Steve Daniels, a recent Brown graduate now with IBM Research’s Social Computing Group, has focused on how people create, adapt, and use technology in resource-constrained environments. Prior to joining IBM, Steve’s research focused on systems of production among African makers, from which he published the book Making Do: Innovation in Kenya’s Informal Economy. Steve is the founder of the Better World by Design conference, an annual summit organized by students at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design to engage creative students and professionals with the challenge of reshaping our built environment.
Makeshift Magazine by Steve Daniels — Kickstarter
About this project
Makeshift is a quarterly magazine and multimedia website about creativity in unlikely places, from the favelas of Rio to the alleys of Delhi. These are environments where resources may be scarce, but where ingenuity is used incessantly for survival, enterprise, and a self-expression. Makeshift is about people, the things they make, and the context they make them in.
Much of our coverage will involve remote emerging markets, but we recognize that creativity is hidden everywhere. We want to place you, our readers, in locations you will likely never get to see and reveal street-level ingenuity you might not expect. We want to show the minutiae of how massive areas function, thrive, and simply survive. We want to reveal the complex inner workings below surface understanding.
mkshft.org
twitter.com/mkshftmag
facebook.com/mkshftmag
Why a print magazine?
We’re told that print journalism is meant to be a thing of the past, yet independent magazines with rich, creative content are undergoing a renaissance. As we focus on a hands-on topic, we want to be able to put a real product in your hands, as well as offer an online multimedia presence.
When are you launching?
We’ll be launching on September 30 with a launch party and exhibition in Providence, RI at the Better World by Design conference. Some of our prizes include admission to the conference, but the Friday night party is open to the public for a nominal fee.
Why should I fund you?
To move Makeshift forward, editors and contributors will continue to scour the globe for individuals, organizations, and regions buzzing with enterprising spirit. But to do this, we need… money!
Thus far, Makeshift has been produced on a shoestring. We wanted to prove we could produce something from nothing before moving forward. So, in Makeshift spirit, we hustled some money together, paid our contributors the best we could, worked lots of late nights and created Issue One on “Re-culture: Reuse, repair, and recycle at the grassroots”. We are stoked on this issue and thankful for all the hard work and support of our contributors. But, with a little financial backing, we can take this progress leaps and bounds forwards.
What will you do with the $15,000?
Money raised through Kickstarter will go directly to building the infrastructure of magazine to make it a sustainable venture. All dollars within our $15,000 goal will directly allow us to set up and pay for subscription services, create an advertising/accounting department, purchase relevant software and supplies, and cover printing costs. This may not sound sexy, but this is the backbone we need to expand the creativity and reach of the magazine.