The Makerspace Accessibility Group is dedicated to designing inclusive and adaptable makerspace experiences that encourage participation from nontraditional users—specifically students from majors and disciplines that do not typically engage with makerspace tools. Our research aims to identify barriers to access, provide solutions for a more inclusive makerspace culture, and create an environment that fosters creativity and innovation for a broader range of academic backgrounds. To better understand the circumstances of many students and possible reasons for biases, our research group has collected a library of applicable articles, past research, and interviews and combed through the accumulated data. We have also run multiple pop-up and workshop events to better understand student interactions and beliefs surrounding the makerspaces on campus. In the long-term, we hope to run more extensive, sponsored events. We are also looking into the possibility of mobile makerspace labs capable of serving not only different parts of campus, but different areas of Atlanta.
