3DP: Women’s History Month – 0 Results

March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the contribution of women to events in history and modern society. It was in the back of my mind to check what items were available online for digital fabrication in repositories such as Thingiverse. As has become an all too familiar pattern for topics involving history and culture*, a search for Women’s History Month revealed 0 results.

This could be a simple search problem with a lack of keywords or descriptions on relevant models. However, my searches for keywords involving the female gender result in an inordinate number of headless, naked, female torsos. The trend isn’t helped by 3D printer manufacturers that use those torsos as examples in their sales displays.

The lack of 3D models that celebrate Women’s History Month is an excellent opportunity for students to contribute to the 3D printing community. Students can research, design, make and share models related to women’s history. Students can provide rich descriptions of the historical significance of the women represented in their models. Students can tag and keyword their models so that a search for Women’s History Month in March 2017 will have very different results.

-Students could create a Women’s History collection and add relevant models as they find them.
-Students could create a Women’s History Month group to organize other designers to create models.
-Students could create Women’s History Month design challenges to encourage other students around the world to contribute.
-Students could create historical markers that celebrate the contribution of women. See this lesson plan on designing a historical marker for 3D printing.

There are some relevant models in Autodesk 123D’s collection of premium models. Example http://www.123dapp.com/123C-3D-Model/Historical-Bust–Harriet-Tubman/769824

*See National Hispanic Heritage Month post and 3D Printing Martin Luther King, Jr. post.

Did I miss a rich treasure trove of 3D content that celebrates the contribution of women in history? Write a comment or contact me on Twitter @DesignMakeTeach

Possible ideas for research topics?

-Design a Carry Nation ax?