Fab Labs and improvements caused by Anthropological studies
Someone may think that I am a little obsessed by Fab Labs and how they works.This passion state in me because I daily spend the most of my time in one of these spaces and I truly believe in its philosophy and in its community that works and proliferate in and around it. With my Design Anthropology oriented studies I wish to provide improvements in the association and in the social structure on which it is based.
In a Fablab what is really (superficially) meaningful is the artefacts production, as main feature recheable from the outside, as symbol and indicator of the magical activities ongoing in the inside.
In fact material culture has a central role to play in what it means to be human (Hodder, 2012) so fabrication laboratories are direct referents relatively to this concept; Fab Labs are places where anyone can gain knowledge from many disciplines and give something back to the community, like a fair exchange. Here few tools allow you to shape the matter in a way that make closer the human to his ancestral need to create stuff because all men are designers. All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity (Papanek, 1984).
Behavioural Archaeology helps us defining this relationship that focus on the link between the humanness and artefacts.
In fact the modern Behavioural Archaelogist define behaviour, as an analytical category, such as the interaction of people and objects where the behaviour is not entirely conceived as a mental state but it is more related to a balance with the external stimuli, the environment.
Parallel to the beahavioural side we find the notions expressed by Symmetrical Archaeology that propose a different perception of reality as argue Harman, quoted by Hodder (2012) about reality as affected by things; like they (things) are sharing the capacity for making a difference to the world and to other beings and this are "capable of an effect, of inflicting some kind of blow on reality".
This concept of objects that affect the way in which material culture has impact on the manifestation of life in itself has many examples in the realities of Fab Labs all over the globe; in these places where ideas become reality, 3D prints represent the perfect example.
This visibility given by the maker's community brought new experiments, questions and ways to conceive applications for 3D printing and nowadays, many evolutionary approaches rooted in our culture with applications in bio-medics discipline, architecture in extreme conditions etc... In this sense, digital fabrication is changing the way we perceive products and how these are made and how interact with us and with the environment.
Making objects is a human specified activity; this activity is powered by creativity and this one is the ability to create a mental-model-building according to Carruthers (2002) and it is often considered to be one of the defining hallmarks of modern human behaviour (Keenoo, 2004).
In the design praxis, creativity is constituted, in part, by a capacity to combine together ideas in novel ways in abstraction from any immediate environmental stimulation (Carruthers, 2002); the laboratory and its machines plays a fundamental role in this part of the design process, this provide stimulations: 3D printers, Lasercutters and CNC milling machines are just few of the many tools accesible in a Fab Lab.
Mental-model-builiding is the first step, sketches follow up, 3D model represent the finished idea, 3D print is the tools and the idea becomes an artefact.
Design Objects and artefacts, as we said, are a fundamental part that define the quality of a Fab Lab and abilities of its community, but how this project are conceived? The majority of the members in these communities do not have the same qualification per each member, in fact what makes a fabrication laboratory so powerful in the design practice is the multidisciplinary approach given by the different professionals that settle up the social structure. These professionals from many disciplines (biologists, mechanic engineers, industrial designers, graphic designers, material engineers, web developers, electricians etc...) share their experience and put their knowledge to a plate in order to create, in the name of passion for their jobs and find motivation to power their ideas into the community; they define themselves "makers".
In this "community" context, it perfectly fit the idea of Memetic Evolution proposed by Langrish (2004); here it is argued that ideas can change over the time flow like living beings and follow the four Darwinian evolution models (variation, mutation, competition, inheritance).
Here the value of a Fab Lab production coincides with the concept of Selectemes as ideas about what sort of things we want to do; then we can recognize Recipemes that pass through the acquisition of knowledge from others, in fact this kind of meme can be transmitted by imitation and that is what happen when one member transmit his knowledge to another by teaching in a workshop or face to face.
Makers and designers finally find the motivation to create a particular artefact when Recipemes (how to do that) meet Selectemes (what I want to do), this synchronization is defined "purposive pattern recognition" by Maria Abu-Risha, quoted by the same Langrish (2004).
When the project is finally conceptualized, Explanemes came into play in order to provide reasons why certain actions have been taken.
