Make: Dale Dougherty, publisher of Make Magazine. Mark Frauenfelder is the editor. Will be coming out in Spring. Here to have a discussion; they don’t have a presentation, they just want to work out what they want to do with it. :hey’re here to increase their pool of contributors, rather than subscribers.
Three streams: Dale developed the Hack series for O’Reilly. Really smart people are doing interesting clever nonobvious things with computers, and other people would find useful. Another book project inspiration was the “Hardware Hacking Projects For Geeks” – like replacing the sound chip in a Furby.
Started because Dale was in a cab with Tim O’Reilly saying “there isn’t a Martha Stewart in the technology space – somebody who rediscovered and recovered crafts and gave them to a wider public”.
A move from mass-manufacturing to individual manufacturing. Creating one-offs at home, using tech Dale’s seen at MIT Media lab. Current magazines are “cargo magazines” just telling you where to buy, not how to manufacture.
Mark Frauenfelder up now. He said the idea reminded him of the old Forties Popular Science magazines, back then it was cheaper to build than buy. Then buying was cheaper, so we lost that knowledge. But it’s always been a lot of fun, especially when the roles may reverse again, at least for customised stuff.
So example spread they’re showing is of Kite Camera photography. Feature is a low-cost, $10 camera with a silly putty timer. Ebay as a parts supplier for everyone. (Looks good, although in the cutthroat British magazine industry, I can already hear Future and Dennis leaping like jackals on these scraps and sending their first Make rip-off to print before this talk even finishes. “Make Format”? “Slaphappy Magazine” “Dig”. Yeah, “Digger”. With a soft-porn centerfold section called “The Dirty Digger”)
Going for a HOWTO feel, just to improve the overall documentation of these products. It’s valuable to preserve the dead-ends too, so people can take off with those, so they’ll be sticking
Somebody from audience suggesting talking to Fry’s about “MAKE kits”. Popular Science used to offer “buy the plans” services (like Altair, or Nascom). Mark wants to include the complete plans in the magazine itself.
Question: are you going to have a section for quick hacks? Yes: mobile, home entertainment, etc. Guy asking says he’s got a lot of hacks that are too small even for Webpages.
Question: have you seen Readymade? They have a MacGyver challenge, similiar sensibility. Mark used to work with the Readymade publisher. They see it differently — Readymade not as geeky as Make is going to be. Mark likes a lot of Readymade, but Make involves technology. Followup question: what is your definition of technology then? Large and blurry — the spread of the tech metaphor to other areas.
Question: what about the legality issue. It’s an editorial decision, says Dale. In a sense, the Hacks book isn’t written for hackers, it’s written for people who can learn from hackers. But the grey areas move — burning CDs was a grey area a few years ago, and now? There’s a big difference between doing a hack, describing it, and then building it from the plans.
Dale: “we see the O’Reilly audience as a core, but we want expand beyond that.” Like reading National Geographic sometimes. It’s not just procedure, it’s also personal.
Question: what kind of licensing. Ooooh good question. Answer: it’s … complicated. We’re just seeking a non-exclusive license. When we work with photography, they have their own mad rights world. So without paying them, it would be hard to get them to shift to a creative commons world. My real goal is build a community with this. Questioner is curious because she’s Indian, and keen to take this stuff and use it in India.
Question: are you familiar Lindsay Publication books – they reprint old “How to Make Your Own Foundry”.
Comment from audience: woodworking magazines really good guide, as are cooking magazines.
One feature is how to do good project shots, which is deliberately so they get better pictures when people send stuff in.
Sorry, lost my note-taking ability then as I got into a discussion. Major bit of info: it’ll be 200 pages, quarterly. Subscription-driven, it sounds. Hybrid book/magazine: mook!