Page 280 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015280There are two ways of using it: by joining the Fab Lab Club, choosing the type of membership – with varying prices – that best suits your needs, or, if you need to use it for something specific, you can pay per session and for the materials. This ensures that the Fab Lab is open to the whole community and covers its running expenses.Another museum that has shown an interestin the advantages of setting up a Fab Lab onits premises, in this case in Latin America, is the Museo Metropolitano in Lima (Peru). Itis part of the international Fab Lab network172 and is based on the principle of educational work underpinned by “do-it-yourself ” as well as “sharing with others”.As requisites for using this space, users must undertake to use the machinery in a responsible manner so as not to cause harm to themselvesor others; they must leave the premises clean for other users, ensure and help with maintenance and repairs of the equipment, and report possi- ble incidents. The lab may be used for commer- cial purposes provided this does not enter into conflict with public use, and users undertake to share their success with the community to which they belong and which gave impetus to the development of their project.In Spain, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial is the only museum with a Fab Lab, the fabLAB Asturias.173 It is used by various agents, such as artists in residence in the insti- tution, the education department and anyone belonging to the community.Equipped with all the machinery needed to produce user prototypes, this lab has madea name for itself through its educational use associated with the museum’s programme. It is part of AuLAB, a project run by the education department and designed to provide the neces- sary tools for allowing pupils to learn through experimentation and the use of technology. Participants do not only learn the concepts but also to make decisions and build their own pro- totypes, and are encouraged to develop critical thought so that technology and art become part of their lives.AuLAB uses the Fab Lab in its initiatives Apren- der a través del diseño (Learn through design), where pupils fabricate a digitally designed artefact, and Introducción a la programación (Introduction to programming), where partici- pants come into contact with the basic concepts and functioning of digital technology so that they become not only consumers but also learn about the processes.In October 2013, Lucía Arias and Susanna Tesconi, who are responsible for the project, were invited to Stanford University (USA), which is hailed as one of the key institutions in educational research, to give a talk at the experts’ forum FabLearn on the experience of the programme for preventing early school leaving carried out at LABoral. The project involved pupils from twelve Asturian schools during the 2012–13 school year, with encouraging results.In addition, in June 2014 the managers of AuLAB presented their design and digital fabrication programme at FabLearn Europe. The event was organised jointly by the universitiesof Aarhus in Denmark, Stanford (USA) and Bremen (Germany).Focus 2015. Museums and New Technologies