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"Makers: The new Industrial Revolution" by Chris Anderson
What's it about?
This book by Anderson, a former editor of WIRED magazine, which is one of my favorite publications, goes over the process of how he himself took on the world of manufacturing by being centered around open ideas through reducing copyright protections and making things open source, working with the speed and adaptability of 3D printing to be able to alter and change one's product whether to market demands or design periods and so much more.How does the book tie in?
With the case of "Makers," Anderson talks about the bootstrapping and financing process, how entrepreneurs miscalculate their costs and prices to fit the market but then lose profits when trying to scale, how online and collaborative tools can be used to foster creativity among different projects. This lines up with What Dr. Pryor has mentioned before about thinking of pricing and business models whether they are single person small business or even if you are looking to build up and get more attention and funding for your idea.
What would I design?
If I had to integrate a lesson from the book into an assignment for the class, I would have students research freelance work sites that may offer services like design, 3D CAD modeling or other semi-complex processes to get an estimate of what their project may entail. If that isn't possible, I would have students research and join online forum pages related to their business interest and get in touch with the community and become involved with discussions and have themselves be held accountable by doing a similar blogging project to the assignments for this class on the forum where people who are genuinely interested want to follow up and interact with you.
The "Aha" moment
The biggest thing that surprised me was the open nature Anderson had about patent and copyright issues, as the US has a very rigid and historic past with lawsuits and company culture around security and cooptation of information behind clandestine walls, and taking all that and flipping it on its head by allowing others to be a part of bettering a product but you provide the convenience of production to still maintain profit and name recognition is something that totally took me by surprise to get my head around but afterwards really enjoy and appreciate the model of business.
It's interesting to hear about people who challenged the status quoe and actually succeeded in changing things. I'm sure it can be incredibly daunting to try and change something that is so ingrained in people's minds that they can't even imagine it another way-yet people do it all the time. Kudos to them, and I hope we can all learn when to question things and when to know we're in over our heads.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, you did a great job of explaining the book’s major theme and how it ties into what we’re learning in class. I could also tell that the exercise ideas were well-thought out and relevant. I have a very keen interest is learning about companies that do things unconventionally and successfully, and transparency is something that I value in the business world, so I’m very curious to read this book myself. Thank you!
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