- On this edition of IQ Smartparent, discover what it means to be a Maker and find out how Do It Yourself ingenuity is sweeping into libraries, community spaces, business models and the museums.

we'll tell you where to find makerspaces for your whole family to enjoy.

And we'll hear what leaders in the field of making have to say about this growing movement.

We're celebrating a nation of makers.

So stay with us.

IQ Smartparent starts right now.

Welcome to IQ Smartparent.

I'm your host Darieth Chisolm.

And today we're talking about the Maker movement and our cultural shift toward creativity.

Maybe you call it tinkering, or you are a Do It Yourselfer, but it all boils down to the same thing, using new technology and old fashioned tools to make things on your own to guide us through the ins and outs of the maker movement is our first guest Jane Warner.

She is the executive director of the children's museum of Pittsburgh, a national leader in the Maker movement, and the first to have a makerspace as part of a children's museum.

Jane, thanks so much for being here on the show.

- Thanks for having me - Yeah, Yeah so let's start with you defining Maker?

- Well, it's interesting because I think we're all makers in fact, we're finding that three-year-olds are makers.

I think what we're looking at is the intention of making things, at the museum and exploring processes and materials.

And that has been really a rich, rich field to really study.

- It's almost like an umbrella, if you will, or an umbrella term that really helps when you look at the collaboration of independent inventors, people who are tinkerers or designers, if you will, can you identify when it started?

- Well I think it's something that's been with us all the time.

I mean, it's part of being human.

We make things.

And I, you know, I think what we're seeing now is that there's a focus on it, that with technology, we're looking at how the digital kind of bumps up against the three-dimensional world, the physical world.

And I think that that's just kind of revived this notion of making and tinkering, but we also have to look at things that are traditional, whether we sew or whether we bake or whether we use wood, that's all part of it too.

And I also think that in some ways it's a rebranding of what John Dewey actually talked about at the turn of the last century, where it was learning through, through doing.

And I think that's something that we kind of lost somewhere around, you know, maybe the eighties and nineties.

And now we're actually really looking at that again, because there's a lot of different ways to learn.

And tinkering is one of those.

- How do you think the media, if you will, has played a part in, in this maker movement.

- Well i think that there have been a couple of things that have happened.

I think that we see it with the Make magazine kind of started us really looking at it.

I actually think that Martha Stewart and everything that she was doing had a lot to looking at how we kind of go back into kind of these traditional methods of making and really find the value in that.

- What are some of the skills critical to being a maker?

I mean, certainly we can say anyone is a maker, but a true maker in the sense of what we're looking at these days.

Are there certain skillsets that would make up, or a mindset I should say, that would make up being a maker?

- Yeah i actually think it has a lot to do with curiosity and creativity and also a little bit of persistence, because makers make mistakes, and it's okay.

And I think that there, I think to be a true maker, you have to be okay with the mistakes and actually kind of value them and learning the next step.

- And we're seeing more and more of these spaces popping up in museums and libraries.

And clearly you've set the mark, if you will, here at the museum, but how is this informal learning space and environment really showcasing the movement?

- Well, I think that's, that's the great thing about museums.

You cannot fail a museum.

So we actually provide a space for people to really explore materials and to explore processes.

- We have some video of families in action at the MakeShop at the children's museum of Pittsburgh.

So let's take a look.

- Look what I just made - The MakeShop is a Makerspace that is designed for children and families and youth to engage in making activities at the intersection of the physical and the digital.

- Its a space where kids can feel comfortable making whatever they want, learning processes.

We offer things from circuitry to sewing, to weaving, to recycled sculptures.

- Here at the children's museum we've always believed that when you play with real stuff, it's the best way to learn and doing it together with the help of knowledgeable peers and others like our facilitators here is really what breeds unique learning opportunities - Making is the root of so much.

This is an opportunity to have lots of expertise and knowledge and people who are excited around you to share those experiences with you - Shall we go see what we can make now.

- Jane, the MakeShop certainly looks like a fun place for families to get together and work.

When you think about this co-learning experience for parents and their children, how has that affected that relationship, by being there, working together?

