Makerspaces base their ideology around : the hacker ethic, the open culture (in the sense of free software), Do-it-Yourself and core values (Mboa Nkoudou 2017, 73).

The hacker ethic

The hacker ethic refers to the valuing of freedom of action, the importance of experimentation and verification, distrust of all forms of authority and a fundamental optimism about human capabilities. Here are the seven commandments of the Hacker ethic according to Spadaro (2014, 52):

• Access to computers must be unlimited and total ;
• Always give priority to the hands-on, and to personally check ;
• All information must be free ;
• Distrust authority, promoting decentralisation ;
• Hackers must be judged by their hacking ;
• It is possible to create art and beauty on a computer ;
• Computers can change your life for the better.

Open culture 

The open culture of the maker movement borrows from the four essential freedoms that characterise free softwares:

• The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2).
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Do it Yourself 

The Do-it-Yourself is all about enthusiasm for self-manufacture, tinkering and crafts. Anderson and Le Séac’h (2012, 27) attribute the following three characteristics to DIY: digital self-manufacturing, online collaboration and the use of online files.

Core Values 

• Openness – makerspaces offer those who use them access to expensive and powerful tools which, under normal circumstances, would be difficult for individuals and especially the community to access.
• Sharing – Makerspaces are niches of altruistic values of open and reciprocal sharing of knowledge. This is achieved by sharing space, machines, manufacturing plans, code, etc.
• Inclusion – makerspaces are places that are open to everyone, regardless of social status or ability to commit; only the sharing of ideas and knowledge counts.

These core values should be an integral part of the operation of any makerspace that aims to be ethical and responsible. To this end, we strongly recommend adopting one or more of the following manifestos:

• OCSDNet Manifesto,
• GOSH manifesto,
• Unesco recommendations on Open Science.