Melbourne Maker Faire a success

22 January's VK1WIA broadcast reported on a new Maker column in CQ magazine, intended to strengthen ties between radio amateurs and the maker community. Closer to home, Melbourne's Connected Community Hackerspace held Australia's first Mini Maker Faire on Saturday January 14. The event, held at Swinburne University, attracted an estimated 400 visitors. Think of it like a hamfest but with practical stands replacing equipment sales.

Popular exhibits included 3 dimensional printing, electronic music and Arduino open source microcontrollers. There were also learn to solder workshops, Lego poetry and numerous demonstrations. These included a remote controlled blimp, traditional handicrafts and a self-righting electronic Segway scooter (developed by Malcolm Faed VK2TMF). Key themes of Maker Faire included pulling apart, recycling, repairing and making. Computing, cheap components and easy to program microcontrollers is encouraging creative people to juxtopose art and electronics and we saw a lot of this on Saturday.

A number of VK3s attended and enjoyed the event. For those who wished they had gone several comprehensive videos of the event can be viewed on YouTube - just search for 'Melbourne Mini Maker Faire'

More from the makerfairemelbourne website click the following Link
and the hackmelbourne website click the following Link

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