The data was collected in course of two Maker Faire events in April/May 2018: Maker Faire UK (MFU) took place in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and Maker Faire Vienna (MFV) took place in Vienna (Austria).
The study aimed to capture the perspectives of different stakeholder groups. To do so different methods of data collection were used:
1) Maker Faire visitors: We created 30 different question cards and asked participating visitors to write down their brief reflections. Their hand-written answers (98 at MFU, 42 at MFV) were transcribed and categorised by question type in a spreadsheet for further analysis. The answers are anonymised and do not contain any private data. Participants were explained the purposes of the study before they decided to participate and informed consent was given verbally. Each participant received a card with contact details of the researcher.
2) Maker Faire exhibitors: We collected descriptions of the exhibitor stalls published in the Maker Faire programs (121 at MFU, 218 at MFV). The descriptions were written by the participating makers themselves and shed light on their respective projects, practices and agendas. Beyond that we included our own participant obersations and reflections as Maker Faire exhibitors in form of 3 audio-recorded and transcribed reflective conversations.
3) Maker Faire Organisers: We captured public texts from the official event websites. Apart from descriptions of the event (front page, About, Venue, press releases), we also captured how organisers featured the makers by highlighting them in their program, assigning them different categories and locating them in different areas of the event venue.
4) Additional public media accounts: newspaper article, blogpost, and podcast for MFU; 2 transcribed features on public service TV, magazine article, a community radio show with interviews for MFV