“Why I Am Not a Maker” by @debcha @TheAtlantic

Why I Am Not a Maker – The Atlantic.

When tech culture only celebrates creation, it risks ignoring those who teach, criticize, and take care of others….

Every once in a while, I am asked what I “make.” A hack day might require it, or a conference might ask me to describe “what I make” so it can go on my name tag.

I’m always uncomfortable with it. I’m uncomfortable with any culture that encourages you take on an entire identity, rather than to express a facet of your own identity (“maker,” rather than “someone who makes things”). But I have much deeper concerns.

An identity built around making things—of being “a maker”—pervades technology culture. There’s a widespread idea that “People who make things are simply different [read: better] than those who don’t.”

Read more.


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1 Comment

  1. Much of the Maker movement is tied in to teaching – sharing information and building on that sharing. It is actually tied in rather closely to traditional STEAM instruction. While my wife the teacher does not have my engineering background, we can eagerly discuss the excitement of informing others about our educational subjects or just some exciting information or item at hand. I would hope the educators might see it this way.

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