We came, we saw, we broke ...

Hi:

Yesterday was our first "Break and Make" project of the term, and in this edition, a number of discarded ink jet printers came under the hammer (in a few cases, quite literally) of our diligent and gleefully destructive students. Mechanisms were explored, tons of parts were salvaged and sorted for future projects, and only 6 people were injured, all of them mildly. A real success! I'll post a few pictures shortly. I remind you that we are looking for damaged or discarded cell phones, portable cassette players, and both desktop and laptop computers for future sessions.

As well, in class we had a brief introduction to diodes and transistors, which work as one-way valves and switches, respectively. I then announced that -- for those who are interested in learning more about basic electronics so that they can build BEAM robots or computer interfaces later in the term -- bonuses of 2.5 marks would be given to people who use our kits to complete any circuit (the simpler the better) that uses (a) a capacitor, and (b) a transistor (5 marks if you build both circuits, obviously). To get the credit, you must show me the working circuit during my office hours and briefly explain how they work, or document the circuit with video / photos and post these and your explanation of how the circuit works to our blog (and email me so that I know you have done so). I am around if you have questions during your build, and I also refer you to the "everything that you need to know about electronics" in the blog links for a really clear, simple overview.

Also, I announced that students could work in 3C.5 independently on their projects (email me for the door code), or can leave materials there. This is a trial run only, so everyone must follow the rules. These are: (1) NO soldering in that area, (2) clean-up when you are finished, which includes putting tools back, (3) no sawing or power-drilling unless you are checked-out by me first on how to use these tools, (4) Unplug the glue guns when you are leaving, (5) always wear eye-protection and work gloves (seriously).

Finally, if you haven't done so already, start researching your toy/tool/kinetic sculpture project so that you can get started on it in class next week, and -- as I mentioned in this week's class -- send us the web link to your work on the vibrobots if you want the marks for documentation.

Over and out.

Hi:

Welcome to the CMA "Explorations in Creativity and Tangible Media" blog. This is intended primarily for students presently in the course, but others are welcome to have a look around and watch some videos of students' work.

Working individually and in teams, students in this course build physical objects that use various digital and analog technologies to solve a series of creativity challenges or artistic provocations. Initial builds have been taking place during class workshops, and students have also started to work independently on larger individual and paired projects. Materials so far have included fabric, metal, wood, electric motors, and various other recycled electronic cast-offs. We will soon be working with electromagnets and microcontrollers. We are exploring robotics, soft and physical computing, tangible media, and some kinetic sculpture.

Students can explore and combine their interests in a variety of areas. While they learn some basic design and technical concepts in order to build their pieces, the emphasis here is squarely on creativity and self-expression; the underlying technologies themselves are considered important only to the extent that they allow us to create interesting works.

More formally, this course is constructionist in its approach; for the most part, students will be working with tangible objects and media in iterative cycles designed to engender deeper understanding of core course concepts and phenomena. In particular, this course is intended to move CVC and A&C students beyond works whose final form is screen-based, non-interactive linear image streams (such as film and video) and conventional desktop interaction (such as traditional web design).