- Well, I think it's a very warm and wonderful relationship.

You know, making really does kind of, even out the playing field.

I have a lot of moms who come in and say, oh, I haven't touched a sewing machine in 15 years.

And they sit down and they sew right alongside their, their child.

And it's really fun, it's really fun to kind of see kids and parents kind of learning together.

And the conversations are just so rich and so wonderful.

So it's, it's just a, it's a great space to be in.

- Yeah, you brought along a few things.

- I have - Kids have made at the MakerShop.

- This is actually a weaving that was done, this is done by many, many hands.

But they used actually, audio tape, you can see it right here.

This was actually also done on the loom and it's made from plastic bags So all of those plastic bags, you never know what to do with, you can make a carpet - Many hands or just one child?

- Many hands, so you can actually see the, all the different kinds of ways that people have woven, together.

This is actually just a little guy who is also was made in MakeShop, but he has the switch so that it has a little LED light around his heart.

- That is a beautiful, - Yeah, it's a combination of a lot of different techniques.

So we always are looking at process and we're looking at materials.

- And so kids can certainly have fun doing this, just, you know, tinkering around, but do you see some more sophisticated designs coming out of MakeShops?

- We do, We do, you know, we actually do have a laser cutter.

We have a 3D printer.

I have to say that we don't use them as often with the general public.

We actually do focus on the basics, but we do have animation stands, We have Scratch so kids can actually do their own programming.

There's a lot of time's where kind of things bump up against each other where technology and sophistication kind of meets the craft, which is exciting.

- And we're in a time and a space where even our president, president Obama is really focusing on really us becoming a nation of makers, as opposed to a nation of consumers and this spearheading that's coming from the government on just realizing how important makerspaces are.

- I think that that's true.

And I think it has to do with innovation and creativity.

It's the thing that kind of makes us who we are as Americans too.

I think that's also why the president is interested in it.

- Do you think we'll likely see more public spaces made available for makers?

- Yeah actually we're part of a huge initiative that the Institute of museum and library services has instituted and we're going across the country and seeing that libraries and museums are putting makerspaces in.

I think we were looking at how this is such a unique way of learning and the museums and libraries can actually be kind of labs for learning about it.

- And I can see where larger organizations would support and whether it's profits or non-profits, companies that really want to get behind this initiative.

- I think that that's true.

I think that we're also recognizing that it comes down to the people who staff these spaces and how important they are to kind of guiding the making It's, it's crucial.

And I think that corporations are really looking at that and, and funding that.

- Yeah, and speaking of that, when we go from something as beautiful as these handwoven plastic bags to, even the necklace that you're wearing, which came out of a "makerspace", if you will, or someone who was tinkering around with wire cables - That's right, and, you know, you can take beautiful, You can take like very ordinary materials and make it quite beautiful.

And I think that that goes to creativity and this kind of curiosity about materials and what it can do - Creativity and curiosity, definitely what we need for that new maker generation.

Jane, thanks so much for being on the show with us.

And coming up, meet a maker who offers a traveling makerspace in one of America's largest cities.

But up first, how do makers describe themselves?

A new survey offers some surprising answers.

- An online survey asked makers to describe themselves.

And here's what they had to say.

48% called themselves hobbyists 36% said they were tinkerers 23% describe themselves as engineers and 21% called themselves builders.

By the way, that survey included 28 categories total to help makers describe themselves.

And the list of possibilities also included crafter, artist, entrepreneur, educator and even hacker.

- Our next guest is Tara Tiger Brown.

She is co-founder and chair of the LA Makerspace.

So let me begin by asking you to define, maker.

- A maker.

Well really we're all makers If we create something, then we're, you know, we are by definition a maker.

I think that it, because of Maker faire, and different, you know, makerspaces, hacker spaces, people started thinking that it meant something in particular.

But really if you draw, if you write, anything, you are a maker - Anything creative - That's right - You're defined as a maker.

So what is LA Makerspace?

- LA Makerspace is based in Los Angeles.

It was founded a few years ago.

Really I wrote a blog post and I said, does anybody want a kid friendly hackerspace?

