Last night, Whiteboard Journal hosted our 7 We Discuss session. This month, we talked about many different aspects of what we have come to know as the “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) culture. Lots of intriguing ideas were exchanged throughout the discussion, which have been summarized in the following points:
- When you can’t find things that suit your preference and/or needs, you begin to consider making them on your own.
- Economical motivations are also common (i.e. the need to save money).
- “Yourself” is the heart of the widely used acronym, DIY, as it emphasizes the creator’s independence.
- However, the most important part is a person’s involvement in the process, further adding a personal touch to the product.
- But is it possible to purely “independent” in the sense of not relying on other like-minded individuals? There were participants who thought that establishing a network among DIY-ers could threaten the very idea of DIY.
- However, there were also participants who were in favor of a community that would act as a support group to sustain the movement. In this case, independence is achievable on individual and collective levels.
- A question was raised regarding the standards of DIY products. Are standards even necessary? Or does the appeal of the DIY culture lie in its absence of standards?
- A sense of accomplishment is one of the plus points of engaging in DIY activities.
- When speaking of the DIY culture, one must learn how to distinguish between a “DIY product” and an “invention.” DIY products have less to do with the originality of the idea behind them, and more to do with the creator’s initiative to be involved in the process.
- Another point worth highlighting is the necessity of sustaining the availability of resources (i.e. the materials needed to make various products). Without the materials, it would not be possible to make more things.
- With regards to technology, an interesting argument was made about the irrelevance of the “analog vs. digital” argument in discussions on the DIY movement because technology is always evolving. What’s important is how those changing technologies are utilized. It’s about using what is at your disposal at the present moment.
- This is then linked to the time-based nature of DIY goods. There is something is immediate about them.
- From a musician’s perspective, DIY is about being control (e. g. recording one’s own music in one’s own room.) However, although the process itself could be controlled, the consequences of releasing the end product – if it were to be released – cannot be controlled.
- Increased effort = increased support for the cause. In other words, when a lot of effort into a certain product – be it a thing, event, or movement – it is highly possible that others would want to sustain it.
- It is dangerous to stress the “handmade” element of a DIY product because it does not necessarily guarantee the quality of the product.
- DIY products are very subjective. Their value cannot be measured according to monetary standards. They are often segmented, and not designed for the masses.
- A point was raised regarding net labels – independent online distributors of music – that break the barriers of copyright.
- The DIY movement is both a subculture and a counterculture – depending on the motivation of the creators. It depends on whether one simply make something for one’s own purposes, or is there a vision to influence others to do the same.
- Ideally, the DIY movement shouldn’t be tied to commercial interests (especially in terms of profit), as it would defy the purpose of establishing something that is “for the people.” However, in cases where “the profit” is used to finance the needs of the people (be it for the continuity of the makers movement or charity), exceptions are made.
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, so please feel free to tweet us @wjournal or send us an e-mail to with the subject title “We Discuss #7.”
We would like to thank those who came and contributed to the first We Discuss of 2014. We hope to see you again at future discussions! Look out for announcements and related updates on next discussion. Check our website, Facebook page, as well as our Twitter and Instagram accounts!
D. I. Y. Culture by Michael Kimmelman
“A generation or more ago, aside from what people did in their home or from what’s roughly called folk or outsider art, culture was generally thought of as something handed down from on high, which the public received.
"Today it’s made and distributed in countless different ways, giving not just governments and institutions but nearly everyone with access to the Web the means to choose and shape his or her own culture, identity, tribal fidelities — and then spread this culture, via Youtube or whatever else, among allies (and enemies) everywhere, a democratizing process. The downside of this democratization is how every political niche and fringe group has found a culture via the Web to reinforce its already narrow views, polarizing parts of society despite the widened horizon.”
Kimmelman goes on to conclude that the “myth of an avant-garde serves the same market forces avant-gardism pretends to overthrow.”
Do you agree with Kimmelman’s arguments? Do you think that downsides of the democratization enabled by the D. I. Y. culture can outnumber its advantages?
