engineering

Maker Faire

Maker Faire is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Maker Faire rather than just read about it. In short: Maker Faire is a convention of do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts established by Make magazine in 2006. Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture.

Key takeaways

Maker Faire belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Maker Faire to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Maker Faire from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Maker Faire is a convention of do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts established by Make magazine in 2006. Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture. At these Maker Faires all ages come together to display their creations or host "hands on workshops". The Maker Movement directly inspired these Maker Faires, a movement highlighting "innovation and creativity". The Maker movement stemmed from all the tech innovations coming out in 2005. Dale Dougherty found an "artificial loneliness to creating cool new stuff". Making was an individual process, but it didn't have to stay this way. Dougherty wanted to merge the display aspect of a museum and the interactive nature of talking to the creator. Dougherty's vision for a cohesive community, was brought to life after multiple successful Maker Faires.

History In 2005, Dale Dougherty founded the magazine Make: as a quarterly publication with Tim O’Reilly. The first Make: magazine was published in 2005 and the first Maker Faire took place in 2006 in San Mateo. Over the next 13 years, this inaugural maker faire expanded to more than 200 licensed Maker Faires in more than 40 countries. Dale Dougherty convened the first Maker Faire in 2006 in San Mateo, California, drawing a crowd of 20,000. Maker Media Inc. went out of business in June 2019, and Dale Dougherty rebranded as Make Community.

Maker Faires in the US

Flagship Maker Faires The Flagship Maker Faire (Bay Area) was held in San Mateo, California and a second is in New York City. The last Bay Area Maker Faire was held in 2019. The Maker Faire Bay Area was not held in 2020. This was due to the potential impact of coronavirus as well as the 2019 transition of Maker Media to Make: Community. A revived Bay Area Maker Faire started in October 2023 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California. The New York Maker Faire is also known as the "World Maker Faire". The New York City Faire was cancelled in 2019 due to financial difficulties. The most recent New York City Faire was held in Coney Island in 2023.

Past US events

2008 Maker Faire 2008 was held on May 3–4, 2008, at the San Mateo County Event Center. Highlights of the Faire included a human-sized Mouse Trap board game, kinetic squid sculpture, 55' wingspan kinetic steel butterfly, bicycle-powered music stage, a solar-powered chariot pulled by an Arnold Schwarzenegger robot, and over 500 other booths from different makers. There were approximately 65,000 people in attendance. Featured guests included Adam Savage, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Lee David Zlotoff, Tony Baxter and Eepybird. An additional 2008 Maker Faire was held on October 18–19, 2008, in Austin, Texas.

2009-2011 In the US, the 2009 Maker Faire Rhode Island was scheduled for September 6–19. The first Maker Faire North Carolina was held on April 25, 2010, in Durham, North Carolina. It moved to Raleigh, North Carolina for 2011.

2014 White House Maker Faire On June 18, 2014, President Obama hosted the first-ever (and only thus far) White House Maker Faire. At this inaugural White House Maker Faire, former President Obama admired the 30-plus “inspiring and creative inventions”. This maker movement was created by more than 100 “students, entrepreneurs, engineers, and researchers from 25 states” who focus on “making stuff”.

2020 Maker Faire XV was held online.

2021 Capitol Hill Maker Faire On September 20, 2021, Capitol Hill hosted its annual Maker Faire, celebrating the maker movement. Supported by the Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS), museums and libraries promote makerspaces and programs to foster design thinking and project-based learning. The IMLS also funds research and practices to strengthen education.

Government Sponsorship The White House Maker Faire in 2014 marked a significant time of federal recognition for the Maker movement. The Obama administration supported, advancing STEM education and expanding entrepreneurship opportunities through this Maker Faire. Following the event the Obama administration launched the "Nation of Makers" initiative, which included a $2.5 million competition to encourage the expansion of makerspaces. Government also supported the growth of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Worldwide Maker Faires Maker Faires are also held in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Ghana Afrigadget, a website dedicated to African Ingenuity, was created by Erik Hersman in 2006 just a few months after Make Magazine and the first Maker Faire Africa took place in Ghana in 2009. United Kingdom The first Maker Faire in the United Kingdom took place on March 14–15, 2009, in Newcastle upon Tyne, as a joint venture with the Newcastle ScienceFest. Canada In 2010, Canada had their first Mini Maker Faire in Ottawa, Ontario on November 6–7. China Maker Faire has spread worldwide, and the first Maker Faire in Hong Kong was held in 2014. The next year it grew significantly and was organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, led by Dr. Clifford Choy from the university's School of Design in November 2015 as well as in April 2017. Egypt In 2015, the US Embassy in Cairo and Fab Lab Egypt started organizing Maker Faire Cairo that received thousands of visitors.

Mini Maker Faires

Make Magazine assists independent event organizers in producing small-scale Maker Faire events in local communities. In 2011, Mini Maker Faires were held in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), the United Kingdom (Brighton) and a number of cities in the USA: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; Bend, Oregon; Oakland, California; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Fishers, Indiana; Providence, Rhode Island; Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; Poulsbo, Washington, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Linthicum, Maryland; Westport, Connecticut; Louisville, Kentucky; and Urbana, Illinois.

School Maker Faires Schools can also host Maker Faires. Elementary schools use Maker Faires as a means of experiential learning, showcasing student work. These events are interactive, allowing attendees, students and teachers to make. The growing Maker Movement in education has inspired a vision for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The NGSS is a K-12 content standards that encourages interactive learning through the practices of science and engineering.

See also Makezine Maker culture Power Racing Series

References

External links

Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maker Faire

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maker Faire claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Maker Faire before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Maker Faire ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Maker Faire

In research: Maker Faire appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Maker Faire in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Maker Faire is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 establishments in California, DIY culture, Festivals in Austin, Texas, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maker Faire outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Maker Faire in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Maker Faire means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Maker Faire out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Maker Faire in simple terms?

Why does Maker Faire matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Maker Faire?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Maker Faire.