Below is the Daily Message published on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024:
The Williams MakersWeb is a network of staff and faculty expert practitioners that represent the 27 maker spaces and studios distributed throughout campus. It also includes 6 campus and 9 community partners. The MakersWeb embraces interdisciplinary networking as a means to better serve the mission of the College.
The Provost’s Office is excited to support the creation of the Williams MakersWeb, a staff-led initiative to improve opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration between the 20+ creative work spaces on campus.
The MakersWeb offers a monthly forum for staff and faculty “maker” practitioners to share expertise, promote curricular projects and engaged scholarship, and to discuss improving access to making equipment, standardizing safety practices, and conserving resources through bulk purchasing and creating a hardgoods inventory. Meetings will be organized and facilitated by David Keiser-Clark (Makerspace) and Jason Mativi (Science Shop).
The MakersWeb supports at least three strategic commitments (The Future of the Arts at Williams, Sustainability, and Learning Beyond the Classroom).
I hope that practitioners will participate and that the campus will support this work by dedicated individuals to support the curriculum.