How to Quickly Achieve Technology & Engineering Literacy
Our objective on this page is to provide the reader with a concise guide to the (relatively) rapid acquisition of technological literacy. Fortunately, there has never been a better time, and there have never before been better tools, for undertaking this task.
The aim of technology is the deployment and utilization of tools for the advancement of human purposes. And, for its part, engineering centers largely upon the design and creation of those tools. Both disciplines are grounded in science, especially physics; but, unlike science, both are applied rather than theoretical disciplines. For an overview of each discipline, in the broader context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) the reader is invited to go here.
Learning or experimenting with technology in any depth will require you to eventually acquire somewhat extensive knowledge of both science and mathematics. The STEM link above will provide you with the very best resources available to rapidly acquire that expertise at home.
A fundamental tenet of the "maker" ethos is the belief that we learn best by doing things hands-on. To this we would also add the following tenets: we tend to learn best visually (especially mathematics), and we also tend to learn better when the relevance and importance of the subject we are learning is clear from the outset. Finally, it is often helpful to understand a subject in its historical context. This is particularly true of technology, which hasn't sprung, full-blown, from the forehead of Zeus (or even Vulcan).
One way to get as hands-on as possible, as quickly as possible, is to create a hackerspace or makerspace in one's own home. Unfortunately, many individuals will have neither the money nor the room for a home workshop of this kind. If that's the case, one alternative is the creation of, or participation in, a public hackerspace. The further advantage of a public hackerspace, even for those with a home lab, is involvement in a community of shared expertise. Some equipment is also sufficiently expensive that sharing the financial burden in acquiring it may be the only realistic option.
If you're going to construct much of anything, preliminary mastery, or at least awareness, of basic technological or "maker" skills will be highly valuable. Popular Science comes to the rescue here best with The Big Book of Maker Skills, by Chris Hackett. This compendium doesn't dig too deeply into any of its many topics, but it does supply a nicely illustrated overview of the whole gamut of contemporary technologies - and of the essential tools for working with each of them hands-on.
A nice set of "Maker Lab" books for young teens is also available.
Perhaps the single most painless way to proceed after reading Hackett's book would be to acquire one or more of the Engino kits. These can be used to develop an understanding of the scientific principles underlying the vast majority of technologies. An especially good starting point would be the "Newton's Laws" kit, which covers inertia, momentum, and kinetic and potential energy. The aspiring engineer can acquire real engineering knowledge by following up with such other kits as "Simple Machines". While having the appearance of toys, the instructional material provided with these kits is of real value, even for adults.
Also available from Engino are: "Fluid Dynamics", an "Architecture Set", a "Botanic Laboratory", and a "Robotics Model Set".
Ready to move on from kits? One next step up would be to Mechanical Engineering for Makers, by Brian Bunnell and Samer Najia. This book does a very creditable job of introducing the essentials of mechanical engineering to novices. This branch of engineering is concerned with the design and manufacture of machinery. Bunnell and Najia walk the reader through the design and construction of several hand-on projects, including a tracked vehicle and an air horn.
Before undertaking any very involved sort of engineering project, your concept will need some initial designing. Professional CAD/CAM design tools, such as Autocad, are far too expensive for most, though a crippled version of Fusion 360 is available free for a year. The single best free alternative we know of is FreeCAD, which will let you get your feet wet. However, if you want/need a more capable tool, you can start free (though, annoyingly, on the web only) with SketchUp, which also provides the most affordable path to professional CAD.
With a throughly worked out design in hand, the next step is to actually manufacture or construct your device. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software can be just as pricey as Computer Aided Design software. However, if you intend to construct your design out of relatively soft materials such as wood, plastics, or soft metals like aluminum, then you can use an affordable CNC router, with Vectric's inexpensive Cut3D software. (As of this writing, routers for hard metals weigh in at around $14,000. This tool would be a nice acquisition for a public hackerspace, or used ones may be available on the Used CNC site or on ebay.)
Construction need not involve CAM software, of course. Historically, the most tried-and-true construction methods have always centered on carpentry. The single best resource for getting underway here is Woodworking: The Complete Step by Step Manual. Mastered the basics of carpentry? A terrific next step would be the construction of a tiny home. There are relatively affordable CAD tools for home design, varying in capability and learning curve. You can't get a building permit for this version of Home Designer, but you can for Home Designer Pro. (The learning curve for this tool is generally rated as steep - but this is necessarily true of all 3D programs, unfortunately. There's just a lot to know.)
Another way to move on from basic kits would be to branch out into electrical engineering. This, of course, requires a preliminary knowledge of electricity and electronics. Electronics as a hobby has, of course, long been popular, and numerous resources are available, but we recommend two books. For beginners with no previous knowlege at all, Make: Learn Electronics With Arduino is ideal, and comes with a bonus: an understanding of basic computing. Charles Platt's Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery (2nd edition) provides your next step in electronics literacy. A kit is available, which conveniently supplies all of the components required for the entire book.
Moving on from this book might include building a home security system for your tiny home. Two good books concerning relevant security systems are available from Tim Rustige: Book 1 and Book 2. Other interesting projects may be found in Matthew Poole's Raspberry Pi for Secret Agents (3rd edition).
Finally, completion of Platt's book would provide a good jumping-off point for considering what's required for off-grid energy production. For this we recommend Off Grid Solar Power, by Sitav Bhadra and Paul Holmes. Information is included for tiny homes, RVs, and even boats. If any of the terminology or concepts in that book leave you puzzled, you can consult Basic Electricity by Charles W. Ryan.
We've also developed a separate resource combining robotics with programming, as the former discipline helps make the latter one much more interesting. The reader will also find there resources concerning artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Resources concerning synthetic biology will be found in our resource for biology.
Want to share your achievements with the maker community? One way would be to participate in a Maker Faire. If you feel that your technology has commercial potential, you'll find a great deal of helpful infrastructure already in place. If you want to get a startup company underway, you can try equity crowdfunding. If, instead, you are more narrowly focused on particular product, you can instead launch a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign.
Better still, and a primary reason for creating this page: use your skills to bend technology to better meet human needs and to solve the world's biggest problems. What are these? They're identified in our global priorities resource. Some organizations leading the charge in this area include: Humanitarian Makers, Tomglobal, and Fieldready. Check them out!
Print resources for technology news and literacy include Make magazine and Popular Science.
Oneline resources include:
Hackaday: a collaborative hardware development community
Youmagine: 18,000 open source designs
Thingiverse: searchable open source designs
Instructables: a project-sharing community
For fascinating technology overviews and explanations of many existing technologies, please see the Introduction to Technology section of our STEM resource.
Those interesting in learning programming and/or robotics at home may go here for the relevant guide.
The Editor / Everything Progressive
