Empowering the hacker in us: a comparison of fab lab andhackerspace ecosystems

Cameron Guthrie

Toulouse Business School

LAEMOS, Cuba 2014

“We all are makers: as cooks preparing food for our families, asgardeners, as knitters. Although this view may not be part ofmainstream thought, there once was a time when mostAmericans commonly thought of themselves as tinkerers.Tinkering used to be a basic skill, and you could get a little bitmore out of life than the average person if you had goodtinkering skills—if you could fix your own car, for example, orimprove your home or make your own clothes. I think we lostsome of that over the decades, but I also think it is coming back,for a lot of reasons. While people today may not treasure thisability out of the same sense of necessity as they once did, theyare finding their lives enriched by creating something new andlearning new skills”

Dale Dougherty, The maker movement, 2012

We all have a little hacker in us

Hacker

MakerTinkerer

Self-sufficiency, DIY movement, pleasure of making

Poltical or social message, transform function, artistic expression,

Repare and maintain, functionally improve

Enabling spaces

• Makerspaces, hackerspaces, hack labs, fab labs and techshops are their enabling spaces.

What am I ?

Two very different similar spaces

Fab Labs

• Founded by the Center for Bits and Atoms, 2003

• A local lab that enables “invention by providing access to tools for digital fabrication”

• Must respect the Fab Lab charter

Hackerspaces

• German Chaos Computer Club 30 years ago

• “Community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects”

• No guidelines but a “hacker ethic”

10 years of growth

• There are 260 fab labs and over 1000 hackerspaces, hack labs and makerspaces

Democratizing production

• Spaces that mutualise the means of production – machines, materials and knowledge

• Spaces that encourage “cultures of participation” in which “all people are provided with the means to participate actively in personally meaningful problems” (Fischer, 2013).

A potential for social creativity

“ People shouldn’t need a 4 year engineering degree in order to become an inventor. We’re going to make it accessible for anyone to learn how create devices for themselves and reach local markets who need them through short term module classes on technical skills ”

ARO Fab Lab Kenya - solar cooker prototype

From ignorance to social creativity

• “A potter must know clays and glazes and the various processes by which to prepare, form and fire them. A clothing designer must know fabrics and fasteners, sizing, cutting and sewing [...] Mastery of materials and processes - obtained through direct experience - is fundamental to making things in any domain” Gross and Do (2009)

• “ Bringing different points of view together and trying to create a shared understanding among all stakeholders can lead to new insights, new ideas, and new artifacts” (Fischer, 2001)

Research question

• How does a fab lab and a hackerspace create the conditions for individual creation and social creativity in the same urban area ?

Method

• Case study approach

• Data was collected through interviews, observation and documentary analysis

• Bloom and Dees (2008) ecosytem approach was used to compare the two cases

Ecosystem approach

• To create long lasting change, social entrepreneurs must “understand and often alter the social system that creates and sustains the problems in the first place”

• Two paths to systemic change– change the environmental conditions that shape the behavior of

players in the ecosystem

– introduce new practices, organizational structures and business models to establish new behaviors in the ecosystem

Bloom, Paul N, & Dees, Gregory. (2008). “ Cultivate your ecosystem ” Stanford social innovation review, 6(1), 47-53.

One fab lab and one hackerspace in one city

But where is Toulouse ?

A

B

CD

Hackerspace

Fab lab

The Fab Lab

• Founded in 2009

• 750m2 inner city location

• Two laser cutters, 4 personal 3D printers and one digital milling machine

• Organizes an annual national fab lab conference

FabLab« A place for multidisciplinary

creation, the sharing and diffusion of knowledge. Access to scientific

culture for everyone »

Competition• Other associations (for

resources)• Rapid prototypers and 3D print

shops (for B2B clients)

Beneficiaires and customers• Members• Science for youth program• Start-ups and incubators• Students and schools• Laboratoires/universitaires• Designers, architects, and

companies

Bystanders• Professionals, companies and

universities : « Should we startour own? »

• Rapid prototypers and 3D printer shops

Opponents and trouble makersSceptical technicians in local

adminsitrations

Resource providersFinancial• Membership dues• Paid machine time• French government

Material and technological• Municipality

Human• Members’ knowledge• FabLab manager

Networking• FabLab network• Science for youth program• Municipality

Technological• Open source movement

ImpactPopularize access to digital manufacturing technologies and knowledge.

