Makers & Providers

What is a Maker? What is a Provider? While these are conventional English words you would find in any dictionary, here at ProvideYourOwn, we have more in-depth meanings for them. This website is all about supporting, encouraging and inspiring folks to become Makers and Providers. To see what we mean, let’s look at each term in kind.

Maker

mak-er \ˈmā-kər\ n

1. a person who makes (something); fabricator; constructor

This term has been popularized by the folks over at Make magazine. This publication has spawned a fast growing following. Their purpose is to celebrate and provide information to people who make their own things. Their slogan is “technology on your time”. In their magazine, they mainly address making and/or hacking technological stuff, often with an artistic or crafter slant.Roblox HackBigo Live Beans HackYUGIOH DUEL LINKS HACKPokemon Duel HackRoblox HackPixel Gun 3d HackGrowtopia HackClash Royale Hackmy cafe recipes stories hackMobile Legends HackMobile Strike Hack

Here at ProvideYourOwn, we take a slightly different perspective. First, we love both the term and the idea. We also fully support the practice of empowering people to make and alter (hack) stuff. Where we differ, is in a more practical approach. We want to people to be Makers in a more practical rather than an artistic sense. In other words, we are not primarily concerned with using technology to make art or crafts. Rather, we want people to become the master of technology rather than its servant. Of course, being a Provider is broader in scope than using & hacking technology, but I am getting ahead of myself.

When I say I want people to become makers, I mean that I want them to overcome their fear of things they don’t understand, and by overcoming this fear, learn to shape and enhance their environment to improve the quality of their lives. Since much of our environment is technological, being a maker by necessity includes making and hacking hi-tech stuff. I, myself, despite being an Electrical Engineer, have experienced this fear and overcoming first-hand. Growing up, I used to take stuff apart, but I could never put it back together. As a result, I became afraid to take stuff apart anymore, much less modify it to suit my needs. In the last few years, however, I have been learning to overcome that handicap. Here are some examples from my own experiences.

Converting from Windows to Linux

I was having a conversation with a friend who shared with me that he used Linux on all his home computers. I was astounded to say the least. He was not in any kind of technical profession, and here I was a software developer, and yet considered Linux to be out of my league. Certainly, I knew I could play around with it, but to use it for day to day work, that was something different. Having thus been inspired by this friend, I spent several weekends working on converting over to using Linux. The process was an astounding success, and I am glad to be free from the Microsoft Juggernaut. Not only that, but the experience was pleasant and fun. It was definitely empowering to me.

Building My Own Computer

I recently needed a newer, faster computer. In the past, I had usually just found the cheapest factory reconditioned model available. This time, while I was considering that option, I also mused about building a computer that would be very low in power consumption so that I could run it off of solar power. This option wasn’t any cheaper, but since I did not have to pay a toll to Microsoft for an OS anymore, I found I could build not only a lower power computer, but a much higher performance one as well for the same money as the cheapest 2-year old model. I had never built a computer before, so again I was intimidated. I found an article on a solar-powered computer, and used it as a basis for building my own. The end result was again successful, very satisfying, and most of all empowering. I was now a master of both operating systems and computer hardware. I didn’t even need to go to college to attain these skills and knowledge – just a few evenings here and there and the knowledge came – bit by bit. If I can do it, you can too.

Being a maker is not just limited to hi-tech. It may also mean making low-tech stuff as well like kitchen-ware, custom tools, etc. Again, making these things may be intimidating. But you can do it if you put your mind to it. The joy and feeling of empowerment is something you don’t want to miss out on.

The principle thing is become less dependent on others to meet yours and your families daily needs, which brings us to our next term – Provider.

Provider

pro·vid·er \prə-ˈvī-dər\ n.

1. One who supplies a means of subsistence: parents who were good providers.

Just as the folks over at Make magazine describe their readers as makers, so here at ProvideYourOwn refer to our readers as providers. To best understand what we mean by being a provider, let’s look at is diametric – a dependent. In our highly complex and hi-tech society, we are very dependent on others. There is nothing wrong with some degree of interdependence. Interdependence is not what we have in our society however. Rather it is dependence or even co-dependence. A person will go to school for 16 years or more, and still be unable to perform the most basic tasks for himself or his family. The typical American is utterly dependent on experts, professionals and big corporations for not only their daily needs, but even for their entertainment. We can’t even entertain ourselves, but need some professional to do it for us.

We want to change this sorry state of affairs, at least for our readers. We want you to be able to provide for your basic needs – food, shelter, transportation, entertainment, and even technology as much as possible. While complete independence is not possible, at least a small measure of it will vastly improve your life and your security. Once you start, you will be able to successively progress to bigger and better things. Each step will empower you toward the next. You, not others, will be the provider for yourself and for your family.

Makers & Providers by Provide Your Own is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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