The Dusty Keyboard

Makerspaces are becoming the cornerstone of creative development, sandboxes for ideation, and incubators of stick-to-itiveness. Makers can expect to be inspired and challenged in rewarding ways. From advanced technological tools to traditional equipment, Makerspaces facilitate the means to develop and hone countless skills for all ages. 

Now imagine bringing this vision to life for a mid-size local library. In this case, the library is the proud recipient of a $3000 grant exclusively for Maker Equipment. The library has already allocated a room with 20 x 32 ft operating space that is furnished with countertops, built-in storage, modular tables, chairs, and 4 desktop computers. All that is left is making the space Maker-ready!

 Oh, the many directions this can go!

With a $ 3,000 budget, it is important to account for consumables, maintenance, and other upkeep expenses. Based on standard budgetary best practices, 30% will be reserved for these future costs. Since the grant funding is not guaranteed in the future, a more conservative percentage was selected. 

The items selected were chosen to cover several areas, skills, and disciplines: fabrication, repair, prototyping, interaction, crafting, computing, and circuitry. When determining what cost to budget for each tool, reliability, versatility, proof of concept, and the ability to apply learning opportunities for all ages were key deciding factors. The Maker Movement and Right to Repair Movement were also influential, as it informed what types of tools proved the most consumer-ready.

To establish a variety of tools and opportunities for Making, high-ticket items like 3D printing were not included. The goal is to collect funds over time to invest in an open-source 3D printing system that can grow alongside the library and patron needs. 3D printing is one of the poster children of Makerspaces, and for good reason. They are incredible tools! However, many use cases and benefits have a higher cost of entry skill-wise than other items on our list. For a younger audience, 3D printing often ends with finding and sending free files ot be printed. While a fun and important introduction to the technology, it did not fully align with our top priorities. To help minimize this gap, 3D modeling software is included, as a way to introduce and provide access to patrons interested in 3D modeling. Direct print services will also be recommended to patrons interested in seeing their digital models come to life. 

To help keep costs low, free software alternatives were considered for Photoshop. Recently, Canva acquired Affinity, one of the most praised competitors to Adobe Creative Suite. This acquisition led to a shocking decision by Canva, to make Affinity free to use. Certain features are behind a pay wall, such as Ai tools but the degree of freedom and features is seldom limiting.

Curious to know what you would wish for in a makerspace!

Thank you for reading and happy Making!

-G

Image From: Mashable

The plethora of information out there is staggering and overwhelming at times with how quickly new information can be gathered. To make the most out of what one may find, it is best to curate your findings. While the collection of materials is becoming more accessible and quicker to do, curation requires dedicated time to sort and sift through. With new dedicated platforms and features meant to expedite curation, can the same amount of time yield efficient results? And what features do different platforms share or differentiate themselves with?

Queue a new challenger...

...a curation exercise with three platforms!

I included the same 10 web resources to be used in three different platforms: LiveBinders, Diigo and Wakelet. Testing out their features was interesting, as each had a different degree of complexity. 

Logos of Platforms: Diigo, Wakelet, LiveBinders

My topic of choice, horses and media, was inspired by a video essay I watched recently that I also included as one of my 10 web resources: The animals who paid the price for Hollywood. (Content Warning: harm to animals, animal death). While a dark, disturbing history it is one of many prominent moments of horses and their significance in history, art and media.

Diigo seemed the most straightforward and its annotation features felt reminiscent of a digital textbook. The tag system is what stood out the most to me and made it easier to notate characteristics of the web resources quickly and seamlessly.

LiveBinders is interesting, but has more of a learning curve to find an efficient workflow. Design wise, the URL location kept throwing me off as its located under all the tabs. My brain kept recognizing it as within the tab, not a way to generate new tabs. Some links also were unable to be generated within the preview window, such as two university posts I used for this exercise

Wakelet visually was simple and shined as a mood board or digital bulletin board. Free features felt lacking compared to the other two, as there was no tag, highlight or notes feature attached to items included.

