LIBRARY AS MAKERSPACE

In a recent Globe article, the word "Skillshare" was used which is kind of an open class room where people can teach others their particular expertise.

     On Sunday of the Cambridge Science Festival, I had the pleasure of visiting Artisan's Asylum in Somerville. For a seemingly inconspicuous building in the middle of a neighborhood, a plethora of creativity is going on within their walls. Artists are welcome to take classes, store materials, or rent a space for their work. Space includes high tech plasma cutters, welding and wood working workshops, 3D printers, screen printing. bicycle maintenance shop, and more. After getting a grand tour from one of the Asylum members, it was time for hands on activities. This included a tinkering table which allowed anyone to disassemble various discarded technologies and see what is inside them.  Sometimes the simplest projects are ones that are the most rewarding. Only supplying the tools, they encouraged families to explore and problem solve by taking apart the machines. How many libraries have old computer equipment in storage with nothing to do with? How about making...

Rocket Blast Off Rocket Building      This weekend I visited the Cambridge Science Festival , which is continuing all week long in various sites around the area to offer free/discount programming for all ages. On Saturday, I visited the Cambridge Public Library for a free Robot Petting Zoo and Mini Maker Fair.  Here are just a few highlights that can be integrated into maker spaces at home or in the library.  Squishy Circuits      An outdoor crowd pleaser was air rockets . The rockets, constructed from magazine paper, glue, and tape, were placed on a simple PVC piped stand with an empty soda bottle on the end. Kids were then invited to stomp on the bottle which produced the air to propel the rocket.  Not only did the kids enjoy the rocket taking flight, but there was a group gathered to try and catch them. The Match Game Bread Board Building      Many of the DIY projects were various forms ...

Click here to see what it's all about Here's an idea to jump start a Maker movement at your library: Start a DIY club !     https://diy.org/stories As described in the May 20, 2012 New York Times article by Nick Bilton: "It was refreshing to discover a new start-up called DIY, which offers a do-it-yourself — or maker, in Valley jargon — community for children. DIY is seeking to be like a Boy Scout troop for the modern day. Instead of teaching children how to tie a clove hitch that seems fit for teenagers in the 1920s, DIY, a Web site and mobile app, will encourage children to build things, document them with an iPhone or iPod, and then receive rewards for their work. I hasten to add that DIY isn’t just for boys. Zach Klein, DIY’s chief executive, said, “It’s really important to us that the tree forts allow boys and girls.” Children will soon be able to learn to program and make cardboard birdhouses, soda bottle safety glasses, duct tape walle...

Jason Bloom suggested that we could have the wall of our potential maker space painted as a green screen and use it for making videos.   - dm