27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

For the last reading reflection, I chose to read Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson. In this book, Chris Anderson talks about how we are currently experiencing another industrial revolution thanks to the rise of entrepreneurs and manufacturers that are known as “Makers”. The main theme discussed in this book is how advances in technology like open-source software and 3-D printing have allowed the everyday person to manufacture at a smaller scale at less cost thus allowing them to innovate and become successful entrepreneurs.  

I think that many of the ideas that Chris presents in this book are reinforced by the things, we have learned in ENT3003. For one, I think that the overall theme of risk-taking in entrepreneurship is present in both. Entrepreneurs have to take risks and as with any new innovation or change risks are associated with it. These entrepreneurs and “Makers” are driven by their ideas and take risks in order to see their products and services come to life. And because of advances in technology, they are now able to accomplish that. 

I think a good exercise that would illustrate the themes and topics covered in this book would be to encourage people to research how much of their manufacturing or development process they can now accomplish at home. With things like 3-D printers more people than ever can now manufacture products from the comfort of their home. It would be cool to see how much of the process you could do yourself and see how much money you could save by not having to use a third-party manufacturer.  

I think the aha moment for me was the inclusion of crowdsourcing as an innovation that was ushering in this new industrial revolution. To me, crowdsourcing is nothing new as we usually ask many people for their take on an idea or process. But what was surprising was how the author presented crowdsourcing in the context of modern times. With the help of technology, we can now crowdsource ideas from potentially everyone in the world. Through technology we have reached the point where anyone can voice their opinion, thus allowing for the free flow of ideas and innovation to occur on an almost global scale.