Because my husband actually started the first hackerspace in LA, which was very much for adults.

I mean, they were building rockets and it wasn't exactly someplace you would take your child.

So yeah, I wrote a blog post and said, does anybody else want to do this?

And a whole bunch of people said yes.

And we started meeting and for, you know, over the course of a year, we held events at different venues to eventually find our home in downtown LA.

- And it is a nonprofit.

- It is - So clearly finding a space that is suitable is important.

So where do you hold them?

- Well, originally we had a space in downtown, but it wasn't the best location for us.

And also at the time we were a membership-based organization, which meant you have to pay to come and use the space and the tools.

But we were allowing, we had these scholarships.

So we had folks coming in that couldn't afford the membership.

And the dynamics really change when you had, you know, this diversity of people that were in this space.

And so we really wanted to make it accessible to everyone.

And it was around that time that makerspaces started popping up in libraries across the country.

And so we approached the LA public library and said, are you ready to host makerspaces into different branches?

And they said, yes.

So now we are actually more mobile in that we host workshops at around 40 different branches at LA public library.

- And they held weekly, daily?

How does this work?

- Yeah so the librarians typically choose the types of workshops they want.

So some of them for example, are running Minecraft workshops right now.

So kids come and learn how to play Minecraft and programming Minecraft, it really depends on the neighborhood, you know, it's really very much about the kids and what they want to learn and the librarians recognize that and choose.

So, yeah, it's, it's, LA is a large place and very diverse.

So you never know what you're gonna get.

- Do you provide the materials or do people bring them in?

- We provide them all.

So we have 3D printers, a laser cutter, you know, all the different crafting materials.

It really depends on what the workshop is.

- So this is really more than just tinkering around.

I mean, you can create some pretty serious projects here.

- Yes, and we've had adults come in and actually work on their startups.

So we had a gentleman coming in and he was trying to figure out how to develop the thinnest pin ever that would fit inside a notebook.

We had somebody come in and design a cosplay costume.

So it's yeah, it's all over the place - So this is free for people to come in and use it.

It is non-profit but clearly there are, the funds have got to come in to support it and the other materials.

- Yes.

We've had two successful Kickstarter campaigns.

People donate, we have some different grants.

- What about the community lab, a place for a citizen scientists to collaborate.

Tell me about that.

- Yes, very passionate about that.

We have a crazy scientist.

That's one of my co-founders with the LA Makerspace.

And so he works with kids, high school kids mainly, learning about, you know, what's going on in the LA river for example, there's a big change that's happening.

So they're tracking the changes that are happening there.

Kids learn about radiation, and how to collect it and analyze it.

So we have a partnership with the natural history museum and Caltech and a couple of other institutions.

So kids are becoming citizen scientists, and their data is being used by real scientists.

- That is very interesting.

What about the process of moving this into other communities and other cities and perhaps even better promoting STEAM, you know, certainly which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

STEAM.

- Yes.

Yes.

Well, I mean I think that it's become pretty popular, people in different communities know what a makerspace is now for the most part.

And so there's a lot of different playbooks out there at this point, like how do you start a makerspace And it's not one thing, right?

You can start a makerspace at your kitchen table.

You can do it in your classroom, in the library, in a museum.

So there isn't a right way to do it.

I think that the key thing is that you find a really great community that wants to work together on this space and that you have mentors that can come in and teach people that want to learn something like how to do it.

- Great.

Well, Tara, thank you so much.

This has been quite an interesting conversation.

- Yeah, thank you - So we do appreciate it.

How much impact does the maker movement have on our economy?

Check this out.

- The maker movement is reshaping what we buy and it's growing local economies 135 million Americans contribute to the maker movement.

People pledged over $480 million in crowdfunding projects in 2013, by the end of 2015, the 3D printer industry is poised to grow to $4 billion.

And the online marketplace Etsy reported $1.93 billion in total merchandise sales in 2014 with over one and a half million active stores.

The maker movement is growing local businesses too.

Right now meet a woman who crafted a community of makers in an at-risk neighborhood.

