Maker Faire - A DIYer's Dream

If you're a do it yourselfer (DIYer) of any sort, someone who likes to make things, whether it be from a kit, from raw materials, from your own design or someone else's, the place to be from May 17-20 will be at the Bay Area Maker Faire, which will be held at the San Mateo, CA convention center.

To quote from the Maker Faire website, it is "A two-day, family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement."

If your thought is... Hmm... I've heard of the Maker movement... Where was that?

Here are a few possibilities:

• Perhaps it was during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 news coverage in January, when images of affordable 3D printers building up designs layer by layer were prominently featured on pretty much every news program.
• Perhaps you saw news reports of the "Extreme Marshmallow Cannon" designed by Young Maker Joey Hudy, the operation of which was performed by none other than President Obama in a demonstration at the White House Science Fair in February.
• Perhaps it was when you read the Business Week article on the "Maker Movement" and venture capital, also in February.
• Perhaps you saw the Arduino, an open source circuit board, show up at Radio Shack as it works to redefine itself as... Radio Shack.  The old Radio Shack, the one where you could go to find small parts to put together into a circuit.
• I'd like to think that some folks may have seen references of the "Maker Movement" on , as I work my way up from wanna-be maker.

AND I'M GOING!!!

What was in YOUR email inbox today?  My inbox had a surprise.  An extremely pleasant suprise, from the Maker Faire organizers!  A hopping around in excitement, want to shout at the top of my lungs, big-grin-on-my-face kind of surprise.

I've got a reason to go to the Maker Faire, will blog from the faire, will be introduced to makers and yes, I will blog about them too!

My plan? Volunteer for a couple of days, especially on Thursday, when the school groups come through (love working with the kids).  Then, a day to enjoy the Faire on my own, wandering from booth to booth.

Why volunteer?  Well, it'll hopefully give me the opportunity to learn a few things as I help with demonstrations and workshops with kids.  Volunteering will put me in the middle of all the fun, and require me to focus on tasks for a few hours at a time, instead of simply observing for a few minutes - a better learning situation.

Yes, I'll be travelling alone, but staying with my sibling Joe and his family. I'll take the Caltrain, which will take me right to the San Mateo Convention Center.

Joe is a maker in his own right.  Why do I say that?  Well, thirty-five odd years ago, in a land far, far, away, he was installing everyone's custom stereo configuration.  For fun.  Twenty years ago, I remember everyone I knew with a broken TV taking it to Joe to get it fixed, which he did.  For fun.  So much so, that every time I see a broken TV, especially an expensive broken TV, I immediately suggest... Hey, my brother can take a look at that when he comes down from San Francisco.  And when I go up to the faire, I will hopefully be picking up my (fixed) printer, which he took back with him on his last visit to the Los Angeles area.  In this time of throwaway everything, Joe fixes things.  He orders circuit layouts and solders and tests... SIMPLY BECAUSE HE LIKES TO.

But right now... Got some hopping around to do...  I'm going to the Faire!  I'm going to the Faire!  I'm going to the Maker Faire!

Trish Tsoiasue writes as for Patch and as Handmade Penguin at the Handmade Penguin blog.