Abstract
Columbia Gadget Works is a small, community-based makerspace located in the town of Columbia, Missouri. Gadget Works began, and is still working under, a club model with a flat management structure and around 15 paying members. The space is located in one of the few industrial zoned areas of Columbia, and the building that houses the makerspace is owned by one of the members. Columbia Gadget works has been around since 2009 in various forms and met at members' houses and rented a space before settling into their current building. The onus of learning and forming communities is on members. However, in an attempt to develop a sense of community, the space offers open nights for members and non-members and has undertaken larger projects that require a substantial participation from members. The space struggles and at the same time is accepting of its slow growth and lack of equipment, for now. This chapter explores Columbia Gadget Works.
We have 15 members paying. I'd like to have 30 members paying. I personally don't ever see having 100 members paying. Even 30 is a lot. It's a whole other management idea when you have 30 people. Again, other people feel differently. They're like, “Let's get a bunch of members.” Not everybody wants to do what you want to do, so would you rather have 15 people that have something in common that want to do something or 300 people with a core of 15 people that want to be makers and a bunch of other people that come that are customers. — Daniel Goldstein
TopOrganization Background
Columbia Gadget Works, a community-based makerspace, is located in Columbia Missouri, home of the University of Missouri (MU). Founded in 1839, MU is an important economic anchor for Columbia, with more than 33,000 students and 13,000 employees (MU, n.d.). According to the US census the estimated population was 120,000 in 2016 (ACS, 2016). Daniel Goldstein, a member of the space, provided the author with a tour and spoke to the author about the Columbia Gadget Works. Operating in various forms the space has been around since 2009 and in the beginning, was tied to a university club then transformed into a Linux club that morphed into a maker club around 2010, when Goldstein joined. Goldstein is, what he refers to as, a recovering academic with a Ph.D. in engineering and now pursues his interests of sculpture and art. Goldstein’s initial training in all things mechanical was derived from his time in a machine shop at Purdue University.
Prior to having a permanent space, Columbia Gadget Works rotated meeting locations amongst the different dwellings of members. Goldstein recalled:
For a while … We went through a period of meeting at different people's houses and that was both interesting and challenging. People get tired of ... It's like 25 people in your living room. It's hard to do anything when your location switches constantly and you're in people's living rooms. You just can't do anything. We had fun one night at Zack and Ryan's doing non-Newtonian fluids and blowing up speakers. You don't have a dedicated workspace though. You can do a lot of stuff but it's just limited.
Around 2012, with about 15 permanent members, the group began their search for a location outside of members’ houses. Initially the plan was to purchase a building with a few of the members pooling funds and renting the space out to other businesses. However, that plan quickly fell apart because, as Goldstein recalls, it was very difficult to organize, so members of Gadget Works decided to look for a space to rent. As members of Gadget Works were looking for a permanent location they soon realized that they would have to figure a vision for the space. Goldstein noted:
When we were looking for, not this, but the space before, a group of us started going to look at buildings for rent, not a whole building, spaces … When we looked at the more expensive places, they were really excited. They really wanted to do it and they were enthusiastic. At one point, we were at one of the spaces that was really beautiful, that would've been great to get, and they said, “Okay, this is $600 a month base.” Everyone was like, “We could teach classes and it'll work out. We can teach classes.” We happened to have a really good turnout of the people at that ... We all went together to see it. I said, “Okay, who's going to teach a class? I know there are people here who are qualified.” There's a couple college professors. There's people who used to work for Outreach.
During this debate between lower cost space and a higher cost space Goldstein recalls asking the members who would dedicate their time and energy to teach and give the proceeds back to the space. He stated:
I looked at them and I said, “Who is specifically going [to] teach a class and announce it the next month?” Pretty quickly people admitted that that's what they did in the daytime. They didn't really want to organize classes to bring in money and then start running it, where basically we can't pay the rent unless we either get much bigger very quickly or we start working for free and running classes and bringing people in and charging them, and nobody had a stomach for it. In a rare moment of maturity, because I've often been the one that ... These things come up and then I'm like, “Okay, I'll do it.” I was like, “I don't want to teach classes right now. I've got other things in my life. I [am] busy.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Direct Instruction: A teaching method whereby the instructor provides content to students, usually in a lecture format.
Google Group: Online Google program that allows you to create and participate in online forums and email-based groups with a rich experience for community conversations.
Columbia Gadget Works: Makerspace located in Columbia, Missouri.
Car Talk: A popular US National Public Radio (NPR) radio program.
Hack Night: A night open to the public and a venue for members to share projects.
Mancala: A two-player board game played with stones or beans with holes in the board.
Non-Newtonian Fluid: A fluid that does not follow Newtonian physics.
Figurehead: A carving or bust located at the front of a ship.
Bootstrapping: To get out of a condition using existing resources.
Columbia, Missouri: City located in central Missouri home of the University of Missouri – Columbia.