WorldChanging, in an entry today, pointed me to this article over on Fortune magazine online titled “The Amazing Rise of the Do-It-Yourself Economy“. I think Fortune does a pretty good job (re-)introducing their mainstream readership to this idea (even though WorldChanging takes issue with it – no surprise I guess). I got my re-introduction almost 20 years ago during a visit to South Korea where enterprising women set up “instant bluejeans” tents along the roads, only they used pedal-powered sewing machines instead of rapid-prototyping devices. Hard to see that kind of thing – so rare in the U.S. – and not be jolted back to capitalist reality. The first time I saw one may well be a changing moment in my life, now that I think about it.

Anyway, I’ve commented on the WorldChanging entry, so you can also read my take on their take there.

All this back and forth makes me want to get out an old Powerpoint presentation I did years ago which traced how we went from Craft to bland Mass Production and were/are going back to Craft. Perhaps I’ll post that sometime. I believe the images I used fall under the Fair Use provision.