Making is connecting
The social meaning of creativity, from
DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0

David Gauntlett
Published by Polity in April 2011
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In Making is Connecting, David Gauntlett argues that through making things, people engage with the world and create connections with each other. Both online and offline, we see that people want to make their mark on the world, and to make connections.

During the previous century, the production of culture became dominated by professional elite producers. But today, a vast array of people are making and sharing their own ideas, videos, and other creative material online, as well as engaging in real-world crafts, art projects, and hands-on experiences.

Gauntlett argues that we are seeing a shift from a ‘sit-back-and-be-told culture’ to a ‘making-and-doing culture’. People are rejecting traditional teaching and television, and making their own learning and entertainment instead. Drawing on evidence from psychology, politics, philosophy, and economics, he shows how this shift is necessary and essential for the happiness and survival of modern societies.

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David Gauntlett is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Westminster, UK. He is the author of several books, including Creative Explorations (2007), which was shortlisted for the Times Higher Young Academic Author of the Year Award.