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
Top Related