zero pressure

on the bus on the way in to derby yesterday i spotted #motivatedmonday in a tweet.  it lit me up as i was feeling really motivated and full of energy.  i arrived at the mill and immediately set up a makerspace for me to work in.

my making focus were the load sensors and creating a load cell from them.  this is one of the parts that will go towards creating the re-imagined snee snaw for the figment festival in august.

my plan with the load cell is to firstly set up this research rig to test it and make it work.  once i’ve cracked that i can set to designing the object in which the load cell will be cited.  the re-imagined snee snaw will have two load cells connected via bluetooth to the main programme.  on saturday i mastered the process of renaming the bluetooth modules and set up a test broadcast to isadora.  isadora will form the main engine of the work.

the epidiscope

i’ve spent time with the epidiascope within the museum space.  i had the great pleasure of cleaning the object before switching it on to see what it does.

this particular model was donated to the museum in 1974 by queens medical college.  from the accompanying manual i learnt that it would have been used to project pages of books, microscope slides and even 3d objects.  this was further backed up by a couple of conversations with museum staff who had personal experiences of using an epidiascope.

when we turned the unit on i was quite surprised at how little light was projected.  i think i need to investigate this further.   the unit remains in the hub for me to play with further.

analogue powerpoint

on monday i presented my responses to two briefs set within the residency.  the maker bar and steam tots.  part of the team assembled around the table to view the presentation.

steam tots is the working title for a session launching in september in the silk mill space.  drawing on my forest school training and additional research i presented about a session based on loose parts play.  i covered some of the schemas that children demonstrate and i have to say the idea was well received and i now get to consider what i’ll make to go into the containers of loose parts.  for this i hope to be inducted onto using the cnc cutter so i can mass produced lots of circles, squares and triangles.

the other analogue powerpoint presentation was about my ideas for communicating about the maker bar.

again it was well received and we are going to have a look at implimenting something this thursday.  once again i see the benefit of placing something on the table as a starting point of discussion.

a foot note to the week.

while making the analogue powerpoint i realised that it was something i could place into the epidiascope to project.  from playing with the epidiascope i imagined a small group of us huddled around the object to see what the image looked like.  the feeling of being huddled around a light source triggered a thought about how this evokes a feeling like the painting by joseph wright entitled A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery. this painting is on permanent display in the derby museum and art gallery.

end of week 5 and i’m looking forward to the beginning of week 6.  i have one make complete, i’ve mentally and physically recovered and i can see a connection with the second make i’m going to propose to the museum tomorrow.  i’ll leave what that connection is tantalisingly unsaid for now as i’d like to see how it’s received.

to help me unpack my idea to the team i’ve produced an analogue powerpoint presentation that i’ll indulge the team with in the space.  this is something i’m really looking forward to doing.

there’s also a set of ideas i’m ready to put forward to the team about evolving the maker bar experience.  for those of you uncertain what the maker bar is let me explain.

it’s part of the research currently being undertaken as the museum works towards being the museum of making.  the concept of the bar is that when the museum is open there is a place to drop into and chat with the maker behind the bar and if you feel so inclined engage in making something.

within the residency we have been invited to respond to briefs set by some of the museum staff.  i’ve found myself signing up to quite a few and this evening i was reflecting about wether i’ve actually over stretched myself.  the thing is though that each of those that i’ve put my name to has something about it that i feel i can add to.

it wouldn’t be much fun if i played it safe.

i’ve floated my idea for the maker bar a couple of times and each time the response has been positive.  now i have some sketches and black and white statements about how i would like to begin the maker bar evolution.

there’s also the preliminary research work for the re-imagined snee snaw.  if i am to have that made for august i’m going to need to crack on with it quite soon.  i have some components to work with and some code to research and test.

oh and tomorrow we have a session with an epidiascope from the museum collection.  when i met with the head curator, the curator of steam i think is his title, he asked me tentively about what i’d like to do with the object.  i am a one for playing with things after all !  he looked reassured when i said simply to begin with seeing what and how the object works.  i have no idea what might be triggered for me and this is such an exciting place to be !

and if all of this doesn;t excite me enough… there’s also a gathering about the figment festival in august.  when i met the project director back in april she was particularly impressed that i’d heard of figment.   it’s a participatory arts festival that occurs in the united states and canada.  the project director of the silk mill has managed to negotiate bringing the festival to europe for the first time.  the day promises to be a smorgasbord of lovely things to see and do.  very much like the residency itself.

this summer at the silk mill we’re cramming in as much as we can.  our residency programme is also a partner programme in the maker ed: maker corps programme and i’ve expressed an interest in being part of the maker certificate program.  for this i need to develop a portfolio following my making.  this blog will be part of that.  one aspect of the portfolio is to review, reflect upon makes made.  my first make has been the big bang interactive.

conceived as a result of brainstorming, discussions and what i’ve recently been working on, the big bang interactive is a work the children visiting the exhibition interact with.  i was keen to make the work as it represented a different engagement strategy to the previous year.

