ABSTRACT

Using ethnographic methods to investigate the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected two Makerspaces, we discuss the limits of the Maker movement’s ideological foundations. Both spaces moved their activities online but differ in their engagement with Corona-specific projects: While the eLab Berlin decided to avoid any involvement due to legal and practical issues, the South London Makerspace produced face shields using 3D printing and laser cutting processes. Across these differences in engagement, our main argument is that the pandemic caused, in both cases, a shock of the real, for the Maker ideology: Individually, the spaces’ members were shocked at what the pandemic meant for the limits of their practice. From a more macro perspective, there was a shock of the real for the entire movement as a whole as the pandemic revealed the limits of its claims; the idea that the Maker movement can develop fast creative ideas and physical prototypes, which can then be scaled-up in production and, therefore, restructure manufacturing processes on a societal level.

摘要

我们使用人种学方法调查 COVID-19 大流行对两个 Makerspace 的影响方式，讨论了 Maker 运动意识形态基础的局限性。这两个空间都将他们的活动转移到网上，但在参与 Corona 特定项目方面有所不同：虽然柏林 eLab决定避免任何参与，但由于法律和实际问题，伦敦南部的 Makerspace使用 3D 打印和激光切割工艺生产面罩。在参与度的这些差异中，我们的主要论点是，在这两种情况下，大流行都造成了真实的震惊。，对于 Maker 意识形态：就个人而言，空间的成员对大流行对他们实践的限制意味着什么感到震惊。从更宏观的角度来看，整个运动都受到了真实的冲击，因为大流行揭示了其主张的局限性；创客运动可以开发出快速的创意和物理原型的想法，然后可以在生产中扩大规模，从而在社会层面重组制造流程。