One night in 2008 at a Brooklyn bar, a drunk Jim Groom coined a term that has changed the way the world looks at education.

The word is EduPunk and it sums up the need for educational reform -- reform that, to some extent, has already begun.

Ordinary people are taking their education into their own hands. Using Web 2.0 tools they have a world of knowledge. And classrooms, lectures, and curriculums are changing, dramatically.

It's an unusual Friday night at Grinder, a small coffee shop in Toronto. There is an alien in someone's cup, hearts in another and someone else sees their face in their mug.

What's even stranger is how local artists replaced paintbrushes and pencils with milk and cinnamon powder. The cause of this madness is an event called "Medium: Coffee Live Latte Art for Non-Latte Artists."

What these five artists did is part of the MakerCulture movement, the idea of taking things into your own hands, and producing new objects.

"It was different," says Abra Dolman, a participating artist. "I can't say I've ever used coffee, espresso, or milk as a medium before."

Last year, Linda Brown, a leathercrafter who specializes in the fine braiding and fancy knotting of kangaroo leather lace, left her home in Sooke, British Columbia, for Thailand. While she was there, she was working on some zipper knot pulls on the beach. "I'm not a wealthy person," said Brown. "I like to get away, but when I get away I have to work." Nearby beach vendors were all curious to know what she was doing, and soon after, she was teaching 20 people how to make zipper pull knots. "What a wonderful experience to share that with people in another country," said Brown. "It gives you so much joy, not just in making the product, but the joy of the kind of people you get to meet as a result of it."

What happens when the political becomes personal? Then who has the power?
Does Stephen Harper because he's our prime minister? For sure. Does Oprah Winfrey because she's a billionaire media celebrity who likes to share her political views and ideas? Yep, she's got some sway. How about ordinary citizens who come together to champion certain causes, or try to tackle certain socio-economic problems? Do they have any political power? Darn right they do. And they're what Maker Culture politics is all about. People, united in cause, working together to spread a message and set changes in action.

Whether at the local, provincial, national or global level, examples of Maker Culture politics are everywhere.

London Activism: Empowerment Infoshop