Environmental conditionsPolitics and administrative structures : French Department for Industrial Renewal, FrenchTech policiesEconomics and markets : FabLab movement, access to digital manufacturing technologiesGeography and infrastructure : Local high-tech industry and research laboratoriesCulture and social fabric : Large university and student population, industrial activities

Complementary organizationsand allies

• Local industrial clusters and professional associations

• 3D printer manufacturer• Municipality• Incubators, schools

The fab lab’s theory of change

• “It’s very hard to fight against something, but for an individual to undertake an action at his or her level is already a start. We need to give the people the possibility to act locally” [co-founder fab lab]

• “We can change mentalities. You have to be in the ecosystem, multiply your contacts, show that you too can contribute to innovation. The fab lab can help make a prototype, you know! And you also have to remain loyal to your values” [co-founder fab lab]

Fab lab´s obstacles to change

• “We’ve got lots of people that come and look for some skills but we rarely have someone that comes in with a project that everyone can work on. It’s mainly point-to-point where people come for some specific help” [co-founder fab lab]

• Need to become self-financing within two years

The hackerspace

• Founded in 2009 by a core group of ten enthusiasts

• Occupies a set-out freight container amongst a larger collective of artists.

• 30 fee paying members

• Organizes an annual free hardware conference

“I prefer the word vision. With a spirit ofcollaborating and sharing, transform objectsfrom the main function. Create newtechnological objects, more or less useful butthat give us a super buzz. Find complex solutionsto non-existent problems. Make porn, becauseWE MAKE PORN.” [member 1]

A hackerspace, a climate for curiosity

• “In a lot of hackerspaces that I know, they are mixed spaces [...] The uses that are made of objects, the things that are done to them, the animations may all be artistic in some way. When you go to a festival at a hackerspace, they are places where you feel good. Its ‘trans genre’. There is more than technology. A hackerspace is really about curiosity. And if it emerges it’s because these different people meet up” [cofounder hackerspace].

• Liquid democracy

TetalabA hackerspace the respects the ideals

of the hacker movement.

Competition• « The word competition is not

really part of our language »• « If someone does the same thing,

they will be encouraged to do itwith us »

Complementary organizations and allies

• Local artists collective• Local not for profit ISP• Local free software user group• Not for profit youth science and

technology association

Beneficiaires and customers• Members• Allies• Innovation arms of

manufacturing companies

Bystanders• R&D departments of

manufacturing companies• Wary manufacturers

Opponents and trouble makers

Manufacturers that don’twant their products hacked

Resource providersFinancial• Membership dues• Open days• Occassional paid services

Material and human• Members’ knowledge• Like minded associations• Salvaged equipment

Networking• Hackerspace network• Like minded associations

Technological• Members• Open source movement

Impact« This is not the sort of vision we have. We are a space for exchange and collaboration »

« I reach my objective when I get sick of a project and move onto something else »

Environmental conditionsPolitics and administrative structures : Invasive government actions and lawsEconomics and markets : Consumerist society, big data collectionCulture and social fabric : Local like-minded associations

Case comparison

Fab Lab

• Increase access to digital manufacturing technologies and knowledge

• Financial dependence

• Multiple users with diverse needs and expectations

• Needs to change practices within its ecosystem

Hackerspace

• No intended impact

• Financial independence

• Hacker culture bonds members together

• Must resist tendency to become mainstream

• Already central to its ecosystem

Discussion

• Different spaces offer different “climates” (Ashforth, 1985) that both favor “play” (Bergen, 2009)

• The challenge is to bring together communities of practice in a community of interest

• Fab Lab needs to move beyond “early adopters”

• The importance of “keystone species” in their ecosystems (Iansiti and Levien, 2004)

What’s next ?

• Work with the Fab Lab on new collaborative practices to help it become a real space for social creativity and change