Makers: The New Industrial Revolution
The general argument of the book was that, as can be inferred from the title, the author believes we are entering a third industrial revolution. He believes that the third industrial revolution is around ‘digital manufacturing’. Essentially, he believes that services around fabrication tools such as 3-D printers, which allow anyone with an idea and modeling software to produce their invention, will accelerate innovation.
The ideas this book focuses on are a relevant part of entrepreneurship in some cases. The author’s focus is mostly on the power of rapid prototyping regarding fabrication, which applies to physical innovations but not to most forms of software applications and services. Innovation is an important part of entrepreneurship and is presented as such by this class and so being able to rapidly prototype physical products can be related to the concepts of the class.
A somewhat unrealistic exercise I think could be based around the concepts of this book would be for everyone in the class to attend a Maker Fair. While there they would need to find a product that someone has designed and fabricated using rapid prototyping and write about the process the makers went through and how they plan to go from a 3d printed prototype to market.
I was surprised to see that in the second chapter of the book the author uses an excerpt from the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson that I read earlier this semester for this class. He uses the excerpt to describe Stewart Brand’s role in the origins of what he calls the ‘Maker Movement’. The author believes the principles of Jobs’ Homebrew Computer Club are now replicated in modern Makerspaces.
Hi Justin! I think this book is very interesting, as well. The idea of rapid prototyping is crazy to me, as years ago we would have never had the resources to do so. The fact that we, as college students, can do this sort of thing whenever is amazing. I think that your assignment idea is awesome, considering it will give students hands-on experience. I myself have never been to a Maker Fair, and it's something I have always wanted to do. Great job!
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