But nowadays it often drives innovation, says Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media, a publishing company whose Make and Craft magazines sponsor the event.
O'Reilly media's three-year-old quarterly magazine, Make, is the manifesto for do-it-yourselfers, urging people to unleash their creativity with a screwdriver and a glue gun.
He has held a variety of positions in the publishing industry including product development manager, editor-in-chief and most recently associate publisher at O'Reilly Media.