Post is a wiki.
Summary
This action guides you through the process of doing a Maker Walk. This idea has been inspired by a project by @judesherry who did the first Maker Walk at the University of Bristol. This cool project uses a very systematic approach that can be repeated in other places and she has already provided a draft document to repeat her methodology. You can also take a more informal approach to doing a Maker Walk where you are not trying to do an exhaustive documentation of an area, but rather get some interesting insights and build connections.
Introduction
Taking a walk around your local area to connect with people and businesses that are making products and services is a fun and engaging way to understand the possibilities for a future OSCE. This can be the beginning of a map of an urban community of actors and it can help to build relationships with important people in your community.
Here is some general guidance on doing a Maker Walk that we will test out in the London Borough of Hackney.
You will need
###1. Enthusiasm
The will and enthusiasm to get out there and talk to people!
###2. Tools
Camera and a clearly printed map of the area that has key locations
A fieldwork kit: markers, pens, papers.
###3. People
Anyone can contribute and suggest places, networks, projects that are relevant for circular activities. It’s useful to have a few people to help, which will make it a fun activity to do!
###4. Time
From one to as many days as it takes to document your chosen area.
##Before you begin
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Decide on the practicalities and why you are doing the maker walk. What is the purpose? How will you use what you find out? See the attached document for a list of questions that guided the Bristol MakerWalk team.
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Set a date, time, and location. You need as few as three people and ideally a whole day to start off.
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Promote your event: Invite your community via email, social media, or by phone or in-person outreach. The best people and organisations to invite are community groups that represent different sectors and populations. The focus here is to gather a small group of dedicated folk to list as many sharing services as possible.
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By going out and walking around the area you’re already making the event a fun and engaging activity.
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Have a dedicated documenter on the team. Decide on what information is the most important to support the purpose of your Maker Walk. Collect information. Take photos, get quotes, and share them on social media. Connect and share with relevant communities. Ask for feedback and additions.
#Steps:
- PURPOSE: Decide on the aim of the Maker Walk. Will you be doing a systematic documentation of all makers in an area? Or, do you want to engage with certain types of makers (e.g. community makers) for a particular reason (to understand waste)?_
- INFORMATION: Decide what information you need beforehand and what you will collect on route. Also, how do you plan to document the information.
- PROCESS: Do you want to arrange to meet specific makers in advance and use the walk to gather contextual information (e.g. mood, locality, current p
- XXXX
##The week beforehand
Send a reminder to all of your participants or if you are doing a smaller Maker Walk, you could notify those makers in advance or schedule a meeting with them. A simple reminder email can make a more successful process.
##Social media guide
You can use social media to spark dialogue about your Maker Walk and generate interest that you and your team will be putting together.
Twitter / Facebook /
Some sample Tweets you can use:
I’ll be doing a Maker Walk in #____________ on ________ (fill in name of your city) Join me: (LINK)
Let’s create a map of ALL the great circular economy resources in ________! Sign up for #MakerWalk: (LINK)
Let’s do a tour of local circular economy makers ________: (LINK)
Interested in creating an amazing resource to promote the circular economy movement in ________? Join us! Details: (event page link)
##Creating a map from the Maker Walk activities
If you want to, you can also use the maker walk as a way to create a comprehensive digital map of local initiatives. For this you can follow the action protocol mapping circular initiatives here
##Resources
How to do a Maker Walk Draft.docx (4.7 MB)
3. Maker Walk Presenation.pdf (2.3 MB)
##Related Links