Chris Anderson on the Maker revolution

Last week the editor of WIRED USA, Chris Anderson, spoke at an IntelligenceSquared event in London. Chris has been writing influential books about internet communities and making for a while now, and we went along to hear what he had to say about the Maker revolution so we could share it with you :)

Chris told a story about his grandfather that shows how quickly manufacturing has changed. Back in 1940, his grandfather invented a timed lawn sprinkler to suit the Californian climate. He filed a patent for it in 1943; it then took 7 years for it to reach market.

Move forward two generations, and things are different - thanks to open source software, 3D print prototyping and Kickstarter, Chris was able to reinvent the sprinkler, add in greater user control and a weather gauge system, and launch it - all within a few months and a budget of a few thousand dollars.

It's great to see the kind of story that is familiar to makers being shared with a more mainstream audience, and we love the sense of possibility that is growing around the movement as a result. According to Chris, the 'killer apps' for many new technologies, such as 3D printing, have yet to be discovered. Luckily, the power of crowdsourcing lies in numbers - so bringing niche concepts to wider communities will only amplify what makes making great :)

There's a killer app out there, waiting to be discovered - so let's spread the word!