Fab Labs

The digital economy is now expanding rapidly, and is starting to overturn the past achievements of the Industrial Revolution. Initially engaging in the world of services, it is now turning to the manufacture of objects. Just as microcomputing evolved from large scale computing to more personal use, and as the Internet left behind the world of armies and universities to become universal, industrial production is gradually becoming directly controlled by individuals. This appropriation is being done either on a personal level, or, more significantly, within local or planetary communities: Fab Labs. These digital fabrication laboratories offer workshops to members of the public where all sorts of tools are available (including 3D printers, laser cutters and sanders) for the design and creation of personalized objects. The bringing together of various users (amateurs, designers, artists, dabblers , etc.) and possibilities for collaboration lies at the heart of these open-access productive spaces. This book covers a range of advances in this new personal fabrication and various issues that it has raised, especially in terms of the alternatives to salaried work, intellectual property, ecological openings and the hitherto unseen structuring of societies.

The digital economy is now expanding rapidly, and is starting to overturn the past achievements of the Industrial Revolution. Initially engaging in the world of services, it is now turning to the manufacture of objects. Just as microcomputing evolved from large scale computing to more personal use, and as the Internet left behind the world of armies and universities to become universal, industrial production is gradually becoming directly controlled by individuals. This appropriation is being done either on a personal level, or, more significantly, within local or planetary communities: Fab Labs.These digital fabrication laboratories offer workshops to members of the public where all sorts of tools are available (including 3D printers, laser cutters and sanders) for the design and creation of personalized objects. The bringing together of various users (amateurs, designers, artists, "dabblers", etc.) and possibilities for collaboration lies at the heart of these open-access productive spaces.This book covers a range of advances in this new personal fabrication and various issues that it has raised, especially in terms of the alternatives to salaried work, intellectual property, ecological openings and the hitherto unseen structuring of societies.

Preface viiIntroduction xiChapter 1. Fab Labs: Observations on a Topical Phenomenon 11.1. Origins and an attempt at a definition 11.1.1. The origins: a concept from MIT 11.1.2. Definition of a Fab Lab 41.2. Current state of distribution 121.2.1. Deployment in industrialized countries 131.2.2. Deployment in developing countries 181.3. Constitution and operation of a Fab Lab 191.3.1. Varied user profiles 201.3.2. The main equipment in a Fab Lab 231.3.3. From the creative idea to prototyping: a collaborative process 261.4. Factors of success and sustainability of a Fab Lab 301.4.1. Members' motivation 321.4.2. The relationship to innovation 331.4.3. Constitution of self-learning communities 411.5. A moving community: the makers 49Chapter 2. The Emergence of the New Production System of Personal Fabrication 512.1. A new time for digital revolution 522.1.1. From the 19th Century revolution of the invention 542.1.2. to the 21st Century inventor-entrepreneur 562.1.3. The revolution in personal production 582.2. The rise of a new economic model 642.2.1. Links with the previous model, the centralized industrial economy 662.2.2. Breaking with the old model of centralized industrial economy 722.3. Innovation by the user 792.3.1. The distinctive identity of the user 802.3.2. The principled substrate of the new innovation model 852.4. The challenged economic system 922.4.1. Are owners still needed? 922.4.2. How can polluting emissions be reduced effectively? 932.4.3. Employment is dead, long live work! 952.4.4. From the vertical public to horizontal community 972.5. Conclusion: everything needs to be reinvented 1012.5.1. The issue of ownership 1012.5.2. The issue of subordination 1032.5.3. The issue of measurement 103Conclusion 107Bibliography 109Index 121