Manami Suzuki: Making What You Want Yourself—The New Generation of Prosumers Brought by Technology

2024/05/09

With the evolution of technology and changes in the times, an era where new forms of self-sufficiency are possible is arriving. In the past, self-sufficiency was for "survival" or to embody and assert an "ideology." However, in the modern world filled with goods, self-sufficiency has become "for one's own satisfaction," and the evolution of digital technology is accelerating the world of DIY (Do It Yourself).

In this article, I would like to follow the modern self-sufficiency of "making and fixing what you want yourself" from the perspective of the Maker Movement, against the background of environmental consideration.

I believe that the market mechanism created by the era of mass production and mass consumption is coming to an end, and the era of the prosumer is beginning in earnest. "Prosumer" is a coined word meaning Producer + Consumer that appeared in the 1980 book "The Third Wave" by futurist Alvin Toffler.

The division between "consumer" and "producer" was born during the Industrial Revolution, when productivity improved dramatically, "mass production and mass consumption" took place, and industrial products became available at low cost. Later, the information revolution made it possible to obtain various information at low cost, and at the same time, many individuals became able to disseminate information. As a result, producers entered an era where they could not ignore consumer voices (reviews), and the divided "consumer" and "producer" began to draw closer again, making the existence of the prosumer more prominent.

The nature of the prosumer changes with the times. For the previous generation of prosumers, it meant having consumers participate in the development process, such as the development of the "Body Fit Sofa" started by MUJI around 2000.

However, while modern prosumers consume by watching videos created by professionals, they also create and distribute their own videos. While being consumers themselves, they are no longer satisfied with ready-made products and have begun to produce something unique to satisfy their own needs. Furthermore, this new generation of prosumers has a DIY orientation, represented by DIY carpentry and home gardening, and they find value in and enjoy the "process of making things."

We cannot ignore the change in the times where the importance of "repair," which is neither "consumption" nor "production," is being highlighted.

In 2015, the "SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)" were adopted at the UN Summit. In February 2024, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on a proposal for a directive to introduce a consumer's "right to repair," which obliges manufacturers to facilitate access to repair services for products and provide parts and necessary information to repairers. In several US states, moves are already underway to recognize the consumer's "right to repair" for failures in electronic devices and automobiles, and to mandate the provision of parts, tools, and manuals necessary for repair. Consumers taking over what producers used to handle is also required by the times. From this perspective, it can be said that the existence of prosumers has become even more prominent.

In 2012, Chris Anderson's book "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" was published, which served as a catalyst for the "democratization of manufacturing" to be widely recognized worldwide. "Democratization of manufacturing" refers to the emergence of digital machine tools such as 3D printers and maker spaces (facilities like FabLabs) where they can be used, expanding the range of manufacturing by individuals. "Maker" is a concept contrasted with "Manufacturer" (manufacturing industry), which refers to manufacturing companies.

Actually, maker spaces increased explosively and showed great momentum from around 2011 to 2017, but now news of closures is constant. "TechShop," a US maker space that symbolized the movement, went bankrupt in 2017 and all its locations in the country were closed. Also, "Maker Faire," a leading maker event, saw its operator Maker Media go bankrupt in 2019. "Maker Faire" is a DIY exhibition and presentation held in various parts of the world. In Japan, "Maker Faire Tokyo" has been held since 2008, attracting about 25,000 visitors in 2018.

From these movements in the US, it was thought that the Maker Movement would shrink, but in Japan, I feel that makers are increasing rather than decreasing. This is because maker events are being held one after another across Japan. Not only the aforementioned "Maker Faire," but also events held by volunteers, such as the NT series represented by "NT Kanazawa," have increased. Incidentally, NT is an abbreviation for "Nanka Tsukuttemita" (I tried making something).

The number of people who organize not only works but the exhibitions themselves is increasing, and events are being launched one after another in various parts of Japan, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Tochigi, and Gifu, showing a nationwide spread. In response to this, an increasing number of companies are encouraging and supporting individual manufacturing activities (outside of work) by employees, calling them "club activities."

Maker events are also places that embody STREAM education (a coined word combining the initials of Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, an educational method proposed in the US to survive in an increasingly complex society), where people learn cross-disciplinarily and through inquiry, and come up with ideas creatively. Recently, participation by families with children has been prominent.

I have been involved in the "Heroes League," an IT development contest for IT creators aiming for "free manufacturing," since around 2012 when this Maker Movement was proposed. During these 12 years, technology trends have changed dizzyingly—SNS, O2O (Online to Offline), IoT, Big Data, XR, Blockchain, Generative AI... and I have watched various outputs being born from the sidelines.

The biggest change I felt among them is that manufacturing is no longer confined to services on screens like apps, but manufacturing combined with things modeled and output by 3D printers has increased significantly, and the range of manufacturing that individuals can create has improved remarkably.

To use a route guidance service as an analogy, it is a change from a web app that only points out the distance and direction to the destination, to a flashlight-type device where a light shines in the direction of the destination. Both are route guidance that does not use maps, but by mediating through physical "things" rather than just software, the range of expression has expanded greatly.

And when ready-made products were expensive or did not meet their needs, many people began to create them themselves. Works that fully push forward individual hobbies and preferences, such as a "typewriter keyboard" made to reproduce the typing feel of a typewriter, and a "musical instrument modified from a meal ticket machine" born from the impulse to press the buttons of a meal ticket machine without limit. There are also masterpieces such as lawn-mowing robots and UFO catchers that make you wonder, "Isn't this a ready-made product sold by a manufacturer?" I am surprised by the range of what individuals can do.

Works created not for "someone else" but from the impulse that "I" want such a thing or want to create it are a treasure trove of creativity.

In this realm of makers, one can see the appearance of "new generation prosumers" who enjoy unique ideas not seen in the era of mass production and mass consumption, as well as the process of creation. At maker events, instead of consumer-like questions such as "What is this useful for?" or "What is new about it?", questions close to the creator fly around, such as "What triggered the idea?", "How did you give it shape?", and "What parts did you focus on?" There is communication there that exists precisely because they are fellow creators.

Makers do not create with big goals in mind; they make simple prototypes of ideas they come up with, show them to everyone, and find new uses for the work or evolve it within that process. If it breaks, they can fix it themselves, and since they are not selling it, they don't worry about quality more than necessary. Above all, because they are moving their hands "for themselves," the process of making is fun and exciting.

Moving one's hands to give shape, rather than just imagining in one's head, leads to an interest in how ready-made products work, and many people perform reverse engineering (disassembling ready-made products to understand their structure). I believe that maker manufacturing not only accelerates curiosity and creativity but also generates respect for professional producers, and will play an important role in the modern age where the "right to repair" is being questioned.

Consumers who have reclaimed the act of "making" not only create new things to satisfy their own needs but also consume things created by professional producers while extending product life by repairing and disassembling them, or modifying them into new things. They produce not only "creation" from scratch but also "generation," such as making things with available means and tools or reusing them for something different.

I am excited to see new generation prosumers create new things never seen before, but more than that, I am paying attention to the shift from a "disposable" culture to a "culture of regeneration."

By the way, the Ishikawa Prefectural Library has a space where people can experience manufacturing using digital machine tools, and citizens who organize maker events in Kanazawa are involved in its operation. I fantasize that it would be interesting if makers living in the area were involved in the operation of public facilities and places like the "Repair Café," which originated in the Netherlands, were created.