Maker: A Documentary Essay

This essay analyzes the documentary film "Maker," focusing on the Maker Movement and its significance. It examines the movement's core principles, including DIY ethos, modern technologies (3D printing, robotics, CNC tools), and open-source collaboration. The essay discusses the Maker Movement's technological underpinnings, its evolution from a counter-culture to a more inclusive movement incorporating traditional crafts, and its impact on contemporary culture, particularly in entrepreneurship and education. The author highlights the Maker Movement's potential to drive innovation, disrupt traditional manufacturing, and foster a more collaborative and creative learning environment. The essay concludes by emphasizing the movement's role in potentially catalyzing a new industrial revolution and its democratizing effect by empowering individuals and communities to create and innovate.

Running head: MAKER: A DOCUMENTARY IN THE MAKER MOVEMENT
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MAKER: A DOCUMENTARY IN THE MAKER MOVEMENT
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University

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MAKER: A DOCUMENTARY IN THE MAKER MOVEMENT
The ‘maker’ is an eminent documentary in the maker movement which was initiated in
America whose debut show was in 2011 (Tsai, 2014). The film is greatly dependent on the
ideology of Do It Yourself (DIY), passion and the modern technologies. The maker movement
which also referred to as the Third World Revolution undermines the traditional manufacturing
mechanisms and emphasizes on more innovative approaches. The maker movement greatly
builds on concepts of local manufacturing, crowd funding, digital fabrication and open source.
The documentary is a sequence of dialogues with the outstanding individuals in the movement
about their views on the future as they presume it to be.
The Technology used in the Maker Movement
The maker movement can be viewed as a subculture emanating from DIY in conjunction
with the modern technologies. The hacker culture is also a component of the Maker since it is
separated from the physical world and pays more attention to software. The Third World
Revolution majorly deals with the engineering related pursuits basically: Computer Numeric
Control tools, robotics, 3-D printing, and electronics (Martin, 2015). The maker subculture is
based on the cut and pastes practice and greatly opposed to the copy and paste technique. For
more success, the modernists just have to borrow a little from the past advancements.
Although the Maker movement was at first a counter practice to the traditional activities,
it has grown more lenient to accommodate them (Dougherty, 2012). This has been enhanced by
the heightened demand for the traditional goods. Woodworking, metal working, arts, and crafts
are the major ancient adoptions in the Third World Revolution. Much attention is paid to

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practical skills and their application using reference devices. The most fundamental goal of the
Maker movement is to create more inventions and novelties.
Source: http://amppob.com/maker-movement-align-stem-education/
The Impact of the Maker on the Contemporary Culture
The impact of the maker movement is not only evident in the industrial fields. It much
pronounced in the entrepreneurship and education sectors (Muro & Hershberg, 2017). Makers
around the world are just a few miles from taking the world through a new industrial revolution.
Through group inspirations, countries have seen the DIY gadgets work to perfection. What
makes the continents more content is the fact that the Maker movement is not dominated by the
multi-million dollar companies (Muro & Hershberg, 2017). The movement is functional even to
the lowest levels of life. Some inventions trace their roots to the most humble backgrounds such

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as homes and garages. The grassroots inventions are the gearing factors to the next industrial
rebirth. Precisely, this disorders the current status quo which help to eliminate monopolies.
In the contemporary circumstances, teaching and learning are assuming a different
perspective (Martin, 2015). The new education systems are much isolated from the olden
practices of rote memorization. The fact that machines are replacing human labor calls for a
more collaborative and creative teaching-learning practices (Martin, 2015). The new form of
learning is likely to significantly contribute to the number of innovations expected in any country
in a given period. Any innovation made not only leads to individual pride but also a communal
sense of achievement. We are only a single step renaissance; innovation is the path towards the
goal.

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References
Dougherty, D. (2012). The Maker Movement. Dale Dougherty is the founder of Make magazine,
the creator of Maker Faire, and the cofounder of O’Reilly Media., 7(3), 11-14.
Martin, L. (2015). The Promise of the Maker Movement for Education. Journal of Pre-College
Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 5(1), 31-37.
Muro, M., & Hershberg, P. (2017, January 4). Five ways the Maker Movement can help catalyze
a manufacturing renaissance. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from The Avenue:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2017/01/04/the-maker-movement-can-
catalyze-a-manufacturing-renaissance/
Tsai, M.-M. (2014, May 12). A documentary on the maker movement and its impact on society,
culture and economy in the U.S. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3758478/