.be/SZoBHfus1Y8.
You can also find a companion article on the Make: website: https://makezine.com/2021/05/17/the-what-how-and-why-of-co-monitoring/
Make: books editor, Patrick DiJusto talks 3D Printing with the authors of Getting Started with 3D Printing, Liza Wallach Kloski and Nick Kloski. Liza and Nick run HoneyPoint3D, which started in 2012 as a small 3D printing shop in Northern California. Explaining 3D printing to many people was the motivation for them to write this book, whose first edition came out in 2016 and is just now updated in a second edition. This conversation is a chance to look at what's changed in the world of 3D printing over the last ten years. While the hype has died down around 3D printing, there are more people doing 3D printing than ever. During the pandemic, makers demonstrated how you can use 3D printing to do on-demand manufacturing and meet local needs. If you haven't yourself started 3D printing, now is a great time, especially with this practical, hands-on book. The printers are easier to use and the software is easier to learn.
You can buy a copy of the book in print or PDF at https://www.makershed.com/products/make-getting-started-with-3d-printing-2nd-edition-pdf. You can also order the book on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Printing-Hands-Ecosystem-dp-1680456431/dp/1680456431/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
Mark Zalme had an idea how to organize everything in clear jars that could be mounted on pegboard in his garage in Asheville, North Carolina. Over 3-4 years, he developed this idea into a product called WallWerx, a workspace organizing system. In this episode, we talk about Mark's product but we also learn about the process he went through to prototype, manufacture, assemble and distribute that product. This process wasn't easy, and a lot of what happened along the way was unexpected; a lot of trial and error. He is working on finding ways to market this new product. "I've got a lot of high level people telling me this is a viable product," he said. "But I just don't know."
For more info and photos, visit https://makezine.com/2021/04/28/everything-in-its-own-jar/
A new book out April 20 looks at the learning science that Fred Rogers used to develop an understanding of the "inner needs of children" and then construct Mister Rogers' Neighborhood to reflect those needs. The book is called "When You Wonder, You're Learning" and its authors, Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski who are with the Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh, are my guests on this episode of Make:cast. We talk about the ideas behind the work of Fred Rogers and why they are still relevant for today's learners and young makers.
As a result of a $50 million grant to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in 2017, the Maker Library & Innovative Learning Complex of the Future is under construction on campus. The new $17.5 million building will house a makerspace open to all students. The man behind the largest donation ever to RIT is Austin McChord, an entrepreneur from Connecticut who has a surprising success story. In this conversation with him, I learned that he wasn't the best student in high school or college. He had his own ideas, which he worked on while not doing his homework. He started a company after graduating from RIT because he didn't think anyone would hire him. At least the business didn't fail, and ten years later, the company became the first "unicorn" in Connecticut. After selling the business, Austin made the donation to his alma mater. He also started the Norwalk Havoc Robot League (NHRL).
For more background, images and excerpts, visit:
https://makezine.com/2021/04/02/makecast-austin-mcchord-episode-16
"All instruments are inventions and all music is made up -- so make your own using microcontrollers," writes Helen Leigh in Volume 76 of Make Magazine, encouraging people to create and invent musical instruments, as she has.
In this conversation with Helen Leigh, we learn about her upbringing in Wales, how she first learned about electronics at a makerspace in London, why she objects to call herself "self-taught" and her new lab in Portland Oregon. She came from a family that consumed lots of music and her early musical experiences were singing choral music in church in Wales. Her work today still bears the influences of sounds of the high church of her childhood. We talk about why harpsichords went of out fashion and how electronic music got started with pioneers such as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire.
We talk about technology from reel-to-reel tape recorders to synthesizers and to making electronic music with Makey-Makey and the Bela board. Helen is an advocate for people learning how to make their own instruments, to experiment with music and be makers of your own kind of music.
https://makezine.com/2021/03/24/making-new-music-with-helen-leigh
How do you transform ordinary stuff into meaningful things, even beautiful things? How you make things that don't yet exist, something original rather than a copy? That's the topic of this conversation with New York-based industrial designer, Neil Cohen. |"Some of what I do in my work is making something that starts out one way," he says, "And then when you do something to it, it forms into something else or reveals something else."
Neil is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and after college, he got on a motorcycle going around the country to see what products companies were making. After that tour, he working in Steuben glass factory, exploring ideas in glass-making. He has designed toys, which allowed him to play with shrink wrap and make gargoyles out of Alka Seltzer tablets. He talks about how sometimes it's not the banana, but the banana peel that becomes the thing you make. It's not always what you first set out to do; it's what you discover while doing it.
