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Do it yourself (or DIY) is a term used to describe building, modifying, or repairing of something without the aid of experts or professionals. The phrase "do it yourself" came into common usage in the 1950s in reference to home improvement projects which people might choose to complete independently. In recent years, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. DIY is associated with the international alternative rock, punk rock, and indie rock music scenes; indymedia networks, pirate radio stations, and the zine community. In this context, DIY is related to the Arts and Crafts movement, in that it offers an alternative to modern consumer culture’s emphasis on relying on others to satisfy needs. 
Large hardware stores have capitalized upon the DIY ambitions of North Americans The DIY scene is a re-introduction (often to urban and suburban dwellers) of the old pattern of personal involvement and use of skills in upkeep of a house or apartment, making clothes; maintenance of cars, computers, websites; or any material aspect of living. The philosopher Alan Watts (from the "Houseboat Summit" panel discussion in a 1967 edition of the San Francisco Oracle) reflected a growing sentiment:
In the 1970s, DIY spread through the North American population of college- and recent-college-graduate age groups. In part, this movement involved the renovation of affordable, rundown older homes. But it also related to various projects expressing the social and environmental vision of the 1960s and early 1970s. The young visionary 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. 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 to include such items, writing many of the reviews.) 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 for readers to keep current on useful practical skills and techniques. DIY home improvement books began to flourish in the 1970s, first created as collections of magazine articles. An early, extensive line of DIY how-to books was created by Sunset Books, based upon previously published articles from their magazine, Sunset, based 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. Since the late 1990s, DIY has exploded on the Web through thousands of sites. In the 1970s, when home video (VCRs) came along, DIY instructors quickly grasped its potential for demonstrating processes by audio-visual means. In 1979, This Old House, starring Bob Vila, premiered on PBS and started the DIY television revolution. The show was immensely popular, educating people on how to improve their living conditions (and the value of their house) without the expense of paying someone to do it. In 1994, the HGTV Network cable television channel was launched in the United States and Canada, followed in 1999 by the DIY Network cable television channel. Both were launched to appeal to the growing percentage of North Americans interested in DIY topics, from home improvement to knitting. Such channels have multiple shows showing how to stretch one’s budget to achieve professional-looking results (Design Cents, Design on a Dime, etc.) while doing the work yourself. Toolbelt Diva specifically caters to female DIYers. Beyond magazines and television, the scope of home improvement DIY continues to grow online where most mainstream media outlets now have extensive DIY-focused informational websites such as This Old House, Martha Stewart, and the DIY Network. These are often extensions of their magazine or television brand. The growth of independent online DIY resources is also spiking. The number of homeowners who blog about their experiences continues to grow, along with DIY websites from smaller organizations. For more information, see DIY ethic The terms "DIY" and "do-it-yourself" are also used to describe:
DIY as a subculture could be said to have begun with the punk movement of the 1970s. Instead of traditional means of bands reaching their audiences through large music labels, bands began recording, manufacturing albums and merchandise, booking their own tours, and creating opportunities for smaller bands to get wider recognition and gain cult status through repetitive low-cost DIY touring. The burgeoning zine movement took up coverage of and promotion of the underground punk scenes, and significantly altered the way fans interacted with musicians. Zines quickly branched off from being hand-made music magazines to become more personal; they quickly became one of the youth culture’s gateways to DIY culture. This led to tutorial zines showing others how to make their own shirts, posters, zines, books, food, etc. As the DIY phenomenon continues to grow, the trend is slowly becoming a part of many weddings. With the cost of a wedding rising, many people are becoming more daring. Where one used to hire out for each individual service, many are now choosing to do it themselves. Not only does this save them financially, it allows for people to individualize their event.
With the rise of the modern multi-national corporation, North American and European DIY culture has increasingly become a social and political ideology as well as a hobby or fashion aesthetic. Similar to the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1900s, the modern DIY movement is viewed as a response on an individual scale to modern industrial society’s reliance on mass-production. The DIY subculture has learned about labor exploitation overseas and hopes to avoid and prevent such abuse. A common slogan is to "think globally, act locally," meaning to understand the impact of one’s actions and consumption, and to create items personally or purchase goods and services made locally, to boycott multinational organizations. In addition, making, recycling, or otherwise following a doctrine of "non consumption" as part of DIY subculture lessens the amount of sales taxes one pays. Many view taxes as aiding governments to wage war. This view of "consuming less as a political statement" is not agreed upon in all the subcultures, but it motivates many of its adherents. 
Portion of an amateur radio "junk box" DIY culture is not limited to hand-making items such as clothing and housewares, but extends to choices of public transportation, such as biking (and bike repair), walking, building vehicles and modifying existing vehicles; making and distributing community radio, pirate radio, and community television, as well as personal internet media.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Shops in do-it-yourself articles |