my approach to the work was to code something that would produce generative outcome based on the decisions being made by the participant.

i decided to have three points of interaction:

• a right hand to begin the generative process.
• a left hand position that affected greyscale of the appearing circle.
• a right hand working with the left to generate colour and affect position, size and colour of three shapes.

in making this work i had a host of things i did for the first time:

• using inkscape and a laser cutter to create two points of interaction
• using a light dependent resistor as a trigger
• using arduino as part of the work
• using arduino bluetooth to communicate with my laptop
• using a leap motion controller in a public facing work.
• working at a school science fair.

in reviewing the make i can start to appreciate the subtle different layers to the make:

• the meeting of a brief within the residency.
• the taking of risks by myself to create something i felt would be appealing.
• the needs of the museum trust to communicate about itself.
• the needs of the museum to communicate about the interest in making and connecting to the collection.
• the hope of igniting a child’s interest in making or making something happen.
• to fuel curiosity.
• to be memorable.

with us on site was bill, the gentleman who guides the museum trust through the tricky subject of school programme provision.  i observed him for the first hour or so.  i was really impressed with how after a short introduction to the interactive he came up with a whole script as a means to engage with the children engaging with the work.  around mid morning he came up to me and made the observation that the next stand along (a large international manufacturing company) was rammed with children, however there were very few conversations going on.  at our stand, we were able to speak to just about everyone who walked up to the interactive and asked “what’s going on here ?”

so as a maker, what was the event like for me?  to answer this i’ll use the what, so what, now what  reflective process tool.

what?

it’s an interactive based upon three hands and responsive generative graphics on screen.

so what ?

the placing of a right hand upon a representation of a hand triggered the graphical generation process.  this aspect of the work kept working all day however at times it did produce outcomes that we were not expecting.  i put this down to the light dependent resisitor (ldr) being too sensitive through the code i’d written for the arduino.

with the generative process started the placing of a pair of hands above the leap motion controller (indicated by a laser cut surround for the leap motion) allowed for manipulation of the colour and once full screen three further shapes.

we found that the physical layout of the interactive prompted enquiry that led to conversation.  we found that once the shapes had appeared we could encourage the participant to play with what was on screen by the movement of their hands.  this process was easier for some children than others.  my personal highlight of the day was watching a group of three girls who worked out what hand movements controlled the size of the circle.

repeatidly we saw how an initial shyness gave way to a smile and curiosity exploration of the question “what if i do this?”

occassionally i was asked what was the practical use of this hand control.  i was majorly helped by the group of three older girls who exclaimed that their autistic friend would love this.

i found myself refining my script when talking with participants.  once i’d got them to a point where they got what was expected and quickly got beyond that to explore their own curiosity, i was able to say that the work spoke about how the museum was working to become more hands on through making and interacting with the collection.

we learnt that schools had travelled quite a distance to be at the fair.  i even spoke to a couple of ladies who had travelled from cambridge.  i found that what they were doing  was similar in aspiration to that of the derby silk mill.  i tested a theory with them.  put simply it centred around wether as a qualified forest school leader i can bring a forest school based ethos inside and apply it to steam powered projects.  they nodded.

now what?

i’m soon to have our weekly maker meeting where we’ll get to have a de-brief about the big bang fair.

until then i can simply focus on what i might do with the interactive.  i’m thinking in terms of development.  if i were to stage the interactive again i need to go back to the arduino part of the work and see if i can improve the stability of the ldr through improving the code.  another possibility is to explore a pressure sensing circuit so simply the hand being press upon the box will act as a contact closure to begin the graphical output.

the graphical output for now is ok, however if i can teach myself further better understanding of processing i might have a go at coding something in processing to try.  the unanswered question is how long might this take if i’m left to my own devices to get up to speed?

overall i observed many different approaches and engagements with the work.  there were a small number of children who came back to play again.  one boy actually stating he wanted one for himself.

if we were in a camp like situation and our observations of interaction were to help us to guide a child toward something of interest, i’d say this interactive would be good for that.

most importantly, despite a few moments when there was an unexpected outcome, the work kept working all day.  something i feel very pleased about.

in the museum is a cabinet with record player and i can;t remember what it’s called !  might it be a radio gram ?

i’ve got to place a record on it and play the record !!!

this was an accompanying activity to my time on the hub yesterday.  the hub is the name of he area where the curatorial staff clean items in the collection.  the item i was able to clean was an early 20th century telephone.

i used the time on the hub to explore the record collection.  to my delight i found a promotional copy of an album by ian anderson.  the opening track filled me with joy, i started to dance around the museum, complete with purple nitride gloves on my hands.  the energy level rose and i did smile lots.

our fellow maker steve is starting to make me smile.  he’s been wrestling with the challenges of the residency and is beginning to start to make sense of them for himself.

