The Inescapable Future of Messiness

I watched an amazing presentation by Audrey Watters at the annual ELI meeting. In The Case for a Campus Makerspace she clearly articulates the need for makerspace literacy - the ability to make, build, explore, tinker and problem-solve with concrete stuff. Granted, for me it wasn't a tough sell—I kinda wanted to be Audrey by the end of the presentation—but more importantly I felt the need to get involved in a plan for a makerspace here. After the presentation, we all sat around and talked about what a makerspace might look like on our campus and how important it would be to keep it open, so that no one felt shut out. Jenine Cordon who helps out with the local First Lego League offered the FFL Core Values as a starting point. If we do manage to get a makerspace here one thing I would like to see included are some of the MIT-developed tools that let you "sketch" with electronics. The video below blew my socks off the first time I saw it: