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Making, fabbing, tinkering: New approaches to learning by doing

There is a novel approach to the design of exhibitions and to the vulgarization of science.

The Fab Lab movement, initiated by MIT researcher Neil Gershenfeld in the late 90s is starting to have an impact on the way interactive exhibitions are conceived. Laser-cutters and 3D-printers in combination with open-source software are the symbols of a post-industrial way of “production on demand”. It is a seductive thought that today we can “make almost anything” if we just use the commonly available tools and the information circulating in the world (wide web).

But it is not the availability of technical means alone, and the activism of “making” that opens new horizons for museum and teaching professionals. It is also the spirit of participation, customization and individualization which, for better or worse, entered with the spread of digital global networks, and which shifts perspectives. Three phenomena are linked to:

-Visitors increasingly become creators of their own knowledge. -Exhibitions are perceived as personal experiences. -Self-organisation opens the door to open-ended activities

Working in the field of science communication, what can we draw from that? The above mentioned changes in the role of visitors (and curators, and designers) open a universe of new ways to conceive exhibits, and they give hints in which direction museums and similar institutions could head in the future.

This session is intended to DISPLAY some of the possibilities (and difficulties!?) of making, tinkering and fabbing in museums, exhibitions and other learning environments. A set of presentations will mainly focus on existing examples and ongoing projects.

But the session is also conceived to COLLECT open questions and even particular challenges from the audience and use them as raw material or stimuli for further EXPLORATION during ECSITE 2013.This will be possible in situ, at the Maker Space set up by us during the conference.

Facilitator

experience designer
KarekDesign
Cracow
Poland

Session speakers

Scenographer
jh Museum & exhibition design
Erlangen
Germany
Director, The Tinkering Studio
San Francisco
United States
Project manager
Grenoble
France

Session speakers

Scenographer
jh Museum & exhibition design
Erlangen
Germany
Director, The Tinkering Studio
San Francisco
United States
Project manager
Grenoble
France