Local project · Digital society
Make It Special
Maker culture and fab labs serving special education schools
About the project
Make It Special was a co-creation project that connected the maker world of fab labs with staff and pupils at special education schools, with a particular focus on female staff and pupils.
The project collected ideas for overcoming everyday barriers, such as problems with accessibility, environmental control or prosthetics, and shared them with the maker community so that they could be assessed and put into practice.
The best-rated ideas formed the basis of a hackathon in which makers and fab lab users looked for workable solutions.
Make It Special was a project of the University of Zaragoza and Fundación Ibercivis, funded and supported by FECYT – Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.
Project objectives
- Spread citizen science, maker culture and the possibilities of fab labs among staff at special education schools.
- Develop practical, concrete solutions that showcase the personalisation that digital fabrication makes possible.
- Get schools to champion this way of designing and making among children and their families.
- Pay particular attention to female staff and pupils.
The role of Ibercivis
Fundación Ibercivis led Make It Special together with the University of Zaragoza and maintained the project website, makeitspecial.ibercivis.es, which was used to run the call for ideas, the hackathon and the project catalogue.
Our activities
- Open call for ideas to overcome barriers in accessibility, environmental control or prosthetics, published on the website for the maker community.
- #MakeItSpecial hackathon to develop the chosen ideas in four areas: accessibility and environmental control, prosthetics, personal protection and educational materials.
- General project catalogue, open to new contributions through a form, so that any maker could build, replicate or improve the projects.
Gallery
Project details
Type of project
Local
Funding
Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) – Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
Consortium
University of Zaragoza and Fundación Ibercivis
Area
Digital society
