About Makerspaces2019-06-14T14:24:32+00:00

About Makerspaces

What Are Makerspaces and Hackerspaces?

Maker Culture

Maker Culture/DIY Culture

The maker culture is a contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of the (Do It Yourself) DIY culture. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker culture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of computer tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and traditional arts and crafts. The subculture stresses new and unique applications of technologies, and encourages invention and prototyping. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them creatively.

Hackerspaces

Hackerspaces: Technology for the Community

Hackerspaces can be viewed as open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things. In general, hackerspaces function as centers for peer learning and knowledge sharing, in the form of workshops, presentations, and lectures. They typically provide space for members to work on individual projects, or to collaborate on group projects with other members.

Values of Makerspaces and DIY Culture

The Sharing Economy and Social Equity

Sharing Economy: The sharing economy (aka the share economy, the shared economy, the mesh or the collaborative economy) refers to economic and social systems that enable shared access to good, services, data and talent. A common premise is that when information about goods is shared, the value of those goods increases, for the business, and for the community.

Social Equity: Social equity leaves plenty of room for individuals, households, and communities to seek the mix of economic, social, and ecological assets that best reflects their values. It critically depends on diverse local economies that provide a wide range of work opinions for those of all ages and skills.

Maker Culture

Maker Culture/DIY Culture

The maker culture is a contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of the (Do It Yourself) DIY culture. Typical interests enjoyed by the maker culture include engineering-oriented pursuits such as electronics, robotics, 3-D printing, and the use of computer tools, as well as more traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking, and traditional arts and crafts. The subculture stresses new and unique applications of technologies, and encourages invention and prototyping. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them creatively.

Hackerspaces

Hackerspaces: Technology for the Community

Hackerspaces can be viewed as open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things. In general, hackerspaces function as centers for peer learning and knowledge sharing, in the form of workshops, presentations, and lectures. They typically provide space for members to work on individual projects, or to collaborate on group projects with other members.

Values of Makerspaces and DIY Culture

The Sharing Economy and Social Equity

Sharing Economy: The sharing economy (aka the share economy, the shared economy, the mesh or the collaborative economy) refers to economic and social systems that enable shared access to good, services, data and talent. A common premise is that when information about goods is shared, the value of those goods increases, for the business, and for the community.

Social Equity: Social equity leaves plenty of room for individuals, households, and communities to seek the mix of economic, social, and ecological assets that best reflects their values. It critically depends on diverse local economies that provide a wide range of work opinions for those of all ages and skills.

Take Our Makerspace Survey
Tech Valley Center of Gravity2019-05-30T18:41:08+00:00

Tech Valley Center of Gravity is located in Troy, New York and is a federation of makers, hackers, crafters, and artists who share camaraderie, space, and resources to tinker. Their primary goal is to build a community around the idea of doing, rather than just passively consuming, and learning how the arts, crafts, and technologies that surround us every day work. They aim to create a network of contacts for small business and start-ups in the Capital Region to connect with local leaders, like-minded businesses and individuals, and tools and resources they might not otherwise have access to.

AS2202019-05-28T22:11:18+00:00

AS220 is an artist-run organization committed to providing an unjuried and uncensored forum for the arts. AS220 offers artists opportunities to live, work, exhibit and/or perform in its facilities, which include several rotating gallery spaces, a performance stage, a black-box theater, a print shop, a darkroom and media arts lab, a fabrication and electronics lab, a dance studio, a youth program focusing on youth under state care and in the juvenile detention facilities, four dozen affordable live/work studios for artists, and a bar and restaurant. AS220’s facilities and services are available to any artist who needs a place to exhibit, perform, or create original work and its classes and public-access studios are among the most affordable in the nation. AS220 was founded on the principle that freedom of expression is crucial for the development of strong communities and individual spirits.

Albany Barn2019-05-28T22:11:34+00:00

Albany Barn is dedicated to providing a sustainable creative arts incubator and community arts center in Arbor Hill, a place for artists to live, work and inspire. It is creating a community renaissance catalyzed through creative collaboration.

Collab2019-05-28T22:12:02+00:00

Collab is located in New York City and has been created to provide space, technology, and manufacturing equipment for Artists, Architects, Fabricators, Engineers, Painters, Graphic designers, Entrepreneurs, Environmental Earth Scientists, Musicians, Photographers, and others from a diversity of interdisciplinary pursuits to work on their ideas while collectively developing socially and environmentally conscious prototypes and solutions for this new era. Collab is a combination think tank and fabrication laboratory, providing members with the tools to work on their idea, and an open source platform, if they choose, for expanding and exchanging those ideas with other members and the populace.

TechShop2019-05-28T22:12:19+00:00

TechShop is a playground for creativity. Part fabrication and prototyping studio, part hackerspace and part learning center, TechShop provides access to over $1 million worth of professional equipment and software. We offer comprehensive instruction and expert staff to ensure you have a safe, meaningful and rewarding experience. Each of our facilities includes laser cutters, plastics and electronic labs, a machine shop, a wood shop, a textiles department, welding stations and a waterjet cutter.

Flux Factory2019-05-28T22:13:04+00:00

Flux Factory, located in Long Island City, New York, is a non-profit art organization that supports and promotes emerging artists through exhibitions, commissions, residencies, and collaborative opportunities. Flux Factory is guided by its passion to nurture the creative process, and knows that this process does not happen in a vacuum but rather through a network of peers and through resource-sharing. Flux Factory functions as an incubation and laboratory space for the creation of artworks that are in dialogue with the physical, social, and cultural spheres of New York City (though collaborations may start in New York and stretch far beyond).

Artisan’s Asylum2019-05-28T22:13:59+00:00

Artisan’s Asylum, located in Somerville, Massachussetts, a non-profit organization furnishing education, tools, workspace, and community to empower dedicated fabricators, including hobbyists, artists, and early stage entrepreneurs, to create on large or small scale. They serve the Somerville and global creative community, the arts, and the goal of making the world a place where sincere, creative individuals are able to give form to their ideas.