As with anything, the word starts to get applied to things that the originators didn't necessarily intend.
My working definition of "maker" is someone who fabricates physical things. It's less DIY'er and more crafts & hobbies on steroids. The classic example is people who work in prop departments in movies and theatre. In that arena, you need to be a jack of all trades when it comes to fabricating physical anything. The skills include everything from woodworking and metalworking to mold making, model making, painting etc.
The more you specialize the less the word "maker" applies as I conceive of it. A guitar luthier could certainly be considered a maker by some, I mean it is "making guitars" but the term is intentionally broader than someone who specializes in making something very specific.
But consider the term "furniture maker." We have used the word "maker" in the past to describe someone who makes something specific. You just take off the qualifier and you have someone who makes all sorts of things.
My wife and I are part time magicians and what I often say drives me to magic is that it is the ultimate "maker" hobby. It is extremely multi-disciplined. There's the strict "magic domain" (misdirection, sleight of hand) but depending on what you want to do you end up getting into all sorts of tangential skill development from costume and wardrobe fabrication to building illusions out of a variety of materials (woodworking & metal working) to making smaller hidden devices ("gimmicks" as magicians call them) to practical VFX (makeup, prosthetics etc.)
All that being said, I completely agree that the term has become so overused as to start to border on meaningless.
> It's less DIY'er and more crafts & hobbies on steroids.
This is how I view it as well. DIY is something entirely different from making. But the term has been misused for so long that it has, at least in the larger population, lost a whole lot of meaning.
My working definition of "maker" is someone who fabricates physical things. It's less DIY'er and more crafts & hobbies on steroids. The classic example is people who work in prop departments in movies and theatre. In that arena, you need to be a jack of all trades when it comes to fabricating physical anything. The skills include everything from woodworking and metalworking to mold making, model making, painting etc.
The more you specialize the less the word "maker" applies as I conceive of it. A guitar luthier could certainly be considered a maker by some, I mean it is "making guitars" but the term is intentionally broader than someone who specializes in making something very specific.
But consider the term "furniture maker." We have used the word "maker" in the past to describe someone who makes something specific. You just take off the qualifier and you have someone who makes all sorts of things.
My wife and I are part time magicians and what I often say drives me to magic is that it is the ultimate "maker" hobby. It is extremely multi-disciplined. There's the strict "magic domain" (misdirection, sleight of hand) but depending on what you want to do you end up getting into all sorts of tangential skill development from costume and wardrobe fabrication to building illusions out of a variety of materials (woodworking & metal working) to making smaller hidden devices ("gimmicks" as magicians call them) to practical VFX (makeup, prosthetics etc.)
All that being said, I completely agree that the term has become so overused as to start to border on meaningless.