This week our Outriders are a combination of do it yourself and those who can help you do it for yourself. Do it yourself and design are becoming easier via digital tools and creative communities and on the podcast we chat with a number of people who can explain how.
To open with Jeff Kowalski the Vice President and CTO of Autodesk showed me around the company Gallery to describe how one of the larger and older SF tech companies is making advances. When it comes to design, Autodesk aids clients who create almost everything from sustainable architectural design tools, rapid prototyping and even digital systems for films such as Avatar.
Elsewhere in the same city, hackers are making their own designs and working together in creative ways. Noisebridge is the hackerspace in the mission kitted out with machine tools, coders who teach and filled with multiple ideas and projects that encourage further creativity. Gian Pablo Villamil spends time there working on his own projects with friends and he kindly took a moment to tell me more about it.
Mitch Altman - friendly outrider, inventor and maker has been touring the Mid-West of America and parts of Canada checking out other hackerspaces and spreading the word. He was one of the founders of Noisebridge and shared the origins of the idea that turned into a community.
Here in the UK the hackerlab and hackerspace communities are also thriving. On Twitter the Manchester and Sheffield spaces chimed in with their very busy schedules of fun goings on. Check in there to find out more. In East London, Laboratory 24 is run by Jonty Wareing and provides all manner of support for its members.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/outriders/2010/08/make_and_do.shtml