DIY means just what it stands for: Do It Yourself. This is not for menial chores. Taking out the trash, instead of having the boyfriend do it, or cleaning the bathroom instead of paying a cleaning service. DIY is in regards to an education. Maybe it is an education in a particular craft or skill: fine tuning how to build a canoe; coming together to crochet/sew/knit for the purpose of sharing a message; planting your own garden, and being just slightly less reliant on “the man,” and helping your neighbors to be less reliant too. Maybe it is an education on education: teaching yourself a new language, physics, algebra, politics, anything, that is outside the classroom and done with your own interest and motivation. Maybe even in a classroom, but not degree oriented.
DIY, especially when paired with the word craft, seems like a hippie term in this age; tie died t-shirts, hemp jewelry, hand carved incense burners, but it really does encompass more than the handy crafts of our grandparents time. It moves beyond the field of handy craft, and into digital craft: graphics, web sites, sound bites, movie clips, art! All of these, the handy crafts and digital crafts alike, take knowledge gained through various sources. They take the oration of generations past, reading different print media, watching demonstrations -live or filmed- and hands on experience.
DIY has caused evaluation. Progress. Each new person improving upon it, little bit, by little bit. Quilts used to be an article for warmth, now they show support for our soldiers, and raise money for AIDS research. Crocheting, another skill used for warmth (sweaters, scarves, afghans, booties...) can now bring an audience’s attention (unwillingly) to the hidden dangers of war, of land mines. The same can be said for digital photography and some image editing (photoshop/gimp). Take a look at www.thetutuproject.com. Some guy, in a tutu, with his camera, raising money for breast cancer patients. Not only does he himself dress up in the tutu, he is the camera man, he is going to be his own publisher, and not for his own financial gain, but for better health care for breast cancer patients, and to help ease the pain of his wife with laughter.
Granted DIY is more than an awareness movement. It is fun, too. How about Jon Lajoie or Jonathan Coultan, these two are self made “rock stars” using a video camera and the internet (also some musical instruments/computer generated music) Have you heard about fan fiction? Writers can DIY (well, Do It Themselves) their favorite characters. They can rewrite the story they were in, or make up a new story, they do not even have to write it, they can animate it, or film it live action. With the internet not only are they read/seen by those closest to them and a few outliers, but anyone across the globe can read their work or watch their videos. This causes a fan base, or an ignition of ingenuity for someone to Do It Themselves, and take it a step further, making our options for entertainment (both poor and extremely entertaining) increase exponentially. Also, increasing our sources of information (what works, and what not so much) and inspiration.
DIY is learning, and improving upon what you learn. Passing it on to anyone with interest, and being part of a global community, with very little effort, and larger impact than one could imagine.
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