DO IT YOURSELF

'Do it yourself', often referred to by the acronym "DIY," is a term used by various communities that focus on people creating things for themselves without the aid of paid professionals. Many DIY subcultures explicitly critique consumer culture, which emphasizes that the solution to our needs is to purchase things, and instead encourage people to take technologies into their own hands.
The actual activity of DIY goes back through the ages: since the beginning of time, people have used their own abilities and available tools and technologies to take care of their own needs, make their own clothing, and so on.
The phrase "do it yourself" came into common usage in the 1950s in reference to various jobs that people could do in and around their houses without the help of professionals. A very active community of people continues to use the term DIY to refer to fabricating or repairing things for home needs, on one's own rather than purchasing them or paying for professional repair. In other words, home improvement done by the householder without the aid of paid professionals.
In recent years, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skillsets. Today,for example, DIY is associated with the international alternative and punk music scenes. Members of these subcultures strive to blur the lines between creator and consumer by constructing a social network that ties users and makers close together.
There are various communities of media-makers that consider themselves DIY, for example the indymedia network, pirate radio stations, and the zine community.

Contents

Home improvement DIY in North America

See also

Home improvement DIY in North America

The home improvement DIY scene we know today is actually a re-introduction (often to city and suburb dwellers) of the old pattern of personal involvement in home or apartment upkeep, or the making of clothing, or maintaining of cars, computers, websites, or any material aspect of living.
A comment by philosopher Alan Watts (from the "Houseboat Summit" panel discussion in a 1967 edition of the ''San Francisco Oracle'') reflected a growing sentiment of the times: "Our educational system, in its entirety, does nothing to give us any kind of material competence. In other words, we don't learn how to cook, how to make clothes, how to build houses, how to make love, or to do any of the absolutely fundamental things of life. The whole education that we get for our children in school is entirely in terms of abstractions. It trains you to be an insurance salesman or a bureaucrat, or some kind of cerebral character."
In response to this sort of insight, in the 1970s, DIY spread through the North American population of college- and recent-college-graduate age groups. In part, this movement involved simply the renovation of affordable, rundown older homes. But it also related to some extent to various projects expressing the social and environmental vision of the '60s and early '70s.
A young American visionary named Stewart Brand, working with friends and family, and initially using the most basic of typesetting and page-layout tools, published the first edition of ''The Whole Earth Catalog'' (subtitled ''Access to Tools'') in late 1968.
The first ''Catalog'' and its successors used a broad definition of the term "tools." There were informational tools, such as books (often technical in nature), professional journals, courses, classes, and the like. And there were specialized, designed items, such as carpenter's and mason's tools, garden tools, welding equipment, chainsaws, fiberglass materials, etc. — even early personal computers. (The designer J. Baldwin acted as editor for the inclusion of these items, writing many of the reviews himself).
The ''Catalog's publication both emerged from and spurred the great wave of experimentalism, convention-breaking, and do-it-yourself attitude of the late 1960s. Often copied, the ''Catalog'' appealed to a wide cross-section of people in North America and had a broad influence.
For decades, magazines such as ''Popular Mechanics'' and ''Mechanix Illustrated'' offered a way to keep current on useful information. DIY home improvement books began to flourish in the 1970s, first created as compendiums of magazine articles. One of the earliest extensive lines of DIY how-to books was created by Sunset Books, based upon articles derived from the pages of ''Sunset'' Magazine in California. Time-Life, Better Homes & Gardens, and other publishers soon followed suit. In the mid-1990s, DIY home-improvement content began to find its way onto the World Wide Web. HouseNet was the earliest bulletin-board style site where users could share information. HomeTips.com, established in early 1995, was among the first Web-based sites to deliver free extensive DIY home-improvement content created by expert authors to Internet users. Since the late 1990s, DIY has exploded on the Web through virtually thousands of sites.
In the 1970s, when home video (VCRs) came along, the potentials in demonstrating processes audio-visually were immediately grasped by DIY instructors. As with television programs, presentation could be dynamic and was not limited in the ways that still photos and written text might be.
The DIY industry has grown markedly since the 1980s as DIY has become a popular weekend pastime for people wanting to improve their living conditions (and the value of their house) without the expense of paying someone to do it. There are many DIY stores to supply materials and tools.
The acronym "DIY" is more commonly used in the United Kingdom whereas speakers of American English usually use the term "do-it-yourself".
Common DIY tasks include home improvement:

★ putting up shelves (the archetypal DIY task)

★ furniture making

★ painting and decorating

★ plumbing work, e.g.:

★
★ replacing washers

★
★ replacing sink, bath or basin taps or fitting an outside tap

★
★ fitting a shower

★
★ extending or installing central heating

★ decking

★ building an extension

★ extending or replacing electrical wiring
and other work within and outside the home:

★ motor repairs, e.g.:

★
★ changing engine oil

★
★ changing spark plugs

★
★ fitting or replacing a car radio/audio system

★ Modifying or upgrading computer equipment, known as modding or tweaking.

★ DIY audio/video equipment.

★ building/restoring cars, boats or aircraft
The term DIY or Do-It-Yourself is also used to describe:

★ Self-publishing books and alternative comics.

★ bands or solo artists releasing their music on self-funded record labels
Although DIY tasks are typically within the range of people who can read and follow instructions, DIY is responsible for an increase in home injuries.

See also

★ Arts and crafts movement

★ DIY culture/DIY ethic

★ Handyperson

★ Prosumer

★

★ List of DIY artists