One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to make more more things and I know many others share in the sentiment. 

Starting this Thursday, February 9^th, we will be launching a semester-long, online campaign called “Maker Thursdays!”  It will be a weekly event where people from around the IDIN network and the globe make something, then share and comment on what each other has made.

On Maker Thursdays!, you can make anything at any time - even if it’s a “failure”- just share a photo of it with the broader IDIN network and maker community via the IDIN Facebook page and tell us a bit about it.  The goal is simple: get more people to make stuff and build the digital community of makers. 

Those with an inquisitive mindset might be asking, “but why?”  Why are we making things?  Why are we trying to build community?  And what is the ultimate impact we are hoping to make?

At D-Lab and IDIN, we believe strongly in a methodology called Creative Capacity Building – that anyone has the capacity to create technology and solutions, not just be passive recipients of them.  The first hurdle we have recognized in motivating people to create their own technologies and/or solutions, is to motivate people to simply take time to create and make anything! 

In 2013, the Deloitte Center for the Edge and Maker Media assessed the impact of the Maker Movement at large and published the brief report online here.  The embedded goal of the Maker Movement is “to change the world in some interesting ways that get us toward being more sustainable and thriving.”  In assessing the impact of the Maker Movement, Deloitte and Maker Media discovered there was an entire ecosystem of actors necessary for moving people from zero to maker, from maker to more skilled maker, and then moving a maker to the market.

With Maker Thursdays – we are helping to make the first step into making and participating in the maker community easy.  People can come make something of their own in the workshop with us (from 10am to 12pm EST), participate in a local workshop or event with an innovation center, with another maker group anywhere around the world, or from the safety of their own home.

All you have to do is make something (anything!), post a photo on our IDIN Facebook page what you’ve been making, and comment on someone else’s post too!  Even if you “fail” at making your thing, you can share that too!  Trial and error critical part of making.  And if you can share what you learned from your error, the whole community benefits.

Come join us in the semester of making!  Make something this Thursday and share it on the IDIN Facebook Page!

“I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning…everyday I find something creative to do with it.”

-Miles Davis