Illustration by Conal Pierse
Last semester in our Online Journalism course, the UWO J-Schoolers worked together to investigate the evolving Maker Culture community. Under the direction of our instructor Wayne MacPhail, we spend 12 weeks researching and interviewing to produce videos, online features, and podcasts. Hundreds of Tweets, Flickr photos and Delicious tags later, our work is now being featured on TheTyee.ca and Rabble.ca.
I was part of the media group, which produced the episode about home brewed media. We spoke with poets, DJs, filmmakers, ‘zine makers, web enthusiasts, gamers, musicians and mash-up writers who produce their own unique forms of entertainment.
Maker Culture? That’s coders, fabricators, foodies, artists, educators, activists, citizen and even scientists grabbing the Do-It-Yourself ethic with both hands and changing our world in the process.
These are people who aren’t just making things, they’re making a point of sharing what they’ve learned, what they’ve made, and why. Often, for free. Makers are responding directly, locally to globalization,commercialization, copyright and central command and control.
Click here to read the MEdia feature of the MakerCulture series
