Hey, "makerspaces under pressure to revamp business models"

(Paywall-free popularization like this is what I do for a living. To support me, see the end of this post)

Check here, please.

Makerspaces are “under pressure to transform their business models or face closing shop”. Because of money, or course. Lack of money. Many makerspaces worldwide, not just in Canada,

  • “tried hard to find a sustainable business model over the years, experimenting with pricing and a variety of services, but ultimately it proved too difficult”
  • found themselves “impossible to sustain without outside subsidy from cities, companies and foundations, often in the form of memberships, training grants and sponsored programs”

Even Maker Media, the company “considered central to the maker movement”, closed earlier this year.

The solution? Easy:

“The maker community needs to look beyond people who self-identify as makers, creating a model that reaches and adapts to a wider community”.

Been there, studied that

Hey, "makerspaces under pressure to revamp business models" /img/didiy-manifesto.jpg

I am obviously biased. But that whole article is a proof that we of the DiDIY (Digital DIY) Project were looking in the right direction. To see what we found out and proposed, start from the links below. Then, contact me to know more, get in touch with team members and discover what some of us are still doing in the same space!

Who writes this, why, and how to help

I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.

To this end, I have already shared more than a million words on this blog, without any paywall or user tracking, and am sharing the next million through a newsletter, also without any paywall.

The more direct support I get, the more I can continue to inform for free parents, teachers, decision makers, and everybody else who should know more stuff like this. You can support me with paid subscriptions to my newsletter, donations via PayPal (mfioretti@nexaima.net) or LiberaPay, or in any of the other ways listed here.THANKS for your support!