[hackerspaces] Differences between hackerspaces and fablabs

[Andrew Schrock]

Here's my take. The Fab Lab branding originally came from Gershenfeld and was oriented around high-cost tools first and people second. In hackerspaces it's more the other way around -- the membership dictates the kind of stuff you do in your space. 

I've always considered Fab Labs to be overtly institutional efforts started by universities or companies either locally or in other countries as a form of institutional social responsibility. Fabs labs are not a grassroots movement in the same way as hacker and maker spaces, which arise from grassroots origins and are run by the collective (rather than deep pockets of a university with paid staff). 

Rarely do you see people say "hey let's go to (fill in place) and start a hackerspace" although they might try to encourage one to grow there. Like Jake Applebaum visiting (a prototype version of) Protospace in Toronto and laying down the first $20 to fund it. Hackerspace backers might try to encourage people to make one of their own but it's not the same thing. And obviously… although some hackerspaces embrace more overtly civic goals, that's not true of all of them. 

Off the top of my head, a few things happened over the last few years outside of the hacker/maker space community that make distinctions kinda confusing. First, Gershenfeld started talking a lot more about personal fabrication and less about Fab Labs. Second, Fab Labs never really caught on in the kind of numbers that hacker and maker spaces have. Then Chris Anderson started talking about BOTH fab labs and hackerspaces as "makerspaces." Third, more labs that call themselves hacker and maker spaces were created in academia, and people started creating "fab labs" that are more or less equivalent to hackerspaces. 

A


On May 12, 2014, at 12:43 PM, discuss-request at lists.hackerspaces.org wrote:

> Technically they are all the same.  Hack and Make are interchangeable since
> you can hack some new firmware onto an old wifi router to make something
> new, for example.  Also a fablab is usually describing a place with the
> tools and materials necessary to build something from scratch such as PCBs
> and parts for a new thing.  Of the two hackerspaces I've been a member of
> they both had the means to create PCBs and build new parts, frames,
> housings, mounts, etc. in a section of the building usually referred to as
> the Fab Lab.  3D printers and CNC mills are usually present in these
> spaces.  If you had a hackerspace that was 100% fab lab then you could just
> call it a fablab but I bet there would still be other tools and things
> around to still call it a hacker/makerspace.
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 3:28 PM, Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> Please send more, i need to write an article about this, and want
>> different opinions and experiences from people who've visited both
>> 
>> 
>> 2014-05-12 15:24 GMT-04:00 Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>:
>> 
>> Nice answer, keep them coming
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 2014-05-12 15:23 GMT-04:00 Al Billings <albill at openbuddha.com>:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On May 12, 2014, at 12:22 PM, Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I read this article:
>>>> http://makezine.com/2013/05/22/the-difference-between-hackerspaces-makerspaces-techshops-and-fablabs/
>>>> 
>>>> But I still don't understand the difference between a hackerspace and a
>>>> fablab, and why is there the need for both. What does the fablab cover that
>>>> a hackerspace doesn't? I want to understand
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> The difference is bullshit branding. That?s it.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Al Billings
>>>> albill at openbuddha.com
>>>> http://makehacklearn.org
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
> 

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