Do-It-Yourself Education Is the Ideal by Anya Kamenetz
“It [education] must be radically affordable, near-universally accessible, diverse, and endlessly customizable to students' needs. Universities can simply get out of the way of this movement, or they can guide an increasing number of students toward self-direction by certifying and assessing prior learning and multiple paths toward mastery of a subject, and by offering learning resources, mentorship, support, and even physical meeting spaces, all at low cost and on an as-needed basis.”
What are the possible challenges of movements that support “customizable education”? How achievable is it in a society that still holds on to conventional institutional standards?
The Revenge of Print by Eric Obenauf
“I believe that book publishing will re-generate in the near-future into two separate models: the corporate model, which strives to attain the widest possible ‘readership’ in as short of a time-span as possible by use of electronic devices, interaction, and gimmicks; and the print model, sustained by independent, university, and re-branded imprints of large houses, that believe as Eggers, in reading as a ‘beautiful rich tactile experience,’ and who are satisfied with a book selling five thousand copies.”
Apart from the old “corporate vs. indie” and “quality over quantity” argument, what are the other advantages of independent publishing (as well as other productions such as record labels, fashion labels, etc.)?
Making It by Evgeny Morozov
“[Mark] Hatch assumes that online platforms are ruled by equality of opportunity. But they aren’t. Inequality here is not just a matter of who owns and runs the means of physical production but also of who owns and runs the means of intellectual production—the so-called ‘attention economy’ (or what the German writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger, in the early sixties, called the ‘consciousness industry’).”
Morozov suggests that the D. I. Y./Maker movement does not necessarily guarantee freedom and equality. What are your thoughts on that?
Making Good / The Art of Repair by Philip Ball
“Equally detrimental to a culture of mending is the ever more hermetic nature of technology. DIY fixes become impossible either physically (the unit, like your MacBook lead, is sealed) or technically (you wouldn’t know where to start). Either way, the warranty is void the moment you start tinkering. Add that to a climate in which you pay for the service or accessories rather than for the item – inks are pricier than printers, mobile phones are free when you subscribe to a network – and repair lacks feasibility, infrastructure or economic motivation.”
“Some feel this is going to change — whether because of austerity or increasing ecological concerns about waste and consumption. Martin Conreen, a design lecturer at Goldsmiths College in London, believes that TV cookery programmes will soon be replaced by ‘how to’ DIY shows, in which repair would surely feature heavily. The hacker culture is nurturing an underground movement of making and modifying that is merging with the crowdsourcing of fixes and bodges – for example, on websites such as ifixit.com, which offers free service manuals and advice for technical devices such as computers, cameras, vehicles and domestic appliances.”
Ball brings up an important point, in that he sheds light on the importance of re-creating (or fixing) rather than creating (or beginning from scratch). How do the two activities intersect, and how important are both in the D. I. Y. culture?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
7—9 pm
Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan
(near the language section)
Jl. Asia Afrika 8
Sogo Plaza Senayan Lt. 5
Jakarta 10270
Look out for updates on our Facebook page and Twitter account! If you’d like to share your opinions, or if you have friends who’d like to share theirs, please sign up via e-mail with the subject title “We Discuss” at ! If you have comments or questions, tweet us .
We Discuss is back! For the first meeting of 2014, which is exactly one week away, we would like to invite you to talk about things that are made by us, for us.
At what point do we feel the urge to abandon everything that is readily available to us for the sake of exploring our creativity? There are, of course, many reasons as to why we’d rather make our own things instead of buying them; financial, political, ideological, etc. But whatever the reason may be, “independence” – whether it is an individual or collective independence – is an important keyword. In this discussion, let’s reflect on the possible practical and/or social significance of the “do it yourself” movement. Share your thoughts and personal experience!
- What does it mean to “do it yourself” – to make things from scratch or to merely assemble things?
- While the DIY mindset encourages independence, we cannot ignore the importance of the that allow us to make things. The role of technology is very important.
- Under what conditions do you think the DIY movement would thrive? Do you think it can develop well in Jakarta?
- Increased effort = increased value?
- Making things by yourself means that you have plenty of room for innovation, but it also means that you are challenging the accepted standards. What are advantages and disadvantages to work according to your own needs and standards? (Alternative education is an especially relevant topic, but it is by now means limited to it. Food production, music, literature, and other art forms are also included.)
