International Conference on Maker Cultures

The 1st International Conference on Maker Cultures was held at Concordia University in Montreal, from November 17 to 19 2018. This unprecedented event will brought together top international scholars studying maker cultures to engage in a deep discussion around five crucial themes: the corporatization of maker culture, cultural inclusion and exclusion, making as learning, critical making and design education, maker cultures in everyday life.

Our event was composed of three integral components:

1.  The implication of our invited speakers and guests in the activities of the Montreal Maker Faire itself, which served as applied examples for the high level discussions during the Maker Cultures conference.

2.  Public symposium featuring our invited speakers. This consisted of a full day of public talks in 120 seat lecture theatres. 

3.  One-day workshop following the symposium on November 19, which brought together invited speakers and participants in an intimate workshop to both assess the state of current scholarship on maker culture and to map collaborative research opportunities and pathways for a future partnership grant.

The overarching objective of the Maker Cultures conference was to advance knowledge across the disciplines of education, sociology, fine arts and design, information science, and humanities and , and to identify new techniques and applications of making as an object of research focusing on people and culture –not simply on tools and technology. This will allowed us to: 1) engage in an in-depth conversation to advance knowledge in the field and publish an edited collection of the conference papers, 2) discuss the influence and impact of maker culture on various disciplines, and 3) develop a network of international scholars.

http://www.concordia.ca/cuevents/artsci/2018/11/18/conference-on-maker-cultures.html