Making and Engineering: Understanding Similarities and Differences

What is a Maker? People from diverse backgrounds contribute to the emerging community of people of DIY-enthusiasts, tinkerers, and hobbyists. Makers embody the desire for innovation and ingenuity of future engineers. MAKE magazine and Maker Faire events allow others to experience what Makers make, and who they are. What is of particular interest are the similarities between Makers and Engineers. Two open ended question methods were used to define Makers and Engineers. Post-it notes were provided to respondents who were asked What is Making to You? and What is Engineering to You? Their responses were posted on a public wall and later collected for analysis. Select respondents were interviewed and asked how they defined themselves as a Maker and what engineering was to them. These responses were used to characterize both Makers and Engineers. From these methods popular and overlapping concepts were recorded. It was determined that Makers are similar to engineers within a wide variety of subjects. Introduction Makers are a growing community of innovators. A study by MAKE magazine asked Makers how to define themselves with the terms “hobbyist,” “tinkerer,” “engineer,” and “builder” being the most popular. These innovators can provide a new light on engineering education as they express many characteristics of the Engineer of 2012. We further explore differences and similarities between Makers and Engineers. Two approaches were used at annual Maker Faires. For the first approach respondents were provided with post-it notes, asked What is Making to You? and What is Engineering to You? and asked to submit their answers on a public wall. In the second approach select respondents were interviewed and asked to define Makers and Engineers. Responses to both approaches were used to characterize the study groups. The study intended to build upon literature that allows Makers to describe who they are and how they view their trade--“making”--and engineering. Hacker and hobbyist appeared several times in context of making and the maker movement. Makers often referred to engineering as professional or single-output or similar phrases. Despite this a common theme of building and innovating was expressed in both descriptions. It would seem that the means of making and engineering differ but the general goal overlaps. The following methods describe in further depth the results and analysis of the respondents. P ge 24881.2 Makers Reflecting About Makers The definition of Making was captured via an ad-hoc approach at the September 2013 World Maker Faire New York. Respondents were asked What is Making to You? and to contribute their answers to a public wall. This method provided insight to the different personalities and ideas within the Maker community as well as defining making by their common conceptions of its members. Sample Responses: What is Making to You? From the public wall 143 responses were taken. After removing 27 non sequitur answers (scribbles, names, etc.), 116 post-its remained. Example submissions are listed in Table 1. Table 1. Example Submissions to What is Making to You? § To create or make a goal § Innovation through expression § Creating something and going through challenges to get an end product § Even if you make a mistake you could make something even bigger and better Word Frequency Analysis: What is Making to You? The analysis of the submissions focused on word frequencies in the responses. Patterns from the word frequency analysis would indicate a pattern in participants’ perceptions, leading to a definition for making. Below in Table 2 is a breakdown of the most common nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Table 2. Word frequencies of submissions to What is Making to You? Nouns Rank Nouns Freq. 1 Something (DO 5 / 6) 6 2 Creativity 4 Ideas 4 Life 4 Things (DO 4 / 4) 4 6 Everything 3 Freedom 3 Imagination 3 Innovation 3 Maker Faire 3 note: DO means it was used as a Direct Object (Number of Times/Total Occurrences) Verbs Rank Verbs Freq. 1 Creating 8 2 Making 6 3 Doing 5 4 Being 3 Building 3 Inventing 3 Make 3 Adjectives Rank Adjectives Freq. 1 Fun 7 2 Creative 4 3 Awesome 3 New 3 Responses to What is Making to You? tended to have something to do with creating some fun thing. Creativity, ideas, life, everything, freedom, imagination, innovation, and Maker Faire were all commonly used nouns that were not also direct objects. Many of these words refer to P ge 24881.3 making new things--creativity, ideas, imagination, innovation. Except for being all of the verbs are action verbs, associating making with taking actions. The common adjectives fun, creative, awesome, and new can be associated to the hobbyist description Makers gave themselves in the MAKE magazine study. Figure 1 shows a word cloud that increases the font size of popular words from the survey. Figure 1. Word cloud of responses to What is Making to You? A common theme throughout many of the post-it submissions is the use of ambiguous direct objects something and things. This shows that making is not directed towards a single trade or subject, but rather a multitude of possibilities. Makers Reflecting About Engineers In addition to capturing the definition of Making an ad-hoc approach at the September 2013 World Maker Faire New York was used to capture how Makers defined Engineering. Respondents were asked What is Engineering to You? and to post their answers on a public wall using the provided post-it notes. This method would show how different Makers viewed the Engineering profession and common beliefs among members. Sample Responses: What is Engineering to You? From the public wall 142 responses were taken. After removing 18 non sequitur answers (scribbles, names, etc.), 134 post-its remained. Example submissions are listed in Table 3. Table 3. Example Submissions to What is Engineering to You? § An engineer is a machine for converting coffee into working prototypes § My dad teaching us how to build cool things § Making something from nothing § The embodiment of making and ingenuity P ge 24881.4 Word Frequency Analysis: What is Engineering to You? Similar to What is Making to You?, the analysis of the responses focused on word frequencies. Patterns indicate a common perception among participants, leading to a definition for engineering among Makers. Below in Table 4 is a breakdown of the most common nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Table 4. Word frequencies of submissions to What is Engineering to You? Nouns Rank Nouns Freq. 1 Thing(s) (DO 6/8) 8 2 Stuff (DO 4/7) 7 3 Job 6 4 Art 5 5 Math 5 6 Dad 3 Life 3 Major 3 No Sleep 3 Physics 3 Something (DO 1/3) 3 Verbs Rank Verbs Freq. 1 Making 10 2 Creating 5 3 Building 3 Make 3 Adjectives Rank Adjectives Freq. 1 Fun 7 2 Awesome 3 Cool 3 Responses to What is Engineering to You? tended to have something to do with making fun things. Job, art, math, dad, life, major, no sleep, and physics were all commonly used nouns that were not also direct objects. Many of these words refer to more professional or time-intensive activities. All of the common verbs are action verbs, implying that engineering involves taking actions to accomplish something. The common adjectives fun, awesome, and cool can be associated with the output of engineering and inventions that come from the profession. Figure 2 shows a word cloud similar to that of Figure 1, referring to responses from What is Engineering to You? Figure 2. Word cloud of responses to What is Engineering to You? P ge 24881.5 The post-it submissions exhibited the common theme of ambiguous direct objects thing(s), stuff, and something. This gives a view that engineering has a wide degree of focuses. Interviewing Makers During the September 2012 World Maker Faire New York select attendees were interviewed regarding their projects, how they reached their goals (or are planning to), and their opinion of the Making community. From these interviews responses concerning what making is and what engineering is were collected for this analysis. This method provided a more in depth discussion on the differences and similarities between making and engineering according to Makers.