What Making Things is about:

The aim of the Workshop is to promote dialogue about technology and design through engaging with the processes and practices of making. It is open to participants of all skill levels and interests. Participants use hands-on experimentation with technologies that support interactive, multimodal expression. These include microcontrollers (such as Arduino), electronic sensors, and software programming environments. This provides a chance to think about problems through physical exploration and creativity.

Besides being fun and stimulating, the resulting work can inform theoretical discourse about multimodal interaction, prototyping, and learning. An obvious precedent for this is the research that has been conducting in learning environments with LOGO and LEGO Mindstorms. In particular, through the development of the workshop, it should be possible to construct a model of how to develop learner skills in using interactive technologies. This can guide the creation of new and more advanced learning modules.

Who should come?

The workshops are open to any staff at the Knowledge Lab, and to invited guests. Please email to reserve a place, as space is limited. You don't need previous experience with computers or electronics to attend. In fact, we welcome people who have never before worked with technology, at a basic level. Please come to share your ideas and perspectives - and maybe to roll up your sleeves and make something new!

Making Things Workshops Schedule

There are 9 workshops during the Spring Term, always at 12-1:30 in an available Seminar Room at LKL (usually, the small conference room). The scheduled activities are intentionally open, so that topics raised by previous sessions can be explored, as they emerge:

18 January: 12pm - 1.30pm, Introduction to Aduino Microcontrollers - flashing lights, gleaming control panels! Emergent themes: In what useful ways can devices communicate with one another? What possibilities are there for adding sound(s)?

1 February: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Linking 2 boards through "Morse Code" and infra-red sensors. Adding sound to a project. Exploring how human actions can reveal problems in the design of the software program. Using various types of sensors.

15 February: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Using paper models to explore digital logic. We've built a couple of "Logic Goats" using the paper mechanical models from Flying Pig. The projects were and AND Goat and and OR Goat. A few more goats and we could create a binary adder. It would be a quite a herd!

29 February: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Review of the use of Wii Controllers to create simple interactive environments. Discussion of the work of Johnny Lee and how it might be useful in ICT.

14 March: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Simple programming of screen-based visuals, using Processing. We'll also explore PolyMorph, a mouldable plastic. Nicolas will demonstrate the use of infrared emitting pens to control on-screen elements of his geometry software, Calques-3D.
11 April : 12pm - 1.30 pm, Design ideation seminar around the Tangible Environments for Learning Project.
25 April: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Design ideation seminar around digital interventions for learners with dyscalculia and low numeracy.
9 May: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Taking things apart. We'll focus on taking things apart - deconstructing obejcts - as a way of learning about building things up.
23 May: 12pm - 1.30 pm, to be determined be previous week's work.
6 June: 12pm - 1.30 pm, Discussion: where do we go from here?

To reserve a place, if you have questions about attending Making Things, or wish to invite someone, please contact Brock or Carey.