During discussion time, our group talked about what the difference between a hackerspace and makerspace was, or if there was a differentiation to be made. We said that there was a slight differentiation. It had to do with the hacks happening in hackerspaces and making in makerspaces.
We talked about how hacks are quicker, more amateur than making. Hacks are thought of as more technical and are often just breaking things and throwing them back together to make them work with information or work that you already have completed.
Making is more modern, meditated, and has purposeful design. Making is more about the journey and the process of making, where as hacking has more to do with the finished product. How do you get to the end from where you are?
We argued about whether hackerspaces were a subset of makerspaces or vice versa. I think that both can kind of overlap, but there is a slight distinction between the reasons for why the space was created or who created the space that changes what it is called and how certain people act when working in the space.
It was interesting to see what different people in class connected with from the interviewees or what sat the wrong way with them. There was a lot of personal emotional ties to legos that were stepped on by one of the interviewees. I don't know if any of them really resonated with me. I don't know if they "offended" my opinion either.
In class we discussed the different points that the interviewees agreed on and disagreed on. We felt that they all liked the idea of makerspaces in universities, but really differed on their opinions of the efficacy and purpose that they served. I think that as a student, having access to these spaces is really important and useful since we often aren't allowed or don't have the financial capacity to own many tools. I also think that that is the service that all makerspaces or hackerspaces provide anywhere that they are.
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Also, we were asked to speak about the past week's "festival" or "field trip" that we went on. It took me and a couple others quite a while to find it, but we ended up making it to Bio-Fiction. It was a festival with a mix of science, art, and film. It was a festival. For the way that it was advertised, and I guess as a biology major, I hadn't expected at all what we got.
The show was put on by the Institute for Systems Biology. It sounds like a really interesting institute that does great work, but to be honest I don't know a whole lot about it. I think that what I was expecting from the festival was that it would be more interactive. I think it would have been a lot more fun to see these projects in person or to see the creators at least and be able to talk to them.
There were a few panelists at the end that were able to speak about the work and answer any questions, but I was unfortunately unable to stay and they were also not necessarily the creators of the projects. The festival was very much wrapped around the videos that had been created by the project/project idea owners and were being presented to us in a little theater. Some of them were quite interesting, but some I found kind of disturbing.
None of that was really meant for praise or for critique. I don't think that I fully understood the purpose or importance of any of the projects. But maybe that was the point. I'm not sure. I came and left the festival confused and not really knowing what to think of it. I was really expecting a lot and hoping that it would have been worthwhile, but I was a little disappointed to find that it was of little interest or inspiration to dive further into the subject.
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