- Creating vs. re-creating: Doesn’t creativity have a huge role in the art of reparation, in “creating” something new out of a broken object? By repairing things, we are putting old things to good use, and it also gives us the perfect chance to experiment.
- Having said that, how do we actually define “creativity” in this technological era? Computers allow us to engage in various creative tasks – from writing, making music, to drawing – but would this kind of creativity count as a part of the DIY movement?
- Chris Anderson, the former editor-in-chief of , noted that that “The digital natives are starting to hunger for life beyond the screen.” How true is his comment? Despite the time we invest in our digital activities, do we still want to create something that exists in the physical world?
- How does the DIY mindset and movement affect our sense of identity?
- Do you think that groups and communities are important to keep the DIY culture alive?
- If we consider the DIY culture in terms of collectives, is it a that seeks an alternative way of living or a that intentionally opposes the norm?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
7—9 pm
Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan
(near the language section)
Jl. Asia Afrika 8
Sogo Plaza Senayan Lt. 5
Jakarta 10270
Please look out for more #WeDiscuss updates on our Facebook page and Twitter account! If you’d like to share your opinions, or if you have friends who’d like to share theirs, sign up via e-mail with the subject title “We Discuss” at ! If you have comments or questions, tweet us .
2014 is only two weeks away, but that doesn’t mean there’s no time for a We Discuss session! On December 17, Whiteboard Journal, along with enthusiastic participants, talked about food. And some of the ideas that were exchanged during the discussion were indeed food for thought.
- Despite the invention of liquids that can give the human body the nutrients it needs, we still crave for food that we can bite and chew. It seems that texture, in addition to taste and nutritional value, is important.
- Processed vs. natural food
- We associate what we eat with certain shapes and smells.
- “Organic” and other keywords that are related to health are marketing tools that directly or indirectly affect the way we consume food.
- Although advertisements and the media in general can affect the public in negative ways (increased junk food consumption, etc.), they can also raise public awareness about healthy food.
- When scanning the ingredient labels of foods available at supermarkets, it’s crucial to know what one does not want in one’s food. In other words, educating one’s self about basic ingredients that ought to be avoided is each individual’s responsibility.
- Healthy foodstuff is normally more expensive than the standard, and most likely less healthy, option – meaning that it is only affordable to a limited group of people. Is it possible to produce food that contains nutritious elements at a lower price?
- Different cultures have different tolerance towards “expiry dates” – which can also be seen as a marketing tool.
- Cooking, like eating, is a social activity.
- The utensils we use to eat reflect our connection to food. For instance, using one’s hands to eat represents the intimacy that one has with one’s meal while using chopsticks or spoons sets a distance between the diner and the food.
- The foodie phenomenon on Instagram and other social media enhances the aesthetic appreciation that we have towards food.
- The sort of “food appreciation” that was mentioned in the previous point and “food criticism” normally take place at higher social classes – that is, people whose relationship with food already go beyond reasons for survival.
- Culturally speaking, different societies have different ways of appreciation food (e.g. the Japanese habit of slurping noodles)
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated, so please feel free to tweet us @wjournal or send us an e-mail to with the subject title “We Discuss #6.”
We would like to thank those who came and contributed to last We Discuss meeting of 2013. We hope to see you again next year! Look out for announcements and other updates regarding the next discussion on our website’s blog and events section. Or check out our Facebook page, as well as our Twitter and Instagram accounts!
Why are we so obsessed with the pursuit of authenticity? by Steven Poole
“Modern mass-media gluttony, or foodism, has its own cluster of presumed ‘authentic’ virtues. The idea of ‘real’ food is sometimes parsed, adorably, as food with no chemicals, though all food is made of chemicals. It is widely assumed that food sold as organic is purer and closer to an assumedly benign Nature, although no food is made from inorganic matter and organic farming standards sanction the use of neurotoxic fertilisers.”
Have you ever looked for “original” coffee or restaurants that serve “authentic dishes” from this or that country? The chances are that we all have – at least once. And this preference does not apply to food alone, according to Poole.
