Plug in your banana!

Have you heard of Maker Culture? If not, you should brush up. The movement is growing stronger everyday.

As this site's intro to Maker Culture puts it, in the 1970s products created by hobbyists in their garage launched the personal computer revolution and launched companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Similarly, Makers (also called tinkerers, amateur inventors, etc) have been on the margins for a long time, but are becoming mainstream. Many factors have contributed, from technological progress, to cheaper electronics, to even the economic recession spuring people to repair and re-purpose items. This is a community that celebrates learning, and freely shares ideas.

Makers started in small niche groups (computer groups, electronics groups, robotics groups, craft groups, sewing groups, etc). Naturally they discovered that there are more possibilities for invention if they work together. These groups needed physical places to meet, share ideas, and learn.

As a result Maker Labs, Spaces, Faires, and hacklabs are springing up around the world. As are a variety of websites and e-magazines.

 

Help us start to make Cedarbrae Branch into a maker space. Come on Thursday Oct 3 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm for a hands-on introduction to basic circuitry and human-computer interaction with MaKey MaKey. More info here.

 

What is MaKey MaKey, you ask?

MaKey MaKey is an invention out of MIT that "puts computer controllers at the tip of your fingers. Literally. No coding required." As their website says "ever played Mario on Play-Doh or Piano on Bananas? Alligator clip the Internet to your world and start inventing the future."

Mario on Play-Doh

 

Piano on Bananas