Braybrooke, Kat and Smith, Adrian (2018) [Introduction] Liberatory technologies for whom? Analysing a new generation of makerspaces defined by institutional encounters. Journal of Peer Production, 2 (12). pp. 1-13. ISSN 2213-5316

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Abstract

Makerspaces are subjects in a plurality of institutional advances and developments, catching the imaginations of a wide variety of organisations and other actors drawn to a buzz of enticing possibilities. Depending upon the nature of the encounter, makerspaces are becoming cradles for entrepreneurship, innovators in education, nodes in open hardware networks, studios for digital artistry, ciphers for social change, prototyping shops for manufacturers, remanufacturing hubs in circular economies, twenty-first century libraries, emblematic anticipations of commons-based, peer-produced post capitalism, workshops for hacking technology and its politics, laboratories for smart urbanism, galleries for hands-on explorations in material culture... not forgetting, of course, spaces for simply having fun. What kinds of hybrid arrangements emerge through these encounters, and what becomes of the occupied factories for peer production theory? How are institutions reshaping aspirations for autonomous, even democratic, fabrication and experimentation – aspirations that were – and are – important parts of makerspace narratives? And what do these encounters mean for institutions, whether in education, culture, business, development or some other sphere; how are they too evolving through their exposure to grassroots and community making practices?

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Media, Film and Music > Media and Film
Research Centres and Groups:	Sussex Humanities Lab
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Kaitlyn Marie Braybrooke
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2018 13:16
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2018 13:16
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/77040

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