Did you know that BMCC has a Makerspace available to all faculty and students? You have probably heard the word Makerspace in recent years, and you might have taken a moment to wonder: what is a Makerspace exactly?

By their very nature, Makerspace communities are geared towards interdisciplinary learning. Here at BMCC, we very much encourage students and faculty from all disciplines to make use of this very valuable resource. In this post, we will give an overview of Makerspace culture, and how the Makerspace can be used in different fields of studies. At current, the physical Makerspace has been closed, but we have curated a wealth of virtual resources that can be accessed anytime and anywhere– we will be highlighting them more in a second post.

A Makerspace is a place meant to encourage people to create, experiment, and develop ideas. Makerspaces are part research lab, part classroom, part studio, and provide tools and lessons on how to use them.

These can be analog tools like markers, paint and paper, electronic ones like the Arduino microcontroller, LEDs and sensors, or fabrication tools like sewing machines, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, and 3D Printers! No two Makerspaces are ever truly alike, even if they house the same exact equipment. Because it’s not just the tools that make the Makerspace, it’s also the community of people that built, maintain, and use it.

Makerspace culture is very much a collaborative one. You may have heard of the term Open Source, which is a type of program whose source code was meant to be improved, studied, and shared with its users. A Makerspace can be thought of as the physical equivalent of Open Source software: a place where people can share, study, and build upon ideas and skills. It’s a community whose members may have different backgrounds or skill levels, but share a love of learning and creating. The professional, hobbyist, and curious guest come together – perhaps to learn how to make a circuit board, how to make a neat toy using 3D printing, or even how to sew and upcycle old clothing and bedding into tote bags… just to name a few possibilities.

This DIY and collaborative mindset is a feature of the wider Maker culture, as you’ll find by exploring these resources:

• Make Magazine managed to break into the physical with print and their yearly Maker Faires.
• Instructables provides a platform to share projects from different kinds of makers.
• Thingiverse and WeArePrintLab are focused on 3D modeling/printing
• Arduino, Sparkfun, and Adafruit sell physical computing components, and have an educational and project ideas section.

Given that the ideal Maker community is one of curious and passionate people of differing expertise, interdisciplinary learning is part and parcel of the Makerspace. Some examples that come to mind are:

• Wearable technology can be integrated into costumes for the performing arts
• Laser cut fabrics and laser etched leather in costume or fashion design
• Video and projection mapping could be integrated into set design
• Using paper prototyping  and laser cutting to create a board game to teach others about Regions in the United States
• Using Google Maps and their VR Tour Creator, students could create a visual tour in lieu of just a History or Geography paper.
• Teaching math students X and Y axes by creating and programming their own game controllers.
• 3D modelling and printers can recreate monuments in smaller scales and molecules at much larger scales.
• Creating  topographic or bathymetric maps with laser cutters or CNC routers
• Designing a piece to laser etch historical quotes or self-created poetry.
• Dioramas that use laser etched, vinyl cut, or 3D printed elements, as well as traditional media
• Designing zines, or even stop motion animations inspired by stories, characters, or historical events (or more!
• Designing objects related to a character in a story (for English/Literature focused disciplines) using laser cutting or 3D modeling and printing
• Or  literal tools/artifacts or fossils using laser cutting or 3D modeling and printing. The Praxis Lab (Formerly MLab) created maker kits based on historical patents and objects. More on that, as well as a repository info here.
• The Smithsonian has 3D scanned some of their objects in their collections for 3D print, as well as there is an open source model of the famous bust of Nefertiti.
• You go even further, from jewelry design to props, to artifacts, using said 3D modeling or certain laser cut objects as a blank for casting molds.
• Prototype solutions for historical problems, or recreate historical structures in 3D or using laser cut materials.

At BMCC, the Makerspace has been used by students and faculty across departments. While we are highlighting what we’ve done before closing, we are now making the shift to converting some of these into virtual classes. So far:

• We teamed up with Dr. Azhar from the Computer Science Department and hosted a workshop where students learned some basic digital fabrication and programming concepts. Students each designed their own letter to be cut on the vinyl cutter and attached it to their robot. They would then have to navigate the room to spell out the phrase “Love Robots”.

• Students and faculty together learned the basics of 3D modeling and designed their own personal keychain– a fun way of understanding the basics of 3D design to help spark future ideas!
  

•  While unable to print, we have successfully hosted this workshop fully online with the browser-based Tinkercad software. Because there weren’t print limitations, many of the students were able to get more creative!

• Students in the MMA100 – Foundations of Digital Graphic Design class designed landscape dioramas using paper and a  vinyl cutter.

• In MEA 211 – Introduction to Digital Fabrication and Physical Computing, students designed and fabricated original characters, building them in a range of materials, from paper silhouettes to printed 3D models. (Images following courtesy of Westley Barcliff)

• Students from several other departments come together in the Makerspace Club, Using the skills they learned to design and laser cut and etch jewelry.

This is by no means a definitive list, but a stepping stone in hopes of kickstarting your own ideas with your respective program. In the next part of this blog post, we will be covering our resources and ways you might want to utilize the Makerspace for your future projects!

Stay tuned for the second installment of this Makerspace blog post where we will explore the resources (both virtual and physical) the BMCC Makerspace has to offer.