 Image of The Pack Horse Library Project (1936-1943). Image From Cowgirl.net

Each platform could be used to collect and organize different resources. Depending on an individual's curation skills, some features may be more useful than others. In the case of curating a large collection, Diigo’s tag system would better support in-depth curation and identification of resources. Especially if trying to curate from a large collection, verse building a new curated collection from scratch. Visually, LiveBinders makes it easy to maintain different overarching topics with a variety of subunits, much like the index of a manual. Wakelet’s free features may struggle to handle a large collection as each item is given plenty of real estate without additional categorization functions. Where this platform can sign is creating succinct mood boards or lists from the ground up, especially with visual media like videos and images.

To see how my chosen topics look on these platforms, feel free to view at Diigo, LiveBinders, and Wakelet.

Thank you for reading, see you next time!

-G

Thankfully, the only one to judge my attempts is myself. But then again, the only one to judge my attempts is well…me. 

And now you...oh dear.

In my attempt to craft a lesson plan on media literacy and digital citizenship, I experimented with variations in prompting, verbiage and corrections. Doing so yielded different results, some more simplified or repetitive than others. In a later iteration of this exercise, I switched to facilitating an ongoing conversation similar to iterative design. This process allowed me to flush out what was and was not working.

The best results came from this type of approach. I added in supplemental information to help hone in on specific topics and definitions of digital citizenship and media literacy. Sources like DigCitCommit.org and ISTE were vital in tailoring the content. General searches were easily misguided and would provide information more relevant to personal data security and anti-phishing. While helpful, this information pigeon-holed the lesson plan.

When presenting this live, I would ensure each participant had access to a device to host interactive proof-of-concept activities.

Overall, the use of Ai technology for this prompt was easygoing; the headache arrived at the time of submission. Tumblr does not like the idea of a PDF, Google Slides does not like the idea of saving each slide as a JPG, and my account REALLY doesn't like the idea of me being able to log in from a desktop computer. You win some, you lose some...

If the pen is mightier than the sword, how mighty is a blog?

Having grown up alongside the internet, I am no stranger to blogs-  as a reader. As an author? I happily adorn my lapel with a beginner’s badge as I dust off my keyboard.

Image from Flat Icon

Introduction

In my younger years, I relegated blogs to being a niche hobby that sort of crossed paths with independent journalism, writing, and self-promotion. I understood that blogging, depending on the author, could be a goldilocks zone that preserved anonymity (if so desired), offered more publicity than a personal journal, and required less formality than other journalistic mediums. Aside from that, I had not given it much thought until recently. 

My on-again, off-again relationship with social media led me to evaluate how I use, engage, and consume technology. The outcome: a purpose-driven use of social media, the integration of dedicated devices, a return to physical media, and a reintroduction to blogs. 

Becoming reacquainted with blogs has revealed more of its mighty nature. Some of the most powerful pieces I have read this year come from blogs and independent writers who captivate me with their prose.

I hope that my participation in the medium will help channel my thoughts, encourage creativity, and open me up to connecting with new topics, perspectives, and people. Overall, a welcomed endeavor as I continue to expand my comfort zone and build my own network through my own definition of networking.

For years, I joked that I was mortal enemies with Networking, as it was originally presented as a shallow set of social rules needed to “get ahead”. This had always bothered me for its disingenuousness and transactional nature. Over the years, I have encountered more people denouncing this traditional interpretation in favor of forming relational networks rooted in authenticity and learning together. Decolonizing Networking and Why Networking is a Bad Idea summarize well the key criticisms of a traditional networking approach.

So Why Here?

Before I really get started on this new adventure, I must first pick my vessel. Oversaturated with options, I focused on three factors:

Function

Features

Familiarity 

(I dub these the Founding F-athers, the first of many F***’s I suspect I will encounter on this journey.)

Image from SaraAmazing

I landed on using Tumblr due to its established success as a blogging platform, robust tagging system, and multimedia integration. While I have used Tumblr in the past (like over a decade ago…), it was more in the image of how someone uses Pinterest. 

Initially, I was leaning toward a website builder like WordPress, as I have prior experience and knowledge. Instead of following my previous path, I met myself in the middle between familiarity and inexperience.

Sometimes the best creative tool is a fresh perspective and built-in constraints.