Links and Resources
Tired of reading? Rather be building? Here
are some of our favorite resources: free tools,
inexpensive services, interesting events,
knowledge-sharing, and more.
Open source tools:
arduino.cc
processing.org
openframeworks.cc
fritzing.org
openpicus.com
Big projects from small businesses:
reprap.org
labs.nortd.com/lasersaur/
makerbot.com
solidoodle.com
adafruit.com
littlebits.cc
buglabs.net
Small-scale and open fabrication:
ponoko.com
shapeways.com
thingiverse.com
upverter.com
eagleup.wordpress
Organizations and events:
dorkbot.org
makezine.com
makerfaire.com
openhardwaresummit.org
hackerspaces.org
More information:
instructables.com
archive.org/details/hackerspaces-the-beginning
Microsystems’s SunSPOTS, have the
backing of large corporations. But,
notably, many small open source
companies—such as Spark Fun,
MakerBot, BugLabs, Adafruit, and
littleBits—are challenging the
traditional business model of making money from trade secrets and
closed technologies [ 8].
The open source hardware movement began as a way for people
to share documentation for how
hardware is built, a practice encouraged by the cooperative ethos of
the larger DIY community. Sharing
designs in an open manner makes
the hardware more accessible to a
broader audience. In turn, active and
engaged members of this audience
help make the hardware less expensive in a competitive marketplace,
easier and faster to build, and more
malleable to fix or reappropriate for
unanticipated uses—all traits that
make for powerful prototyping tools.
March + April 2012
interactions
tively, open source hardware can be
an effective business model. In fact,
the open source hardware community is largely made up of companies
and start-ups; most speakers at the
Open Hardware Summit in 2010 and
2011 represented companies creating open source hardware. Because
big hardware projects involve electronic parts that require capital
to purchase, they might have high
start-up costs and benefit from
economies of scale; even a small
business is better equipped to take
advantage of those conditions than
an individual would be. A few key
projects, notably the Arduino and
LilyPad Arduino, were developed in
universities and are now successful products. Others, such as Texas
Instruments’s Beagleboard and Sun
Hackerspaces
While the open source hardware
movement is creating new models
for stimulating and profiting from
technological innovation, hackerspaces are creating new models for
collocated creativity and invention.
(Similar spaces may also be called
maker spaces or fablabs. Though
there are subtle differences in connotation, all share the same open
vision of a collective whole.) Several
years ago, rapid prototyping tools
like CNC mills, laser cutters, and
3-D printers were affordable only to
big-budget corporate and university
research labs. Now open source versions of these tools are beginning to
proliferate, and to be affordable to
grassroots communities of ordinary
people. A major barrier to democratic invention has crumbled.
The idea of hackerspaces
stemmed originally from Germany’s
Chaos Computer Club, which in 1995
arguably created the first hackerspace, c-base in Berlin, which is still
operating today. The goal of a hackerspace is to provide a community-oriented space, sustainably funded
by members, that supports creation
and exploration. These facilities tend
to be open 24/7 to members and
have high-speed Internet and plenty
of seating. Additional facilities can
vary widely, but as costs come down,
they increasingly include fabrication
tools like DIY 3-D printers, wood
shops, and laser cutters. Most space
in a hackerspace is communal;
however, many allow members to
have a shelf, locker, or cubby to store
their personal projects. Membership
in a hackerspace works (and is
priced) similarly to a gym membership. Hackerspaces generally follow
the Hackerspace Design Pattern
Catalogue [ 9] to get started.
The authors of this article hail
from New York City, Montreal, and
the San Francisco Bay Area. We all
have our own local hackerspaces,
all of which share certain traits,
but each with its own personality. Noisebridge in San Francisco
and Hacker Dojo in Mountain
View are representative of the
larger hackerspaces in California;
Dojo membership costs $100 per
month, and Noisebridge contributions are on a voluntary donation
basis. N YCResistor, New York City’s
first hackerspace, charges $75
per month, and Montreal’s Foulab
charges $50; both also cover expenses by offering classes or workshops
in their spaces. Besides providing
lab equipment and a friendly community, these workshop-friendly
hackerspaces also have outreach
and educational activities that are
available to the general public.
On a typical evening at a hackerspace, you might encounter
hardcore computer programmers,
designers, technology novices, weav-