Sharing Emotions Over Information

Andreea Gorbatâi, an assistant professor of management at Berkeley Haas and lead author on this study explains that there is much to learn from those who attend Maker Faires. The power of sharing emotions allows each person to feel a sense of connection regardless of their backgrounds.

The Maker movement is a loose collective that began with electronics hackers and hobbyists and grew to include people with seemingly nothing in common such as crafters and physicists, bakers and blacksmiths, 3D-printing whizzes, and do-it-yourselfers of all stripes. It is of one of the most eclectic groups of all and yet the participants seem extremely connected.

The research reveals that with Zoom fatigue it might be tempting to avoid the team-building activities but a focus on pure efficiency is probably short-sighted. Sharing emotions, and not just information, is a powerful yet often-overlooked part of building a group identity.