his explorations with casting process seems to be easing his cognitive dissonance, something i’ve been working through too.  yesterday his aim to get messy in the museum was another source of renewable energy in the museum.  maker graeme once again stepping in to quantitive ease the situation.

so what of my progress ?

well …

i’m starting to feel like i understand a little bit better the interns of the re-imagining process.  through my experience on the hub i now have a more informed position about what is being planned for the renovation of the building.  it’s going to take a few years and while it’s happening the whole building will be closed.  this makes sense of what we’re being asked to explore within the residency.

my first exploration is what to take to the big bang schools science fair on june 30th.  i’m making an interactive that speaks of the museum’s aspiration to get it’s visitors more hands on with the collections.

three of us have worked on creating a laser cut box.

the small black mark inside the representation of a hand is a hole with a light dependent resistor (ldr) inside it.  using a small arduino set up i’m bluetoothing the voltage change value from the ldr to my laptop.  this data is then used to generate a visual response that is further manipulated by two hands placed over the leap motion controller.  a month into the residency and my interactive will be part of the representation of the museum to school children.  i feel this is quite unusual for a residency but then i guess re-imagining a museum is quite unusual.

in the moment of running around the museum to ian anderson with purple nitride gloves i saw many smiling faces among those in the museum.  the space felt energised and a happy place to be.  i’d like it to feel like this more often.

my residency is starting to challenge my personal perception of museum.

within this process of residency i’m finding i’m often returning to looking at myself and my own practice, considering what my own needs are and are they being met.

i’ve tried to be open to the challenges being set and have engaged with as many as possible.

nearly at the end of week three i peer around me looking for external references to gauge where i am within the overall process.  is it ok to be slightly bewildered still ?  is it ok to be wanting to get into the flow of making?

my friend and partner in the reseidency process is my forest school leader practice.

the museum is investing in and becoming a beacon for the steam educational ethos.  to help me understand this ethos i’m bringing with me elelments of the forest school ethos, as both processes are holistic in nature.

considering steam for a moment, what i currently know and understand of the ethos is that it is project based, holistic and leaning on the creative arts as a way of expressing and exploring science, technology, engineering and maths.

i’ve done alot of on line research into it and it will eventually come down to me putting into practice the theory.

the challenges of this have the potential to set up philosphical differences within the maker group. we might struggle to explore this in an environment of continual positive langauge.

i have wondered at times in the last three weeks about how challenging this residency is for the staff who have overseen the reimagining of the museum since the outset.  potentially they have a group of makers responding to what they see and having different stand points and different needs and wants.  how do the staff cope with this?

something i seem to have set up for myself is the re-imagining of the snee snaw for the figment festival in august.  this takes me out of my comfort zone.

at the beginning of the residency we were urged to be ambitious.  re imagining the snee snaw takes my ambition levels to new heights.  it would appear that the staff really want the snee snaw to be part of the festival.  to do this and all the other makes and activities i’ve said i would do is going to test my resolve and my ability and maybe at the end of the whole process i can look back and see what i can do when i leave comfort zone and place myself in the moment of making.

i missed my moment of making yesterday.  i note when i miss it i feel unhappy. making really does feed my well being.

our residency is also being supported by the museum’s partner status in the maker ed, #makercorps summer programme.  i participated in a google hangout session last week.  i can recommend the hangout app as a means to communicate and advise an initial exploratory session prior to using it for a meaningful means.

in the hangout session i started to get an in site into the differences of experiences and attitude to making around the world.

last thursday i took to observe the maker bar to work on an idea for the big bang school exhibition on the 30th june.  at this a group of us will represent the museum with things to do based on the steam ethos.  i’ve gone into steam powered carnival mode.

there’s a small amount of anxiety connected to delivering that project… the museum mantra being feel the fear and do it any way.

implies a certain amount of being outside what we know and are comfortable with.  are all the staff at the museum working in this manner ?

with my friday forest school session not happening last week i was able to visit and observe the under 5 session at the derby museum and art gallery.  i’m interested in the brief at the silk mill to develop an under 5 programme of activity for the silk mill.  it’s a user group i’ve done the least with yet i feel most at home with them because of their kinesthetic learning style.  the invitation is to unpack that idea later this week.

writing this is starting to make me feel happier.  there are so many threads happening at once that writing helps me to order and process them.  it helps me to create a perspective.

i spent some time yesterday with another member of the museum curatorial staff.   i’m learning about how they look for narratives originating from the objects and how they can weave narratives from groups of objects.  the accession number being the king pin of this system:

site identifier : year : object group number for that year : item number in group.

thoughts of an interactive appear …

i explored further the stores of the silk mill …

and walked to the silk mill in the rain, just as many other of the staff did :

it feels important to me to record what’s happening as the museum’s status is going to be continually updated and the timeline of this in theory informs what happens next.

there have been signals i’ve picked up on of certain major aspects of the re-imagining already being under taken and in place for the future.

i search for my maker moment as this is what i’m being paid to do.  this is also what gives me a sense professional achievement and personal happiness.