iConference final draft Crawford Barniskis3 · 2015-12-04 · public library makerspaces thus far...
1
An ongoing ethnographic exploration of two rural library makerspaces, asking how users ages 12 and older access and use collaborative creative spaces, as well as exploring their feelings of creativity, agency, and social capital. A discourse analysis of librarian interviews in seven small Wisconsin communities, exploring reasons for adding makerspaces services, and how they position makerspace services relative to principles of intellectual freedom and access. A content analysis of limited life histories of six library makers ages 12 and older, looking at how makers describe their memories of making things, how they experience creativity, and where they position public libraries in their creative lives. THE STUDIES INCLUDE: STEAM: Science and art meet in rural library makerspaces Shannon A Crawford Barniskis University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies INTRODUCTION Public libraries around the world are adding or considering the idea of collaborative creative spaces, often known as makerspaces. These spaces facilitate interactions with digital and electronic tools such as 3D printers and soldering irons, as well as more traditional tools, such as sewing machines and wood working materials, and other community members. Many makerspaces incorporate art with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to create a STEAM- charged participatory culture that encourages people who were not previously inclined to code or solder to interact with science and technology in ways they had not before. Only one study has explored public library makerspaces thus far (Slatter & Howard, 2013), and more exploration is needed to understand the uses and impacts of such spaces, as well as how they align with more traditional library services. METHOD This poster synthesizes three qualitative studies of public library creative spaces. Using Vaughan’s (1992) methods of theory elaboration, each study builds on the other, though the units of analysis, participants, and research methods vary. The research questions for each study overlap to explore different perspectives of the makerspace experience. The data from each phase has been analyzed using Charmaz’s (2006) constructivist grounded theory methods. The resulting picture describes an emerging view of libraries as innovative creation spaces, even in the smallest communities. It reports practices of hands-on, collaborative engagement with ideas and creativity. THE LITERATURE Theories of intellectual freedom and access to knowledge ground this study in Library and Information Studies (LIS), as well as in education, communication, and art. Ribot and Peluso (2003) frame access as the ability to interact with things as well as the social relationships that allow a person to derive opportunity benefits. This is a positive perspective of intellectual freedom and access, the flip side of the negative liberty concept that combats censorship, as operationalized in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights (Frické, Mathiesen & Fallis, 2000). The digital divide literature also touches on the need for access that is based not only on equipment or bandwidth, but on the networks that make the use of digital tools possible (Chen, 2013; Warschauer, 2002). These system-based concepts of access intersect with the systems theory of creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009), participatory culture (Gauntlett, 2011; Jenkins, 2009), and the STEAM model of contextualized learning (Boy, 2013; Madden, et al, 2013). The concepts of library-as-place and social capital are relevant as well (e.g. Britton & Considine, 2012; Charmaraman, 2013; Vårheim, 2009). #158 CONTACT INFORMATION 414.810.6476 [email protected] FUNDING PROVIDED BY REFERENCES AT CONCLUSION A librarian talked about Neil Gaiman and his ideas about the magic of libraries and creativity, Magic is what the library needs to do … if [Gaiman] could write something on the wall of every library … he would just, in the children’s section, write ‘And then what happened?’ He was talking about that magic of the imagination and the spark. I think that having something material really makes it magic. It’s less like ‘Yeah, I’m imagining something,’ and that’s great, but ‘I have this thing in my hand now that wasn’t there 20 minutes ago.’ The results of these studies show that when small libraries offer potentially disruptive technologies such as 3D printing, magic can happen, according to both patrons and librarians. But makerspace tools alone are not enough. Librarians play a key role in creating a culture of engagement with the makerspaces and between patrons. Collaborative affordances of the space, policies, tools, and programs encourage users to try the tools of production and participatory culture to which they would otherwise have no access or, sometimes, interest. These tools need not be expensive or high-tech to support access to knowledge. Librarians RELEVANCE Marketing library as technologically leading-edge, demonstrating relevance in users’ lives ACCESS Offering another way to access information, allying this access with intellectual freedom mission INSTRUMENTALITY Offering pathways to economically valuable skills, civic engagement, other “more important” goals than making ENGAGEMENT Encouraging community, social, and creative engagement with library, each other, technology Makers SURPRISE Finding only outlet for creative activities outside one’s home in an unexpected place, a new perspective on library possibilities AGENCY Having power over the things and processes in one’s life, feeling able to have impact on one’s community and library DISCOVERY Learning new things that one would never have otherwise tried, from soldering LEDs to cooking new types of food MATERIALITY Working with one’s hands, “turning ideas into physical things, responding to a feeling of alienation from technology COLLABORATION Sharing knowledge, revealing hidden talents, bringing together disparate groups and institutions around similar interests CREATIVITY Describing a joy in the process of creating, sharing creative processes and products, which “makes life worth living” DISPLACEMENT Enabling new skills to