David Lang, author of Zero to Maker and co-founder of OpenROV, recently decided to stop doing what he had been doing and begin looking for something new, looking for his next adventure. During a pandemic, it seems hard to think about your next adventure. Yet I suspect that many are thinking about what’s next, and preparing ourselves for a new challenge. David says it's just as scary this time as it was back when he walked into TechShop not knowing anything about being a maker. He seems to be following his interest in science and how scientists can learn from the maker movement. There is a need to encourage participation by more amateur scientists -- people who do science because it is an adventure, rather than a career. Learn more at: https://makezine.com/makecast-find-your-next-adventure
Jorvon Moss creates companion robots for himself, working nights and weekends. I had run into Jorvon at Maker Faire Bay area as well as at the downtown LA Maker Faire. He always had one of his robot creations on the shoulder. In this interview, I wanted to learn about how he got started making and get to know the person behind the robots and the goggles. He calls himself Odd Jayy on Twitter, because some people might think he was odd, but he and his robots have become quite popular. This interview led to a story I wrote for Make: Magazine (Vol 76), which has Jorvon on the cover. See more at https://makezine.com/
Our current framework for multiple-choice standardized testing is about 20 years old, dating back to legislation signed by President Bush called No Child Left Behind. The name has changed but testing still rules, although it has been disrupted by COVID-19. In this conversation with educators, Pam Moran and Ira Socol, co-authors of Timeless Learning with Chad Ratliff, we discuss how our education system responded to COVID-19 and how students have responded by turning off their cameras. Can we imagine a future where instead of multiple choice tests, schools offer students multiple and different ways to learn?
As a maker, San Diego-native Scott Swaaley is a triple-threat. He can build things; he can teach; and he can start and run his own business. An electrical engineer who became a high school teacher, Scott started Make Safe Tools in 2018 to produce products that make workshops safer. One of its products is the MakeSafe Power Tool Brake. In this podcast episode, I talk to Scott about his experiences as an engineer, educator and entrepreneur, and "how those experience overlap in unexpected ways." However, seeing himself as "constant learner" and willing to try things he didn't know if he could do were both reasons he became successful at each endeavor. @sswaaley
The last place you might expect to find a makerspace is at The George Mark House, a pediatric palliative care facility in San Leandro, California. It is a place that cares for families who are going through the difficult end-of-life process for their child. I talk with Dr. Joan Fisher, the medical director, and Dr. Gokul Krishnan, a pioneer in the practice of maker therapy who just received a NSF grant to design and build a makerspace at the George Mark House.
You can learn a lot about the health of a hive by listening to the sounds that bees make, as a beekeeper would do. The developers of the Long Hive project, featured in Make Magazine, Vol 75, tell us about their efforts to use machine learning to detect the presence of the queen bee by recording the sounds of the bees in the hive.
Italians have a love of innovation and design and it shows at Maker Faire Rome. In this episode of Make:Cast, I look back at Maker Faire Rome in October 2019 during a pre-Covid time when live events could happen. I was guided through Maker Faire Rome by Alessandro Ranellucci, the curator of Maker Faire Rome, along with Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino. Maker Faire Rome 2020 is happening as a virtual event this weekend.
Ten years ago, a community came together around a definition of open source hardware to be clear about what it means to share designs for physical things, and doing so in a way that allows others to make, modify, distribute or use those things. This definition has been managed by the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). In this episode, I talk with Alicia Gibb, Executive Director of OSHWA and board president, Michael Weinberg about the growth of open source hardware, its certification process and the role of open source hardware in the maker response to COVID-19.
Tim Deagan, a maker in Austin, TX, is a polymaker with many interests and fabrication projects that range from from flame effects to ham radio to leatherworking. He is the author of "Make: Fire - The Art and Science of Working with Propane" and "Modern Leatherworking for Makers." In this conversation, Tim joins me from his garage workshop and we talk shop.
In this episode, we talk with Sarah Boisvert, an entrepreneur with extensive work experience in manufacturing, laser technology in 3d printing, who has been focusing on workforce training. Digital fabrication technology is creating new manufacturing jobs that she calls "new collar jobs" which require digital and physical hands-on experience. In 2018, Sarah published "The New Collar Workforce: An Insider's Guide to Making Impactful Changes to Manufacturing and Training."
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she runs a lab in association with the local community college where she's developed a certified program for 3D printing operators. In this conversation, we talk about digital badges for digital fabrication skills and how there should be better alternatives to college, how janitorial robots at WalMart need a human to take care of them, and how employers would like to find more people with problem solving skills, the number one skill they are asking for. Sarah has written the article "Fabricating the Future of Work" in Make Magazine Volume 75.
For anyone wanting to do something, open source makes it easier for you to get started, for creative ideas to flourish and for difficult problems to be solved by collaborating with others. I talk with Joshua Pearce about his new book, "Create, Share and Save Money Using Open Source Projects." Joshua is a professor of materials science and electrical engineering at Michigan Tech University where he directs the Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology Lab - acronym MOST. He's also the editor of Hardware X, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to open source scientific hardware.
The co-founders of Maker Works in Ann Arbor, Michigan have written an operations guide for makerspaces. In this episode, we talk with Tom Root, one of the authors of "The Intentional Makerspace: Operation" about how to think of recipes as a way of managing a makerspace, predicatably and safely.
Over the last year or two. mHUB Chicago has begun offering product development services that allow makers, engineers, and others to work on paid projects for corporate clients, filling a need for rapid prototyping for those companies and helping entrepreneurs bring in some money while they get started on their own project. Recently, mHUB was awarded a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the federal government to scale these services, developing new opportunities for talent and providing a service to client companies.
In this episode of Makecast, I'm talking about matching talent to opportunity with two of mHUB Chicago's founders, Haven Allen, who is executive director and Bill Fienup, who is director of innovation services. We are also joined by Bianca Thai, who is a program manager at mHUB.