- We're going to be mixing molecules from the glue, molecules from the Borax.

They're all going to go in this bowl and it's going to change the consistency of the glue - Making is everything.

It's from knitting to wood carving to laser cutting, to 3D printing, to who knows what's next.

Maybe bio printing, - Making's very inspirational.

It gets your creative juices flowing.

It's a way for you to combine what's going on in your head and what's going on with your hands.

- What is Borax?

What is it, like what does it do?

- We here at assemble focus, not just on making, just to make stuff but understanding why you're making it through the design process or the engineering process.

- It's a way for people to learn by doing.

- We love making things at Assemble - We just saw one maker who started small and now we're going to meet another maker who made it big by opening a chain of makerspaces across the country.

He is the author of the Maker Movement Manifesto.

And he was named one of the top 25 movers and makers who are reinventing the American dream welcome, Mark Hatch, CEO and co-founder of the TechShop.

So you have these TechShops across the country here, and you've described this as a playground for creativity.

How so?

- Well, we have like 800 members in each one of our locations.

We've staffed it with about 20 folks and these makers are all ages and stages.

And so when they come in and they're pursuing their dreams and making things, it turns into this massive playground every day.

- Yeah certainly, and let's talk about the beginning of this for you, this Techshop and where it came from and how you've turned it into a great business model - Sure.

We'll it start out by Jim Newton in 2006 And, and basically he said, I need access to these tools.

I can't really afford them all on my own.

So if I build this place and let other people use it and they can pay me for it, that's how I can get started.

So we went to the original maker faire back in 2006, set out a little a table and said, basically if I build it, will you come?

A bunch of people signed up and, and he launched.

- Any type of particular tech or, excuse me, maker, do you see coming out of the Techshops?

- No, it's, it's a completely crossed the board, hobbyists, entrepreneurs, artists, tinkerers, students, basically anybody who's interested in making things is in this shop, making things.

- You call yourselves dream consultants.

- Yes.

- Why So?

- Well, we wanted to make sure that our staff had a, a feeling of what we were expecting out of them.

And actually we wanted our members to have an expectation as well.

So by creating this term, dream consultant, we've enabled our, you know, the situation such that everybody understands that they're there to help them build their dreams, which is our tagline, build your dreams here.

And it's worked out really well.

If we call them a shop steward.

I don't think we would've gotten the same kind of gestalt in the space - Yeah.

Well, you've brought a few dreams that have come to reality for, for some of the makers.

So let's, let's talk about a few of the pieces you have.

- Sure, so this is a, it's a wonderful project, started by a designer and it's called Lumio lamp And it's, it's just absolutely beautiful.

Kind of looks like a book, but as you can see, it's a, it's a lamp.

And he came in and learned how to use the laser cutter, learned how to use Arduino and then did a Kickstarter campaign and raised like $480,000 to be able to launch his company.

- Wow, that's great - That was remarkable.

I've got another one here that I enjoy because he did everything in 90 days.

He came in and asked what classes do I need to take to learn how to use the tools to make an iPad case out of bookbinding and bamboo.

And 90 days later, he had already sold a million dollars in product.

Did 4 million in the first year, 10 million in the second year.

He now has a manufacturing facility in San Francisco, actually saved a bookbinding business.

And remarkably the president of the United States was one of his early customers and actually has been carrying it around for the last few years - That is ingenious.

And the fact that he did it in 90 days and had the support of the Techshop - This is probably one of the most amazing ones to, to come out.

It's it's square.

The little white dongle that goes on the end of a phone.

James Mckelvey was the, was the co-founder.

And it's actually after Jack Dorsey, a blogger fame and Twitter fame had been turned down by all the venture capitalists in the valley because they didn't have domain experience in this particular project.

He came in, learned how to use the tools mills and lays, learned how to use injection molder, learned a little bit about electronics and built the original prototype for square, and then went back to the venture capitalists And instead of doing a PowerPoint this time, he just said, you know, give me your credit card.

And they ran their credit card through.

He took $50 off each of the top 10 venture capitalists in the valley, that was his first 500 bucks.

