Personal Hack

Just as a forewarning, I’m not sure that I fully understand the terminology of what a hack is and if my situation really counts as a hack. I know that doing things that fastest and most efficient way is usually preferred, but I have a (probably very strange) enjoyment in doing things the long or tedious way. 

One example that does come to mind though is when I lived in a residence hall on campus that didn’t have a kitchen or kitchenette. Essentially there was no stove and nowhere to cook food. It normally wasn’t a problem since we lived right above a dining hall. However, there was a break that we were allowed to stay in the residence halls, but the food was very limited because the dining halls were mostly closed since there was hardly anyone on campus. 

I was hungry and I had pasta. I had a water boiler that would make water boil very quickly (within minutes). I decided to try cooking pasta in the water boiler. However, my water boiler turns off as soon as the water starts to boil, so I had to continue to turn the boiler on while the pasta was cooking to keep the water hot. 

I think that the hack worked particularly well, but the pasta did absorb a lot more of the water than I had expected, so cooking it in smaller quantities would probably have been better. It was also very hard to clean the water boiler up. Using the water boil allowed me to make food and utilize the resources that I had despite lacking a stove (which is traditionally necessary for preparing pasta). It certain ways it made the process easier, but in other ways it made it harder. 

It was interesting to see how doing a familiar process in a different way allowed me to learn more about the process of cooking pasta (e.g. that the pasta absorbed a lot of the water). My mom thought that this story was a very classic example of the stereotypical stories of college life.

Week 1 Readings

What is critical making?  I think that there are a lot of different potential interpretations of what this means. Even as we discussed this in class, everyone had different definitions of what they thought that critical making was. I think that critical making in comparison to any other type of making is something that is with a purpose.

I think that it is also the process of creating something without knowing that it is going to work. It is a process in progress. You can have bad versions, failed versions even, of trying to create what you have set to in your mind, but the goal is to keep creating until you have the finished product of what you set out to make.

I really liked Matt Ratto's interpretation and explanations of critical making through his eyes and what it meant to him. I thought that the parts about reflecting on your work were also very important. It is important to look back and what you have done and see what could be fixed or improved to move closer to making what you had intended. Reflection is also important for making your work very intentional.

Hertz's account of DIY culture was very interesting. I have often seen things on social media such as tumblr and Pinterest about DIY projects that have become very fashionable (almost to the point where people are spending more money on an artsy project than it would cost to buy the finished product). However, there is also a point to be made that the process and experience of creating that item is probably invaluable.

The introduction to this class as well as seeing the projects that the authors of the readings have been working on are much more technical than the projects that I have seen or considered working on. I think that this upcoming maker culture that is being described in the readings is a much better opportunity for truly learning. I think that working on projects that are beyond your technical abilities is good.

This process of analyzing your failures could really be a great way to pick up new skills that you did not have the capabilities for before. I know that when I take a test or a practice test, I remember the answers much better when I did not answer the question correctly. However, I think that our society doesn't encourage failure enough, but rather punishes it and sets the standard that if you cannot do it the first time around, you won't be able to do it ever. Hopefully, through both failures and successes in exploring the DIY world, we will be able to learn lots throughout this quarter!

Exploring Arduinos!

Today, we played with Arduino boards. I got a lesson about electricity that I didn't even know I needed. Just about the only thing I recognized were terms like "in parallel" and "in series" from the high school physics class I took four years ago.

http://www.arduino.cc/

Arduino Yun board that we were playing around with during class

Arduino Uno boards : palm-sized

Arduino starter kits

Large bread board

Introduction to the Class

This week, we started by getting introduced to the class. We discussed the syllabus and expectations for a while, but spent a lot of time getting a picture of what this class is going to look like. Our professor, Tyler Fox, introduced himself and told us about his background in art and technology (IT). As a biologist, both of these things seem very far from my areas of interest and knowledge.

He further explained that he had worked on projects to link sensors that would take heart rate and make algae in jars fluoresce with the measured heart rate. I know about algae. Okay, maybe this isn't so bad. I mean I could genetically modify it, I could figure out how to grow it in different conditions, I could make things fluoresce. But, how do you make the fluorescence pulse? I didn't know that was possible. Intimidation levels rising. What world is this? But seriously, that is beyond cool. Also, the kimchi sonification project touches my roots as someone with a half Korean, half Caucasian background. I thought that that project was really interesting and definitely something that I never would have thought to do.

After that, we introduced ourselves to the class with our name, major, and something that we have made that we are proud of or that failed. I was definitely racing through my thoughts to think of something that I had made - ever. It was strange to me to think of how infrequently I thought of this question. It seemed that we all often made things and I found it strange that I couldn't think of anything to say.

The first examples where a classmate said that he and a friend had built a 3D printer didn't help me think of what to say. I definitely haven't done anything that technical. I was thankful for one person who said that they had made pies since I had not even considered that that was something I have made. I felt that my example of making a library of mutants for my protein of interest in my lab was very different from what other people said, but I'm hoping that this class will give me the chance to create things that I wouldn't normally think to do or try to do.

Because pictures help me remember. Pictures taken from Tyler Fox's project. (I hope this is okay). Found on: http://decoymagazine.ca/experiencing-the-living-a-conversation-with-tyler-fox/