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MAKERS AT WORK

Intro

What do you get when you combine an electronics hobbyist, hacker, garage mechanic, kitchen table inventor, tinkerer, and entrepreneur? A “maker,” of course. Playful and creative, makers are—through expertise and experimentation—creating art, products, and processes that are helping change the way all of us think and interact with the world.

As you’ll see from the 21 interviews in Makers at Work, inquisitive makers are just as apt to pick up a laser cutter or an Arduino as a wrench to fashion something new. For example, you’ll meet Jeri Ellsworth, who might provide a video lecture on magnetic logic one day and then another tomorrow on installing a roll bar on a stock car. You’ll also meet Eben Upton, who put cheap, powerful computing in the hands of everyone with the Raspberry Pi; Becky Stern, who jazzes up clothing with sensors and LEDs; and bunnie Huang, who knows the ins and outs of the Shenzhen, China, electronics parts markets as well as anyone. As all the interviews in Makers at Work show, makers have something in common: reverence for our technical past coupled with an aversion to convention. If they can’t invent new processes or products, it’s simply not worth doing.

Makers at Work puts a spotlight on the maker mindset and motivation of those who are reinventing the world one object or idea at a time. You will:

The new masters of the “Makerverse” ask two questions: Can it be done? Is it fun? As these interviews will show, the answer to both questions is, “Let’s find out.”

Interviews

  1. Brad Feld - Foreword
    Partner, Foundry Group
  1. Erik Kettenburg
    Founder, Digistump
  2. Dave Merrill
    CEO, Sifteo
  3. Nathan Seidle
    CEO, Sparkfun Electronics
  4. Laen Park
    Founder, OSHPark
  5. Zach Kaplan
    Co-founder, Inventables
  6. Emile Petrone
    Founder, Tindie
  7. Bunnie Huang
    Founder, Bunnie Studios
  8. Natan Linder
    Founder, FormLabs
  9. Ben Heck
    Host, Ben Heck Show
  10. Becky Stern
    Director of Wearable Electronics, Adafruit
  11. Eric Stackpole
    Founder, OpenROV
  12. Eben Upton
    Founder, Raspberry Pi
  13. Catarina Mota
    Founder, OpenMaterials.org
  14. Ward Cunningham
    Inventor, Wiki
  15. Jeri Ellsworth
    Founder, Technical Illusions
  16. Sylvia Todd
    Maker, sylviashow.com
  17. Dave Jones
    Host, EEVBlog
  18. Bre Pettis
    CEO, Makerbot
  19. Eric Migicovsky
    CEO, Pebble
  20. Ian Lesnet
    Slashdot Troll, Dagerous Prototypes
  21. Massimo Banzi
    Founder, Arduino