A Fab Lab is the perfect space in which a multidisciplinary team can work and create innovation, Biohacking and Parametric Design are the perfect examples that shows how these spaces merge knowledge, creativity and different disciplines in one pot in order to create what was never thought before. BioHacking spaces are the direct evolution of maker spaces where electronics components and wires, batteries and connectors where stored all over the place; Biohacking brings bio-molecular disciplines in spaces where you can experiment and create your own green glowing object using DIY tools made in Fab Labs.
On the other hand, Parametric Design permit, using different tools (i.e Grasshopper, Plug in for Rhynocers, 3D modelling software) to create something parameterizing units, dimensions and any possible feature of a project. Analyzing the different ways in which people interact with objects or environments you can create an infinite series of proposal per each chanced parameter, ergo an infinite series of similar objects or products that can also satisfy the more exigent customer by creating his personal and unique proposal.
Another support given to the improvement and to the evolution of these ideas come from the Open Source world and the Creative Common (CC) mark that allow anyone else in the world to use an original idea, modify it, evolve it, destroy it and rebuild it again with the only constraint to giving reference to the original idea and its conceiver; the basic aim is to promote abilities over commodities.
This situation create a new and totally cutting edge environment in which ideas can evolve in an infinite various system; this non-physical context (internet) allow ideas to reach different physical contexts all over the world and evolve in a Multilinear way in different line of gradual change developed in different environments based on locally-based technological and social needs (Barnard 2000).
Fab Labs "pop up" all over in the world and provide tools to make things possible in places where it was never thought possible;
from Africa in the city of Windhoek to Pune in India. Fab Lab really follow the telesis principle applied in the design praxis, as that content that must reflects the times and conditions that have given rise to it and must fit in with the general human socioeconomic order in which it is to operate (Papanek, 1984). The telesis principle is respected because any fabrication laboratory came from the people of a particular area that agree in following the principle of open source and creative commons marks; after the agreement they are free to implement the main purpose of their activity that is deeply rooted in the context of the Fab Lab and always try to brings innovative ideas in their territory of origin.
The essential part of Fab Lab structure is given by its community, people that share believes an objectives.
This is well represented by the idea of Paideuma described by Barnard (2000) according to the idea processed by Frobenius about the basic physic principle which determined any given configuration of culture traits (Barnard 2000).
In fact this entire world is based on the concept of Open Source, where every tools, knowledge or help is provided freely by its conceiver to the rest of the world. On this idea it is based the entire philosophy that each member of the community follow in order to spread and increase knowledge and abilities. Each member follow the principles stated in the triad of well being as pleasure and recognition in the objectives of the association, sense of belonging (given by empathy with other members and through sharing experiences) and self determination to obtain their purposes (Tunstall, 2014).
But how Design Anthropology could positevely affect the way in which a Fab Lab work?
The Design-Anthro discipline focuses on the effects that the design practice has on others lives, that is why the tools developed by the Anthropological discipline could highly help to define which are the cultural features that has matter in the design praxis.
An ethnographic analysis of the cultural groups present in these communities could highlight many points on which to base future insights to the improvement of the association structure, like creating socializing areas to increase relationships and links between members; activities that promote actions of making and developing projects; another idea could be to direct the social development of the association to improve the relationship between the Fab Lab and the context where this is situated (neighborhood, city etc...).
Many ideas, it is time to translate it in practice.
HODDER, I (Ed.) (2012) Archaeological Theory Today, 2nd ed. Maldon, MA: Balckwell Publishing,
Contemporary Theoretical Debate in Archaelogy (pp. 1-14), Symmetrical Archaeology (pp. 208-228)
LANGRISH, J. (2004) Darwinian Design: The Memetic Evolution of Design Ideas. Design Issues, 20(4), (pp. 4-19).
BARNARD, A. (2000). History and Theory in Anthropology. London: Cambridge University Press.
Diffusionist and culture-area theories (pp. 47-60), Changing perspectives on evolution (pp. 27-46)
PAPANEK, V. (1985). Design for the real world, 2nd Ed. Thames & Hudson, (pp. 3-27)
CARRUTHERS, P. (2002). Human creativity: its evolution, its cognitive basis, and its connections with childhood pretense. Cogprints.org, ID Code 2237. Retreived from http://cogprints.org/2237/
KEENO, H. (2004). The Evolution of Creativity. Imaginative Minds: an Interdisciplinary Symposium, British Academy London 30 April-1 May 2004. Retrieved from http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/imagination/resources/keenoo.htm
