D3.1: case study on 10 different Maker initiatives

Want to know more about Maker initiatives? How they are organized? How the Maker community forms around the initiative and how makers learn from each other? Which values are important and which impact is created in Maker initiatives?

These are the fundamental research questions that we have addressed in case studies in 10 different Maker initiatives in Europe. We have conducted in total 39 interviews with managers of these initiatives and makers which build the basis for in-depth case descriptions that range from Makerspaces and Fab Labs such as Fab Lab Barcelona in Spain, Happylab Vienna in Austria, DTI Fab Lab in Denmark, HRW Fab Lab and Dezentrale in Germany, and Fab Lab Zagreb in Croatia to companies operating at the interface between making and industry, such as Arduino in Italy, Smart Bending Factory in the Netherlands and Create It Real in Denmark and a Maker Faire, namely the Mini Maker Faire Tartu in Estonia.

We just released the results of the case study in Deliverable D3.1 here below or also on its page, where you can also comment it.

Furthermore, you can read more about in the deliverables here below and on the MAKE-IT process page.

D3.1 Report on case study findings, focusing on individual case analysis

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D3.1 Report on case study findings, focusing on individual case analysis

Based on the three research streams established in D2.1, this deliverable (D3.1) applies the recommended re- search questions through semi-structured interviews, conducted in a similar fashion across all 10 research cases. Chapter 2 describes the methodology in detail: the research process, the purposeful sampling and re- search ethics. All ten cases have been carefully selected to capture the diversity of the Maker movement along two dimensions: innovation objectives (including social and commercial innovations) and scope of awareness (ran- ging from individual or group challenges to societal challenges). For data collection we have developed a case research toolkit that comprises interview guidelines, self-reporting sheets and case description templates (c.f. chapter 3). We conducted 3-4 interviews for each case, aiming to obtain an optimum of information variance consciously selecting four types of interviewees: (1) Maker initiative managers, being mainly intermediaries, providers of infrastructures and facilitators; (2) Makers with a commercial orientation, being sources for un- derstanding commercial sustainability of maker initiatives; (3) Makers with a primarily social orientation, be - ing examples for possible change models in terms of life styles such as personalisation of objects but also in terms of changing the bigger picture of production and value chains; and (4) Female makers, in order to ensure a fair representation, and counter-balance in our research the gender gap existing in the Maker movement.

The main contribution of the deliverable is an overview of how maker initiatives use Collective Awareness Plat - form (CAPs) for governance, collaboration and value creation. The richness of the interviews, reflected in the consolidated case analyses, is also a valuable foundation for the follow up cross-case analysis in D3.2.

Download File MAKE-IT_D3.1_02.pdf – 3 MB

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D3.1 Report on case study findings, focusing on individual case analysis

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