A Tweetable Feast
“Food is inherently social, best consumed with friends or family; even eating with strangers is better than eating alone. It is essential to our social life that we invite people to eat with us, even when we’re separated by space and time.”
Keller points out the social values of dining, and why he thinks that the flood of food photos on Instagram and other social media outlets might not be such a bad thing. He continues to say that even though “we laugh at our Instagrammed plates and tweets about lunch,” we realize that “the pixilated dishes on Skype or Google+ might be a viable alternative to the kitchen table.”
The Culinary Triangle by Sara Davis
“Cultural values and fears might manifest through actual cooking and eating practices, as when we bake our most elaborate pastries for milestones such as birthdays or weddings, or when we refuse to eat food that has fallen on the floor because it has strayed into the zone of the rotten.”
This essay is largely based on Claude Levi-Strauss’s three categories of food: raw, cooked, and rotten. Davis emphasizes the different attitudes that different cultures have toward those categories.
Star Wars by Tom Vanderbilt
“In the days before the Internet, eating at an unknown restaurant meant relying on a clutch of quick and dirty heuristics.”
Eating out used to be an adventure, but Vanderbilt notes that nowadays, we are faced with the never-ending supply of reviews and online recommendation. In short, the modern food enthusiast is exposed to many – perhaps even too many – choices. How should we filter out all that information?
The Kinfolk Table
This recipe book “puts the emphasis back into the relationships that surround eating. Let the people sharing your dinner table be the foreground and superficial details such as fancy recipes and table decorations can fade into the background.”
What do you think about the new aesthetics of food? Presentation is now almost, if not more important than “authenticity” itself. Or perhaps presentation is what makes a certain food authentic.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
7—9 pm
Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan
(near the language section)
Jl. Asia Afrika 8
Sogo Plaza Senayan Lt. 5
Jakarta 10270
Look out for updates on our Facebook page and Twitter account! If you’d like to share your opinions, or if you have friends who’d like to share theirs, please sign up via e-mail with the subject title “We Discuss” at ! If you have comments or questions, tweet us .
There are only seven days until the last We Discuss meeting of 2013. This month, we are going to relax and talk about something everyone loves: food.
But where, how, and the people with whom we share (or don’t share) our meals also define us. Because food is essential to our survival, we rarely take the time to think about eating as an activity that is loaded with cultural codes and traditions. Let’s use this opportunity to take a step back and look into our eating patterns.
- What is your favourite food? Do you think that the combination of flavours, smells, and memories determine what you would consider to be your favourite food? How so?
- Instant food vs. fresh produce. Are we willing to sacrifice convenience at the expense of our health?
- With regards to “organic food,” are we really becoming more health conscious or are we just participating in a fleeting culinary trend?
- How do we decide what is food or what it isn’t? Why do we think that some dishes are “bizarre” while others aren’t?
- We associate certain foods with specific cultural or religious celebrations and vice versa. To what extent do the two depend on each other?
- The plates and cutlery that we use for our food are also an integral part of our eating habits. Some use chopsticks, while others use spoons or even their bare hands. Do you think the survival of a culture depends on the continued practice of using specific tools?
- There is a growing appreciation towards “food” as opposed to food. This increased interest in food is not only limited to cooking shows on television. But there are magazines such as Kinfolk and Cereal – just to name a few – that portray food and the process of making it, as an art form. The question that arises from this: is this sort of “food appreciation” applicable to all cultures? What does it say about social classes?
- What are the major differences between eating at home and eating out?
- The popular philosopher, Alain de Botton, once tweeted: “Cooks: make the food others too busy to prepare.” But sometimes we eat for reasons other than the food itself. We also consider the ambience of restaurants and cafes. How big or small is the place? How far is one table placed from the other? How is the lighting?
- Do the concepts of “take away” food or food carts reflect the pace of our society?
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
7—9 pm
Kinokuniya Plaza Senayan
(near the language section)
Jl. Asia Afrika 8
Sogo Plaza Senayan Lt. 5
Jakarta 10270
Please look out for more #WeDiscuss updates on our Facebook page and Twitter account! If you’d like to share your opinions, or if you have friends who’d like to share theirs, sign up via e-mail with the subject title “We Discuss” at ! If you have comments or questions, tweet us .
