About Maui Makers
Maui Makers values individual initiative and individual style. We are radically inclusive and open to all. You don’t need any special skills (although we bet you have some) to join, just enthusiasm and a desire to actively participate in this grand experiment to reinvent your world.
So what is this Maker thing about? What do you make?
We make anything, from anything. We embrace the idea that is a fundamental human need and that everyone is a maker. It’s not just about the high tech stuff like 3d-printing (although we enjoy that), it’s about unleashing your individual creative to solve problems and make the world a better place. To help you do this, we strive to create a local ecosystem that provides you with the tools, space, shared knowledge and community.
Our online presence
Our website (and associated blog) is the focal point for getting the word out about what’s up. We also maintain a google group for email discussions, a FaceBook group for sharing ideas and discussion and a Facebook page for staying up to date on what’s new, and a (not very active) twitter account (@MauiMaker). There is also our Flickr stream.
There is an overlap of interests between Maui Makers and the Maui Techies group on TechHui.
The business end of things
Maui Makers incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non profit in 2014. Please consider donating time or energy. We hope to have a volunteer contact form soon, but for now email info@mauimakers.com.
Our Mission. Maui Makers facilitates innovation and creativity by providing tools, experience, and mentoring, for project-based learning. We offer a Makerspace – a physical location where people gather to create, invent, and learn with our shared resources. We provide interesting and exciting classes, workspaces, technical assistance, encouragement, and direction. We serve our members by helping them achieve goals by advancing skills and entrepreneurship.
Why Join Maui Makers?
A Maker Space provides shared physical resources otherwise unaffordable or unattainable by an individual. It also provides a dynamic workspace with access to collaboration, inspiration and encouragement of others. The idea is similar to “business incubators” or “co-working” spaces, although instead of offering an office space, Maker Spaces provide a group project workshop.
What is a Maker Space?
There are hundreds of related spaces and groups around the world, know variously as a Makerspace, Hackerspace, Fab Lab, or TechShop, with various business styles, focus and areas of interest.
The Fab Lab grew from an MIT class “How to make (almost) anything.” and retains an academic focus as it has spread around the world. Neil Gershenfeld documents the Fab Lab in his book “FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop–From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication“ and articulates it well in a 2006 TED talk. The US Fab Lab Network (USFLN) is a loose association of these in the USA. Most Fab Labs are associated with a college, university or an established community organization. A general tenet of a Fab Lab is public access, and public sharing of anything created. That is, it may NOT be a good place to start a proprietary business.
Hackerspaces are a more organically grown approach, created by a group of friends with the idea of a shared workshop/clubhouse. Makerspace is pretty much the same thing with a possibly easier name for some people to accept. There are as many variations of Hackerspace as there are spaces – and there are hundreds around the world. There is a great collection space design patterns on the Hackerspace.org wiki.
TechShop is a commercial franchise variation. There are a small number of these in operation, mostly in the San Francisco Bay area. They require a LARGE capital investment with lots of equipment available. Very cool places…but not practical for Maui.
For more on Makers, check out these videos:
Dale Dougherty: We are makers
PBS Newshour: “Can DIY Movement Fix a Crisis in U.S. Science Education?”.
Mythbusters’ Savage on Finding the Fun and the “Danger” in Science