Awesome 3D printing video
PrintHat tip to Librarian in Black for pointing me at this awesome video explaining the importance of 3D printing. I’ve been talking about 3D printing on and off for a long time (the first post on my blog about 3D printing was in October 2006). This gives a good overview of the reason that this is a Very Big Deal.
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So awesome. I love the idea
So awesome. I love the idea of Digitial Alchemy!
Excellent video. We have been
Excellent video. We have been working on the Fablab concept here for awhile. Our librarian has been helping, because she is awesome, but I had never thought about a library as a potential location. Thanks for helping me think “outside the box”.
When the start of the video
When the start of the video said something to the effect of 3D printing and fab labs are going to be on the level of the internet, I thought, “here we go with the hyperbole”. However, after watching the entire video I am equally impressed and intrigued. This sort of hands on design and rapid prototyping gives way to a whole new world of production and manufacturing.
It took me a while to see how this was going to tie into libraries, but then the dots were connected and it seemed obvious. When I think of the term “library” the word “sharing” is one of the first to pop into my head. Where else should this sort of collaborative sharing take place then in our public libraries? I look forward to seeing how the fab lab turns out at the Fayetteville Free Library.
Public Libraries as Hackerspaces Avant la Lettre
Thanks for highlighting our project. We're glad to know others are on the same page. It is stunning to see the way that hackerspaces have popped up everywhere in the last few years. To my knowledge there were none in the US (lots in Europe) before 2007. The last time I checked (a couple months ago) there were 99 in the US with dozen's more in the works. What is interesting is that many of these hackerspaces are being started the same way that many of our current public libraries were started a hundred+ years ago, as private/membership models that wanted to create a new way to share things and enrich each other. To my knowledge there is not yet a truly publicly funded hackerspace, but my prediction is that over the next ten years or so as communities across the country see the value in these kinds of spaces many of them will become public. Already the governing hacker ethic is public-leaning. For example at our local hackerspace non-members can still come and do anything they want provide they have a member with them to unlock the doors. But the funding right now is all membership-based. I'd love to see a 3D printer in every public library in the US within the next 5 years, and I'd love to see at least one full-blown public hackerspace/FabLab in every city. The ethic is the same as public libraries, in fact, public libraries have always been a kind of hackerspace avant la lettre. Second Life is test driving the future. Pretty soon Second Life will be real life.