And then they raised $10 million in their series A this is the power of a prototype, you know, if Jack Dorsey, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of his generation can't get funded without a prototype, almost nobody can.

And that's, what's new, you know, it's the industrial revolution for the consumer now.

it's like the middle class can now actually afford to create for the first time in human history.

- And then this piece?

- And then this one is probably my favorite, favorite one, so this is an Embrace blanket.

It's an incubation blanket.

Jane Chen came up with the concept with her team out of Stanford, but when they graduated, they needed access to the tools.

And so she came and started using the tools that Jim had set up.

And what happened was, there's a, there's a polymer pouch that goes into the back here that helps to keep a child in the appropriate temperature range.

And it turns out in the third world, 500,000 babies die every year from not being able to maintain their temperature, trying to get to an incubator, and, and what happened was the core technology was essentially donated by members of the community that interacted with her team, built this out, so it had a five hour range instead of the one hour that they typically had.

And as a result, this blanket has saved 150,000 babies around the world - Wow, that's great.

I mean, the technology clearly is, has spawned some very ingenious and very critical inventions - Absolutely - So that that's good to know what types of software and hardware do you provide in the Tech shop?

- So we have, We have everything.

Machine tools, woodworking, plastic, electronics, textiles, 3D printers, laser cutters.

Great big, huge waterjet, will cut through five inches thick of anything on the planet of the Autodesk software is the primary software platform that enables you to design and develop things.

National Instruments is an electronics software company that allows people to build these kinds of electronic devices.

- How though will this impact manufacturing overall, in the manufacturing industry.

- Its gonna have a large impact.

We're seeing that the software is enabling designers to, to build something and then use computer numerically controlled machines to actually manufacture it.

So what that translates into is like a furniture designer may have only been able to build one chair a week or five chairs a week, using these tools you can now build 50 or a hundred.

And so the price points for doing custom manufacturing are going to approach what it, what you could just get something off the shelf.

And that changes the whole economic system so that you now can hire a local artist using local materials and manufacture it locally and actually be involved in the process so that it comes with a story or, your, your personal imprint on the product itself.

- How do you think this will impact society overall?

- Well I mean, we're moving into a new industrial revolution As some economists have called it.

I actually prefer to it a creative revolution because it's enabling artists as well And we're seeing, just amazing kinds of projects coming out, but you know, universities are going to have, these high schools are going to have makerspaces, libraries and museums are already moving into this space.

I imagine in the next 10 years, being a maker is actually going to be the norm.

It's just like you don't say, can you use a Microsoft Word or can you use a computer?

Of course you can, everybody knows how to use a computer.

My guess is, within a decade everybody's going to know how to make something.

- So if we narrow this back to just the individual who is watching, who's probably thinking to themselves, I think I want to try this.

What one piece of advice would you give to a would be maker?

- Well, you know, I wrote the book, The Maker Movement Manifesto, and I truly believe it's a manifesto and we are moving into a revolution.

And so I encourage people to make it personal, make something, and then give it away to somebody that, that matters to you.

So for example, a couple of years ago, I bought a 3D printer because I'm in the space and I needed to have, have one.

And what I did was I made a test print for my wife, cause I hadn't given her a rose in like four or five years.

And you know, this is just a piece of plastic.

It's maybe 39 cents, but this meant more to her than the jewelry I'd given her the week before, because I had thought about it, it imbued a relationship component that buying some jewelry off the shelf wouldn't have done.

- Yeah and you were able to just think it up and then obviously go to some level of technology to make it happen - Absolutely, Yes.

- Great.

Well mark, thank you so much for being a part of the show.

We do appreciate it and we hope that you've learned more about the culture of making and how makers are changing our culture.

Keep an eye out for another episode of IQ Smartparent.

That's all about how the maker movement is taking root in our kids' classrooms and redefining education.

until then, indulge the makers in your family.

You may be amazed at what they are able to create.

Thanks for being here.

And we'll see you again next time on IQ Smartparent.

- Want to learn more about IQ Smartparent.

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IQ Smartparent is made possible in part by the McCune foundation and the Grable Foundation.