In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the “maker movement” – a trend of people using technology to create things. This isn’t a new idea, but it has become more popular due to the availability of digital tools. Different groups of makers have formed their own spaces where they can work together and share ideas. This can lead to many opportunities, such as learning new skills, expressing oneself, or contributing to technology innovation and public discussions. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to these maker spaces, which can be a disadvantage. In the project FEM*mad (2019-2022), and in the follow-up project All*Makers (ongoing), we investigate the gender gap in makerspace use, and propose strategies, technologies, and best practices to close this gap.
Verena Fuchsberger, Dorothé Smit, Nathalia Campreguer França, Cornelia Gerdenitsch, Olivia Jaques, Joanna Kowolik, Georg Regal, and Emma Roodbergen. 2023. Heterogeneity in making: Findings, approaches, and reflections on inclusivity in making and makerspaces. Frontiers in Human Dynamics 4. Retrieved February 26, 2023 from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2022.1070376
Verena Fuchsberger, Dorothé Smit, Nathalia Campreguer França, Georg Regal, Stefanie Wuschitz, Barbara Huber, Joanna Kowolik, Laura Devendorf, Elisa Giaccardi, and Ambra Trotto. 2022. Making Access: Increasing Inclusiveness in Making. In Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 89, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3503696
Nathalia Campreguer França, Dorothé Smit, Stefanie Wuschitz, and Verena Fuchsberger. 2021. “The Women* Who Made It: Experiences from Being a Woman* at a Maker Festival” Sustainability 13, no. 16: 9361. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169361
Dorothé Smit and Verena Fuchsberger. 2020. Sprinkling Diversity: Hurdles on the Way to Inclusiveness in Makerspaces. In Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society (NordiCHI ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 96, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420070
