The MagPi - July 2018

(^98) July 2018 raspberrypi.org/magpi
Column
any years ago at a Maker Faire, I received a
bracelet with the words ‘Show what you make,
share what you learn’ inscribed on it. Ever
since then, those words have stuck with me because
they encapsulate such an important aspect of the
Raspberry Pi community and the maker movement at
large. We’re not a community only because we have a
common interest in making things with technology.
We’re a community because we generously share our
projects and our knowledge. It’s an important part of
the maker ethos and it’s why events like Maker Faire
are such a key aspect of the movement.
Meet and share
As I’ve discussed here before, there’s a fantastic
community of Raspberry Pi enthusiasts sharing
projects and knowledge online on sites such as
Reddit, Twitter, Hackaday, Make, and Instructables.
But nothing quite beats face-to-face interaction for
sharing and community-building. We at the Raspberry
Pi Foundation want to provide opportunities for
members of our community to see and meet each other
and have the opportunity to share.
For example, Coolest Projects is a showcase event
for young people to share what they’ve created with
technology. This event sprang from the CoderDojo
movement and has become huge in Dublin over the
past few years. We launched this event in the United
Kingdom a few months ago and we’re excited to bring
it to California in September for young digital makers
in North America. More details about it can be found
at coolestprojects.org/northamerica.
For youth and adults in the Raspberry Pi
community, Raspberry Fields is an opportunity to
share their projects, products, and anything related
to Raspberry Pi. The event is new this year and takes
place in Cambridge during the summer. Read more
about it in this issue of The MagPi. And if you aren’t
able to make it to Raspberry Fields this time around,
check out the Raspberry Jam map (rpf.io/jam) for a
Jam happening near you.
M
The purpose of events such as Coolest Projects,
Raspberry Fields, Maker Faires, and Raspberry Jams
is to give makers a platform to show their projects
and share the knowledge they’ve gained through the
process of making. When a person creates something
or figures something out, it’s natural for them to
want to share that object and the experience of
creating it with others. Have you ever solved a tough
real-world problem and just couldn’t wait to tell a
friend about how you did it? Sharing that experience
greatly enhances the feeling of accomplishment.
That feeling of accomplishment will give you
motivation to continue creating and solving.
Inspire others
When makers share, it inspires, encourages,
and educates others. I joined the maker movement
after I saw the projects that others were making and I
said to myself, “I wish I could do that too.” Because I
was able to talk to those makers and hear the details
about how they created their projects, I felt supported
and encouraged to try it on my own. I went from
wishing I could do it to actually doing it because of
how much inspiration and knowledge those makers
had shared. And now I don’t consider my own projects
complete until I’ve shared them with the world.
Could you even imagine what it would be like if
members of our community didn’t share their projects
and knowledge so freely? If that were the case, I don’t
even think we could consider ourselves a community.
Sharing is what makes us more than just a group of
people with a common interest; it is what makes
us a community.
Matt Richardson
on how sharing is a
critical part of creating
THE FINAL WORD
MATT RICHARDSON
Matt Richardson is the Executive Director of the Raspberry
Pi Foundation North America and author of Getting Started
with Raspberry Pi. Contact him on Twitter @MattRichardson.
SHOW
& TELL
When makers share,
it inspires, encourages,
and educates others