Shifting towards community-building in opening up FabLabs for non-expert users

Authors

  • Katrien Dreessen LUCA, School of Arts
  • Selina Schepers LUCA, School of Arts

Abstract

In the early days of Fablabs and other digital fabrication spaces (e.g. hackerspaces, makerspaces), these community spaces that offer public, shared access to high-end manufacturing equipment (e.g. 3D-printers, laser cutters) were often described as having the democratizing potential to empower everyone as future makers. However, research showed that non-expert users are often impeded to engage in such spaces due to various challenges (among other things, the unfamiliarity of available tools and machines, a lack of skills and experience). By describing a case study in which we elucidate different strategies that were used to engage non-expert users in FabLab [anonymized], this paper focuses on the mediating role of the design researchers who bec

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Published

2020-07-01

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2020): Jan/Apr

Section

Open & Distributed + Design & Production

License

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