Brainstorming: our makerspace roughly divides into what have sometimes been called hard / soft techs, but I’d like to avoid that framing for a variety of reasons (gendered assumptions / hard = difficult / etc.). So I need better names — both general terms to refer to the grouping, and more interesting / imaginative names for them.
For example, the writing part of it, we’re tentatively calling the Writers’ Room / Universe Factory. We need similar names for the hard tech component and the soft tech (primarily textile arts) component.
Practically speaking, I think they won’t actually be segregated into separate areas — if we have multiple rooms, I think they may divide into no tools / small tools / big tools. So this is not so much for space planning as for department organization & programming categories.
(Names should ideally have intergenerational appeal.)
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a) hard tech: 3D printing, laser-cutting, coding, game design, photography and video production, stop-motion animation, digital design. (If space permits: wood shop / metal shop / stained glass studio.)
What else could we call this?
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b) soft tech: sewing machines, embroidery machines, knitting / crochet tools and yarn, looms, drop spindles, fabric. Classes include eco-friendly focus on mending, re-use, home textiles and clothes, practical sustainability.
What else could we call this?
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(NOTE: These aren’t hard-and-fast divisions either; one of the neat ideas that came out of the meeting yesterday was that people are 3D printing custom drop spindles, which I love.)