The digital economy is now expanding rapidly, and is starting to overturn the past achievements of the Industrial Revolution. Initially engaging in the world of services, it is now turning to the manufacture of objects. Just as microcomputing evolved from large scale computing to more personal use, and as the Internet left behind the world of armies and universities to become universal, industrial production is gradually becoming directly controlled by individuals. This appropriation is being done either on a personal level, or, more significantly, within local or planetary communities: Fab Labs. These digital fabrication laboratories offer workshops to members of the public where all sorts of tools are available (including 3D printers, laser cutters and sanders) for the design and creation of personalized objects. The bringing together of various users (amateurs, designers, artists, “dabblers”, etc.) and possibilities for collaboration lies at the heart of these open-access productive spaces. This book covers a range of advances in this new personal fabrication and various issues that it has raised, especially in terms of the alternatives to salaried work, intellectual property, ecological openings and the hitherto unseen structuring of societies.

In the course of the digital revolution, Fab Labs (short for Fabrication Laboratory) make high-tech production technologies available for small teams or individuals, who can make there "almost everything" themselves. Fab Labs are simultaneously workshop and laboratory, equipped with computer controlled tools such as laser cutters, CNC milling machines and 3D printers. Following on from desktop publishing and digital video editing, the production of physical products is now possible for anyone anywhere. In the first section of the publication, various authors provide insight into topics such as the emergence of Fab Labs, the philosophy behind them and their commercial aspects as well as the techniques, methods and processes involved. After this, the artistic and production processes in a Dutch Fab Lab are presented as a real-world example. Around 30 noteworthy products are featured, each over several pages, in the Fab Gallery at the end of the book, thus demonstrating the full diversity of possibilities offered by Fab Labs.

Safer hands-on STEM is essential for every instructor and student. Read the latest information about how to design and maintain safer makerspaces, Fab Labs and STEM labs in both formal and informal educational settings. This book is easy to read and provides practical information with examples for instructors and administrators. If your community or school system is looking to design or modify a facility to engage students in safer hands-on STEM activities then this book is a must read!This book covers important information, such as: Defining makerspaces, Fab Labs and STEM labs and describing their benefits for student learning.· Explaining federal safety standards, negligence, tort law, and duty of care in terms instructors can understand.· Methods for safer professional practices and teaching strategies.· Examples of successful STEM education programs and collaborative approaches for teaching STEM more safely.· Safety Controls (engineering controls, administrative controls, personal protective equipment, maintenance of controls).· Addressing general safety, biological and biotechnology, chemical, and physical hazards.· How to deal with various emergency situations.· Planning and design considerations for a safer makerspace, Fab Lab and STEM lab.· Recommended room sizes and equipment for makerspaces, Fab Labs and STEM labs.· Example makerspace, Fab Lab and STEM lab floor plans.· Descriptions and pictures of exemplar makerspaces, Fab Labs and STEM labs.· Special section answering frequently asked safety questions!

The FabLearn Fellows share inspirational ideas from their learning spaces, assessment strategies and recommended projects across a broad range of age levels. Illustrated with color photos of real student work, the Fellows take you on a tour of the future of learning, where children make sense of the world by making things that matter.

What if you could someday put the manufacturing power of an automobile plant on your desktop? It may sound far-fetched-but then, thirty years ago, the notion of "personal computers" in every home sounded like science fiction. According to Neil Gershenfeld, the renowned MIT scientist and inventor, the next big thing is personal fabrication -the ability to design and produce your own products, in your own home, with a machine that combines consumer electronics with industrial tools. Personal fabricators (PF's) are about to revolutionize the world just as personal computers did a generation ago. PF's will bring the programmability of the digital world to the rest of the world, by being able to make almost anything-including new personal fabricators. In FAB , Gershenfeld describes how personal fabrication is possible today, and how it is meeting local needs with locally developed solutions. He and his colleagues have created "fab labs" around the world, which, in his words, can be interpreted to mean "a lab for fabrication, or simply a fabulous laboratory." Using the machines in one of these labs, children in inner-city Boston have made saleable jewelry from scrap material. Villagers in India used their lab to develop devices for monitoring food safety and agricultural engine efficiency. Herders in the Lyngen Alps of northern Norway are developing wireless networks and animal tags so that their data can be as nomadic as their animals. And students at MIT have made everything from a defensive dress that protects its wearer's personal space to an alarm clock that must be wrestled into silence. These experiments are the vanguard of a new science and a new era-an era of "post-digital literacy" in which we will be as familiar with digital fabrication as we are with the of information processing. In this groundbreaking book, the scientist pioneering the revolution in personal fabrication reveals exactly what is being done, and how. The technology of FAB will allow people to create the objects they desire, and the kind of world they want to live in.

That's the promise, and peril, of the third digital revolution, where anyone will be able to make (almost) anything Two digital revolutions -- computing and communication -- have radically transformed our economy and lives. A third digital revolution is here: fabrication. Today's 3D printers are only the start of a trend, accelerating exponentially, to turn data into objects: Neil Gershenfeld and his collaborators ultimately aim to create a universal replicator straight out of Star Trek. While digital fabrication promises us self-sufficient cities and the ability to make (almost) anything, it could also lead to massive inequality. The first two digital revolutions caught most of the world flat-footed, thanks to Designing Reality that won't be true this time.