8 Critical making
Responsible innovation and making in grassroots practices means that those who tinker with existing technologies and develop new solutions do this critically. Critical Making has six core values:
- Open: Critical Making promotes open collaboration, including the sharing of skills and knowledge. It boosts creativity in the ecosystem of makers by making processes and results accessible.
- Local & connected: Critical Making is happening locally, working on the ground and adapted to a particular socio-cultural context. Thereby, critical making implies an engagement with local communities as well as global networks – thinking globally and making locally.
- Social & Diverse: Critical Making reflects on the social dimensions of making, the living realities of those persons involved and concerned, as well as the ethical implications of their work. Critical Making thereby addresses societal challenges and needs. That’s why it is so important to strive for diversity and inclusiveness.
- Reflexive: Critical Making re-thinks and re-constructs the dominant mainstream maker culture from a critical stance, reflecting on underlying power structures and their implications.
- Impactful: Critical Making aspires to really make a difference. It seeks to improve life and build a sustainable future.
- Joyful & meaningful: Critical Making is still about the joy of and in making, but adds meaning to it. What is made critically is made with a specific purpose of individual or social kind.
Here is guidelines for critical making:
| Statements | Recommendations |
| Make Things That Make Sense: Curating A Curious Mind That Goes Beyond Conventional Thinking | Makerspaces should encourage individuals to cultivate the skill of adaptability to make the most of their current circumstances and available resources to foster an open mindset. Doing so allows individuals to take apart commercially made mass-produced objects, and let people learn how to modify and create something meaningful and effective for their community and the wider world. https://wikifactory.com/+criticalmaking/stories/saad-chinoy-curating-a-curious-mind-that-goes-beyond-conventional-thinking |
| Integrate Local Knowledge: Advancing Empathy As A Tool For Commitment To Care And Responsible Innovation | Makerspaces should promote “learning by doing and doing by learning” as it generates knowledge from various perspectives or disciplines. Individuals can reflect on their actions, evaluate their outcomes, and refine their approaches by actively making or creating something. Thus, this iterative cycle of doing, reflecting, and learning contributes to continuous growth and improvement. https://wikifactory.com/+criticalmaking/stories/georgia-nicolau-advancing-empathy-for-commitment-to-care-and-responsible-innovation |
| Share How You Make: Cultivating The Skill Of Documentation & Transferring Of Knowledge | Makerspaces should encourage the dissemination of diverse perspectives and expertise, fostering a collective and collaborative approach to problem-solving. In aiming to democratise access to information, it enables individuals to share their insights, methodologies, and practical know-how with others, openly, enhancing the collective intelligence of a community. |
| Build for Continuity: Reversing Power Dynamics In Community | Makerspaces should organise a structure that enables individuals to understand there are a lot of opportunities for bright young people within their localities. When offering meaningful roles and responsibilities, there is a shift in power from traditional hierarchical structures to a more inclusive and equitable environment fostering authentic partnerships. https://wikifactory.com/+criticalmaking/stories/bahar-kumar-reversing-power-dynamics-in-community |
| Include Ecosystem Services: Generating A Cycle of Thinking for Longevity | Makerspaces should promote ideas that allow short-term solutions that have been created by society and turn them into long-term projects and have it adapt to the different timely situations. To consider present resources and anticipate future outcomes. https://wikifactory.com/+criticalmaking/stories/aravinth-panch-generating-a-cycle-of-thinking-for-longevity |
Get inspired by
- Manual for Creating an Inclusive Makerspace : Creating an inclusive and welcoming Maker Space – Critical Making
- An Introduction to inclusive making: An Introduction to Inclusive Making – Critical Making
