Be a Maker

The ANU MakerSpace was founded on the principle that “doing is a different way of thinking.” This KNoT invites you to test that claim with your own hands — and, where you can, to use the time to move your Project or Shareable Artefact one concrete step closer to existing in the world.

Whether you’ve never picked up a soldering iron or you already 3D-print at home, you’ll spend roughly three hours making something at the MakerSpace, then reflect critically on what the act of making taught you that reading about it could not.

Three pathways are available — pick the one that fits where you’re starting from:

Newcomer. No making experience needed. Spend the time getting inducted, exploring, and making something small (a laser-cut keyring, 3D-printed nameplate, soldered LED badge, sewn tote, vinyl sticker). The goal is to unlock the space as a future resource.

Existing maker. Building new skills. Use the time to learn a new orange/red-rated tool through a formal induction, refine a skill, or push a personal making project forward.

Project (strongly encouraged). Use the three hours to prototype, fabricate, or iterate on a physical component of your Project or Shareable Artefact — a model, a campaign object, a working prototype, a workshop exhibit, a printed/sewn artefact that embodies your argument. Even a deliberately rough prototype counts; rough prototypes generate feedback faster than polished ones.

Complete all four before attending:

• Read the User Agreement and Become a Maker page: https://makerspace.anu.edu.au/page/join.html
• Complete the online New Member Induction (includes a short quiz): https://forms.office.com/r/z5KmJ12W9D
• Book a Space Induction (Newcomer) or a tool-specific induction (Maker, Project) via the Request Induction form on the Makerspace site.
• Prior to attending, write one sentence describing what you will make and why. If you are taking Project pathway, your sentence must name the link to your Project or Shareable Artefact explicitly — for example: “I will laser-cut 30 conversation-starter cards for the workshop component of my Shareable Artefact.”

Bring closed-toe shoes, your sentence, your student ID, and any digital files you have prepared.

By completing this KNoT, students will:

1. gain practical, embodied access to the ANU MakerSpace as an ongoing resource
2. understand its safety culture (green/orange/red tool system) and community norms
3. produce a tangible artefact, however modest;
4. be able to articulate a critical position on the relationship between making and thinking, drawing on first-hand experience rather than theory alone

Familiarise yourself with the resources:

• ANU MakerSpace — Become a Maker: https://makerspace.anu.edu.au/page/join.html
• ANU MakerSpace — Tools list (with green/orange/red ratings and induction links): https://makerspace.anu.edu.au/page/tools.html ANU MakerSpace —
• Find Us / FAQ: https://makerspace.anu.edu.au/page/find_us.html

There are great resources available online.

Three hours is not enough to finish an ambitious project — and that is the point. The goal is to start, to feel a material talk back to you, and to leave with a concrete reason to come back.

Ask for help often: the MakerSpace community is the actual resource, the tools are secondary. If you choose to make something for your Project, talk to a MakerSpace staff member or mentor before your session to confirm your Project component is achievable in the time and on the tools you can access without an extra induction.

Submit as your Completion Evidence:

A photo of what you made (include something for scale — your hand, a pen, a coin).

A 350–500 word or 3-5 minute reflection that engages critically with the MakerSpace’s claim that “doing is a different way of thinking.”

Useful prompts (select any that are relevant):

• At what moment did the material, the machine, or a mistake change your plan, and what did that teach you that a textbook could not?
• If you are building for your Project, how did making a physical version of your Project or Shareable Artefact change your understanding of it — what assumptions in your written or conceptual version did the artefact challenge or expose?
• Where does the “making as thinking” metaphor break down for your discipline?
• Whose making traditions does the MakerSpace foreground, and whose are quieter?

Remember that a strong reflection questionsitself somewhere — pushes against the slogan rather than just endorsing it.

One sentence on how (or whether) this making session feeds back into your Project, Shareable Artefact, or future SoCIETIE work — even if the answer is “it doesn’t, but it taught me X.”

One sentence of advice for the next student doing this KNoT.