The NYSCI staff fell in love with Maker Faire. I didn’t hear a single cross-grained comment through the haze of exhaustion we all experienced. For me, it was among the highest points of my 30 years of museum work. And I am proud to say that I think the feeling was entirely mutual with the Maker Faire staff. They were amazed at the diversity of our audiences, the museum’s flexibility and willingness to collaborate as true partners, the incredible efforts put in by our staff, led by our COO Bob Logan and VP for External Affairs Dan Wempa, and our willingness to allow the event to emerge and to trust in the maker community and the process.

Since World Maker Faire, I have had dozens of comments from makers who were unfamiliar with NYSCI, and from the “People In Black” community of young artists and activists in New York. These people are now eager to collaborate on projects and participate in our community maker activities. So our universe of potential audiences and collaborators has opened up as a result of World Maker Faire 2010.

Eric Siegel of New York Hall of Science writes about his experience of a museum hosting a Maker Faire.

But more than that: we need, first, to take charge of our own learning, and next, help others take charge of their own learning. We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves. It is time, in other words, that we change out attitude toward learning and the educational system in general.

That is not to advocate throwing learners off the bus to fend for themselves. It is hard to be self-reliant, to take charge of one's own learning, and people shouldn't have to do it alone. It is instead to articulate a way we as a society approach education and learning, beginning with an attitude, though the development of supports and a system, through to the techniques and technologies that support that.

Nor is it to advocate some fundamental reform of the education system. I will leave the system and its reformers to themselves. I doubt that the system could be reformed, and even if it could, do not have the time nor energy to try. Indeed, it remains a source of wonder to me that when people talk about "change" and "reform", they always mean, of other people. I'm not interested in that approach to education.

Rather, it's about a complete redesign of the system, from the ground up, using new technologies and new ideas. That's what I'll be writing about in this column, hopefully once a week, in The Huffington Post's education blogs section. I'll be looking at the people who are building this new system now, at the people who are advocating free, open and authentic learning. I'll be describing the tech from the perspective of someone who builds it, and the philosophy from the point of view of someone who lives it.

Because, you know, change does not come from the system. It does not result from the replacement of one set of leaders with another. It's not something you can create by reshaping old institutions that were designed in a different age for a different purpose. The only real revolution, as John Lennon once said, comes when you change the people. Ourselves. One attitude at a time.

A pretty good summary of how the DIY mindset can and will shape our thinking about education.

a parallel economy is being created by people who, finding there are no jobs, have decided to create their own.

Arianna Huffington launches a small business series on HuffPost but she doesn't mention Makers who also fit her profile of "can-do" folks.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of Nick Normal, Maker Faire's own Queens-based "agent" who did so much to make the event possible. Nick, who is involved with the Flux Factory, did a lot of community outreach and networking leading up to Maker Faire. He was involved throughout the entire event as an area manager.

Maker Faire needs more people like Nick Normal so I've asked him to share as much as he can about what he did and how he did it. Others can and will learn from Normal.   He helped bring different communities together at Maker Faire -- finding them and connecting them to the event.  

Above is a link to Nick's own recap of World Maker Faire, although the photo is obviously not Nick.  

Thanks, Nick. Thanks for being Normal.