Critical Making Responsibility Framework. Extending an Academic Proposal to Support Reflexivity in Maker Communities

Bottom-up initiatives from maker networks across the globe, such as the first aid response during the outbreak of the Coronavirus, are currently showing how responsible innovation is happening outside the constraints of profit- driven large industries. We are witnessing the development of alternatives to DIY and making as a hobby. In this process, critical, socially responsible making and a professionalization of the maker-driven open hardware movement resembles how open source software became a widespread alternative to proprietary software. However, the positive societal, economic, and environmental impacts of the maker movement are still researched. The Critical Making project aims to gain scientific insights into the potentials of the maker movement for critical, socially responsible making in a participatory way. With both an academic and a practice-oriented audience in mind the project develops the Critical Making Responsibility Framework and a corresponding practical toolset to help reflect on core principles of critical making, such as social responsibility, sustainability, openness, inclusiveness. In this paper we present the emergence of the Critical Making Responsibility Framework and its current state. Also, we reflect on the experiences of makers having contributed to the development of the reflective toolset and discuss some of the challenges encountered along the way.