displace old by using digital tools to create AFFORDANCES Erecting/opening boundaries around the possible uses of the space Tools & Space KEY FINDINGS ACCESS Every participant in the three studies framed their interaction with the makerspace in terms of access. Many librarians considered the provision of access to knowledge as a social justice issue based in the ability and desire to access these tools, as well as the right to access them. This framework is distinct from a censorshp-focused intellectual freedom framework. One participant described the distinction as providing access not to the old “grocery store” model of libraries, but as a “kitchen,” where access means that knowledge is as readily created as consumed. Users viewed their access to the tools as mediated by the library staff, policies, and affordances of the spaces. INSTRUMENTALITY While a few librarians focused on the educational or economic impacts of offering high-tech makerspaces, those with the longest- standing creative spaces did not view the space in this way, but emphasized social and democratizing aspects. Patrons were surprised and impressed by the role of the libraries as creation space, and some only came to the library to use the makerspace. While patrons also noted that interacting with the makerspace could allow others to learn useful skills for jobs, they also focused more on their intrinsic enjoyment and process of creation in their personal use of the space. SOCIAL SPACES Overwhelmingly, all participants highlighted the makerspaces as places where makers could share the discovery process, support each other, and engage socially by creating together. The tools, while interesting and exciting, were often considered less important to the social act of collaborative creation and knowledge-building. Process was more important than product. DIVING IN Librarians and patrons described an exhilarating sense of “diving in” and trying things outside their comfort zones, along with an attending sense of agency and power. Patrons expressed a new relationship to electronics and a sense that they had the skills to fix things. That said, not all patrons engaged with the spaces equally, with females often noting a desire to add new tech skills to their toolbelt by incorporating them into more traditional craft skills. Librarians played a critical enzymatic role in facilitating a culture of play, intergenerational sharing, and willingness to fail, which helped patrons who were more hesitant to dive in and try new things. SCHOOL OF INFORMATIONSTUDIES
Transcript of iConference final draft Crawford Barniskis3 · 2015-12-04 · public library makerspaces thus far...
An ongoing ethnographic exploration of two rural library makerspaces, asking how users ages 12 and older access and use collaborative creative spaces, as well as exploring their feelings of creativity, agency, and social capital.
A discourse analysis of librarian interviews in seven small Wisconsin communities, exploring reasons for adding makerspaces services, and how they position makerspace services relative to principles of intellectual freedom and access.
A content analysis of limited life histories of six library makers ages 12 and older, looking at how makers describe their memories of making things, how they experience creativity, and where they position public libraries in their creative lives.
THE STUDIES INCLUDE:
STEAM: Science and art meet in rural library makerspacesShannon A Crawford BarniskisUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies
INTRODUCTIONPublic libraries around the world are adding or considering the idea of collaborative creative spaces, often known as makerspaces. These spaces facilitate interactions with digital and electronic tools such as 3D printers and soldering irons, as well as more traditional tools, such as sewing machines and wood working materials, and other community members. Many makerspaces incorporate art with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to create a STEAM-charged participatory culture that encourages people who were not previously inclined to code or solder to interact with science and technology in ways they had not before. Only one study has explored public library makerspaces thus far (Slatter & Howard, 2013), and more exploration is needed to understand the uses and impacts of such spaces, as well as how they align with more traditional library services.
METHODThis poster synthesizes three qualitative studies of public library creative spaces. Using Vaughan’s (1992) methods of theory elaboration, each study builds on the other, though the units of analysis, participants, and research methods vary. The research questions for each study overlap to explore different perspectives of the makerspace experience.
The data from each phase has been analyzed using Charmaz’s (2006) constructivist grounded theory methods. The resulting picture describes an emerging view of libraries as innovative creation spaces, even in the smallest communities. It reports practices of hands-on, collaborative engagement with ideas and creativity.
THE LITERATURETheories of intellectual freedom and access to knowledge ground this study in Library and Information Studies (LIS), as well as in education, communication, and art. Ribot and Peluso (2003) frame access as the ability to interact with things as well as the social relationships that allow a person to derive opportunity benefi ts. This is a positive perspective of intellectual freedom and access, the fl ip side of the negative liberty concept that combats censorship, as operationalized in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights (Frické, Mathiesen & Fallis, 2000).
The digital divide literature also touches on the need for access that is based not only on equipment or bandwidth, but on the networks that make the use of digital tools possible (Chen, 2013; Warschauer, 2002). These system-based concepts of access intersect with the systems theory of creativity (Csikszentmihalyi, 2009), participatory culture (Gauntlett, 2011; Jenkins, 2009), and the STEAM model of contextualized learning (Boy, 2013; Madden, et al, 2013). The concepts of library-as-place and social capital are relevant as well (e.g. Britton & Considine, 2012; Charmaraman, 2013; Vårheim, 2009).
