Resource:How to develop a makerspace: from proposal to production

Introduction:

This article will provide you with the fundamentals on how to develop a makerspace from a proposal to production. Inspired by the success experienced by Jade Garret at George Mason University while starting the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX), which was the first of its kind at her University. This article will discuss some the challenges and strategies to overcome them, so that you can effectively influence your campus. 

Proposal:

When initially pitching the idea of building a makerspace to facility and staff, it is important to have a proposal developed ahead of time.
Options with Prices

• High End
• Mid Range
• Low End

Funding:

Finding funding is one of the largest challenges in creating a makerspace. Luckily there are many options to start raising small amounts of money. The first resource is going to all of your stakeholders in the project (department chairs, deans, upper university administration), and see if any of these people can provide some initial funding. A second source of funding is corporate sponsorship. While this option can potentially result in a large amount of funding, it should be approached with caution. Before contacting any company for funding, find the person at your university who is responsible from getting money from industry and get permission from your university deans and upper administration. They may have deals in the works with these companies which may fall through

Space Management:

Once space has been set aside for a makerspace, it is important to consider how the space will be managed. The first thing to establish is who will be held liable for anything that goes wrong in the makerspace. This person needs to be a faculty member at your university. In terms of day to day management of the space, there are a number of options including university faculty, graduate assistants, student workers or volunteers. This choice may be one that your university will make for you due to liability reasons. If volunteers are chosen as the primary way to manage the space, they should be trained in all relevant safety procedures.

The next consideration is who will have access to the space and when will they be able to access it. The Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) is a federal agency that is tasked with enforcing health and safety related legislation. This organization is able to shut down a makerspace if deemed a safety risk, so it is important to control space access. Only those who have received proper safety training should be able to access the makerspace. Since training people may be an time consuming task, the “pay-it-forward” model can be used where in exchange for receiving safety training, a new member must train two new members. As far as when access is permitted, these time(s) should be decided in accordance with the available makerspace “staff” and any other university rules. One possible option for restricting access to the space is an RFID door access system where student’s university ID card can be used to enter the space. This gives those who run the makerspace the ability to give access to only those who have received all the training, limit the times they can enter the room and keep track of who uses the space.

Equipment/Resources:

A common problem in universities is that many of the tools and other resources need for a makerspace already exist on campus, but there is no open access to these resources or no collaboration between departments.

Needs and Goals:

Students need a makerspace in order to have a place to collaborate and bring projects to fruition with physical prototypes. Many times, resources and spaces that can be used to fulfill each of these needs is present at a university, but, they are often scattered with limited access and a high barrier to entry. Such was the case at George Mason. So, the goal is to fulfill the need for a space with resources to collaborate and work on projects in such a way that the space is centralized and is easy to access and use for students of all backgrounds.

Support:

There are several key levels of support required for an on campus makerspace. First of all, students must be interested. No administrator is going to allocate space and resources unless the demand for the space exists, along with a subset of students that can help manage it. Second, having a faculty or staff member who fully supports the project and who will stick his or her neck out for the space is extremely important, according to Jade. Finally, the space will most likely require the support of at least one administrator in order to obtain the necessary space and funding.

Gathering Empirical Data:

Whether you are convincing a jury or you are trying to convince stakeholders to offer their resources towards your project, having empirical data will be the key to your success. Having concrete data that shows that a makerspace is wanted and needed by the student body. Stakeholders need to have the ability to justify what they spend their budget on, and they are not going to do the research for you. Therefore being able to approach stakeholders with relevant, accurate and persuasive data will determine your success.
There are many ways to gather information about the interest of your student body towards your project and the effectiveness will differ based on campus culture. That being said here are a few ideas to get you started…

•  Start an emailing list.
• Start a Facebook page.
• Send out surveys.
• Talking with clubs.
• Hosting competitions.
• Add people to the emailing list by engaging with students around campus asking about their interest and asking .them to sign-up for the emailing list.