The Wall Street Journal has an interesting front-page story on tinkerers this morning, but the paper undermines it with a silly reach and a misleading headline aimed at newsifying the piece.
Who doesn’t want to read about inventors clinking away in their garages making absinthe-cocktail-mixing “Barbots” or 3D printers? But the paper has to awkwardly force a news hook on the story, which as far as the reader can tell from the rest of the story is just completely bogus.
The WSJ doesn’t really do the off-the-news thing so much anymore, so slap a recession headline on it and motor on!
Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis
So what’s the evidence for that?
The financial crisis played a role in taking a nascent trend and giving it increased urgency, says Michael Cima, an MIT engineering professor. “I’ve been here 23 years and I definitely see this trend back to hands-on,” he says. “A lot of people are pretty disappointed with an image of a career in finance and they’re looking for a career that’s real.”
That’s it—one dude saying so. That does not a headline make in a 2,100 word story.
It’s too bad because there really does seem to be a trend toward making physical stuff as opposed to 1s and 0s stuff.
But the real reason would be, as the story reports (it’s not hard to imagine this perfectly fine story sitting there well and good before an editor came along to screw it up), that the tools for making said stuff have been democratized.
I don't think this was an overreach at all. Just because he uses one quote does not mean there aren't plenty more to back that up. And the comment of one knowledgeable 23-year MIT professor certainly carries more weight than "dude" status. I have certainly noticed this trend in my own reporting for Site Selection magazine, as we document where companies are locating or expanding their facilities, and the strategic reasons (including work force talent and training) behind those decisions.
The "real reason"(s) for the rise of tinkering go well beyond the democratization of equipment, and do indeed include disillusion with financial engineering as a consequence of the various unravelings related to the crisis. As Pete Engardio observed in a talk at the International Association of Science Parks conference in Raleigh this past summer, science and tech students over the past couple decades have been steadily won over from other career paths by the financial rewards of doing algorithms for financial engineering. Now, as the downside of the U.S. economy's "financialization" (to use Kevin Phillips' term) comes home to roost, clean tech, among other sectors, offers those students a shot at using their talents to make stuff again. In addition to these little co-op tinker shops, higher education institutions are seizing on this trend as well, and establishing high-tech "garage"-style spaces.
#1 Posted by Adam Bruns, CJR on Fri 13 Nov 2009 at 11:19 AM
Adam,
I'm not saying that it's not true that the bad economy has increased tinkering-- I'm saying that I think the story didn't show that enough to justify the headline and lede. It was forced to find a news peg.
And fair enough on "dudedom" and MIT professors, although I'm thinking it would be great if MIT profs were dudes. Something like Val Kilmer's character in "Real Genius" all grown up.
But one quote from the ivory tower wasn't enough for a peg on a 2,100 feature story.
#2 Posted by Ryan Chittum, CJR on Fri 13 Nov 2009 at 11:46 AM