#158
CONTACT INFORMATION
414.810.6476 [email protected]
FUNDING PROVIDED BY REFERENCES AT
CONCLUSIONA librarian talked about Neil Gaiman and his ideas about the magic of libraries and creativity,
Magic is what the library needs to do … if [Gaiman] could write something on the wall of every library … he would just, in the children’s section, write ‘And then what happened?’ He was talking about that magic of the imagination and the spark. I think that having something material really makes it magic. It’s less like ‘Yeah, I’m imagining something,’ and that’s great, but ‘I have this thing in my hand now that wasn’t there 20 minutes ago.’
The results of these studies show that when small libraries offer potentially disruptive technologies such as 3D printing, magic can happen, according to both patrons and librarians. But makerspace tools alone are not enough. Librarians play a key role in creating a culture of engagement with the makerspaces and between patrons. Collaborative affordances of the space, policies, tools, and programs encourage users to try the tools of production and participatory culture to which they would otherwise have no access or, sometimes, interest. These tools need not be expensive or high-tech to support access to knowledge.
Librarians
RELEVANCEMarketing library as technologically
leading-edge, demonstrating
relevance in users’ lives
ACCESSOffering another
way to access information, allying
this access with intellectual freedom
mission
INSTRUMENTALITYOffering pathways
to economically valuable skills, civic engagement, other “more important” goals than making
ENGAGEMENTEncouraging
community, social, and creative
engagement with library, each other,
technology
Makers
SURPRISE Finding only
outlet for creative activities outside one’s home in an
unexpected place, a new perspective on library possibilities
AGENCYHaving power
over the things and processes in one’s life, feeling able to have impact on
one’s community and library
DISCOVERYLearning new things that one would never
have otherwise tried, from soldering LEDs to cooking new
types of food
MATERIALITYWorking with one’s
hands, “turning ideas into physical things,
responding to a feeling of alienation
from technology
COLLABORATIONSharing knowledge, revealing hidden talents, bringing
together disparate groups and
institutions around similar interests
CREATIVITYDescribing a joy in the process of creating, sharing
creative processes and products, which “makes life worth
living”
DISPLACEMENTEnabling new skills to displace old by
using digital tools to create
AFFORDANCESErecting/opening
boundaries around the possible uses of
the space
Tools & Space
KEY FINDINGSACCESSEvery participant in the three studies framed their interaction with the makerspace in terms of access. Many librarians considered the provision of access to knowledge as a social justice issue based in the ability and desire to access these tools, as well as the right to access them. This framework is distinct from a censorshp-focused intellectual freedom framework. One participant described the distinction as providing access not to the old “grocery store” model of libraries, but as a “kitchen,” where access means that knowledge is as readily created as consumed. Users viewed their access to the tools as mediated by the library staff, policies, and affordances of the spaces.
INSTRUMENTALITYWhile a few librarians focused on the educational or economic impacts of offering high-tech makerspaces, those with the longest-standing creative spaces did not view the space in this way, but emphasized social and democratizing aspects. Patrons were surprised and impressed by the role of the libraries as creation space, and some only came to the library to use the makerspace. While patrons also noted that interacting with the makerspace could allow others to learn useful skills for jobs, they also focused more on their intrinsic enjoyment and process of creation in their personal use of the space.
SOCIAL SPACESOverwhelmingly, all participants highlighted the makerspaces as places where makers could share the discovery process, support each other, and engage socially by creating together. The tools, while interesting and exciting, were often considered less important to the social act of collaborative creation and knowledge-building. Process was more important than product.
DIVING INLibrarians and patrons described an exhilarating sense of “diving in” and trying things outside their comfort zones, along with an attending sense of agency and power. Patrons expressed a new relationship to electronics and a sense that they had the skills to fi x things. That said, not all patrons engaged with the spaces equally, with females often noting a desire to add new tech skills to their toolbelt by incorporating them into more traditional craft skills.
Librarians played a critical enzymatic role in facilitating a culture of play, intergenerational sharing, and willingness to fail, which helped patrons who were more hesitant to dive in and try new things.
S C H O O L O FINFORMATIONSTUDIES
![Makerspaces: exploring how sight impaired individuals ... · makerspaces, Taylor [17] categorises the role of makerspaces as “acting as social spaces; supporting wellbeing; serving](https://static.fdocuments.in/doc/165x107/5f6a097ac9ab9b516411ca87/makerspaces-exploring-how-sight-impaired-individuals-makerspaces-taylor-17.jpg)
