Critical Making with a Raspberry Pi - Towards a Conceptualization of Librarians as Makers

摘要

Makerspaces, designated spaces to foster creativity andrntechnology skills, are increasingly being incorporated intornlibraries. Although makerspaces in libraries are depictedrnpositively in the literature and are praised by professionalrnorganizations, there is little exploration of the acculturationrnthat results as libraries and makerspaces learn to coexist. Inrnkeeping with Matt Ratto’s model of “critical making,” wernused the process of collaboratively building an interactivernReaders’ Advisory Device (RAD) that runs on a RaspberryrnPi computer to elicit introspection. In this poster werndescribe how our interdisciplinary group faced challengesrnworking with unfamiliar tools and technology through arnnon-hierarchical, collaborative, and iterative process,rnseeking knowledge and skills from the maker community.rnWe then engaged the wider community around both howrnand why we developed this device by exhibiting it at arnMaker Faire. Our experience taught us about the makingrnprocess and helped us think critically about the intersectionrnof libraries and makerspace cultural values. We found thatrnmaking is as much an act of networking as of creation.