tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39748521461912726652024-03-16T23:52:53.261-07:00Textile MessagesKylie Pepplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13112256938128354057noreply@blogger.comBlogger237125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-90365727604789185752015-12-05T23:04:00.000-08:002015-12-05T23:04:04.325-08:00E-textile Coded by Girls Hits the Red Carpet: Lupita Nyong'o's Light-Up Dress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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E-textiles have been lighting up runways and red carpets for a while now, but actress <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lupita-nyongo-light-up-dress-star-wars_565fb8a3e4b079b2818d40b6" target="_blank">Lupita Nyong'o's light-up dress</a> was especially illuminating on Dec. 2 at a promotional event for the new <em>Star Wars</em> movie. The LEDs in her dress had been coded by girls from around the world using tools from Google's <a href="https://www.madewithcode.com/" target="_blank">Made With Code</a> initiative! Check it out in the video below!<br />
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/-z9mRbIlKT/" style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">@lupitanyongo dress!💫 #Force4Fashion #StarWars #LupitaNyongo #JohnBoyega #DaisyRidley</a></div>
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A video posted by Jacky Tang (@misterjackytang) on <time datetime="2015-12-03T01:52:59+00:00" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;">Dec 2, 2015 at 5:52pm PST</time></div>
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This is particularly exciting because not only does it involve our new favorite technology, e-textiles, but it's also drawing attention to how many women are involved in this new exciting field, how it can get girls interested in technology, and how a dress can be so much more than just a pretty garment. Nyong'o used the opportunity to <a href="http://www.upworthy.com/lupita-nyongo-wore-a-light-up-dress-programmed-by-young-women-and-it-was-stunning" target="_blank">have a more meaningful conversation</a> with reporters on the red carpet, beyond the typical questions about outfits that they normally ask actresses, by drawing attention to the accomplishments of the young women who coded the dress.<br />
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It's great that Google is also taking up the e-fashion mantle as part of Made with Code, so that you too can program a light-up dress <a href="https://www.madewithcode.com/projects/fashion" target="_blank">here</a>! E-textiles are really starting to garner mainstream attention, as more and more people recognize their potential for broadening participation in technology and for improving life in general.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com79tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-69444535832094745182015-11-05T14:57:00.002-08:002015-11-05T21:32:11.443-08:00Making Wearable Tech Fashionable: A Techie Fashion Show at IU's Statewide IT Conference<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
E-textiles and wearable tech are starting to become commonplace at Indiana University! Last month IU's <a href="https://statewideit.iu.edu/" target="_blank">Statewide IT conference</a>, an annual conference for IT professionals from across the state, hosted a Wearable Tech Fashion Show for the first time, featuring sparkling skirts, light-up shoes, and even an illuminated umbrella!<br />
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Statewide IT's Wearable Tech Fashion Show. Image source: <a href="https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/12189335_10153098196631671_165009405402973077_o.jpg" target="_blank">UITS Facebook page</a></div>
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The event was completely independent of us educational e-textile researchers, which goes to show how far these ideas are spreading and being taken up across campus. It was a collaboration between two staff members from IU's University Information Technology Services (UITS) and a fashion design class in the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, as part of UITS's new <a href="http://department%20of%20apparel%20merchandising%20and%20interior%20design/" target="_blank">Wearable Technology Working Group</a>--another site to watch for socially relevant developments in e-textiles and other wearable tech!<br />
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The UITS member who led the event was Nitocris Perez, an Emerging Technology Specialist in UITS's <a href="https://uits.iu.edu/atl" target="_blank">Applied Technologies Lab</a>, and a friend of both our Creativity Labs in the School of Education and of IU's <a href="http://cewit.indiana.edu/" target="_blank">Center of Excellence for Women in Technology</a>. She emphasized how innovations in wearable tech these days are cool--but do not necessarily always look like things she'd want to wear. Like us, she believes e-textiles and other wearable tech that can be easily integrated into fashionable apparel is a way to broaden participation in technology and broaden the horizons of the very nature of technology in our society.<br />
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For more, check out <a href="https://itconnections.iu.edu/2015-october/featured-story.php" target="_blank">this article from IU's IT newsletter</a>, and this<a href="http://wishtv.com/2015/10/22/iu-students-design-wearable-tech-art" target="_blank"> video segment from WISH-TV 8</a>!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-32548439583915748192015-07-12T23:41:00.001-07:002015-07-12T23:41:12.957-07:00Creativity Labs: Bookmarks and Puppets Come to Life at Public Libra...<a href="http://creativitylabs.blogspot.com/2015/07/bookmarks-and-puppets-come-to-life-at.html?spref=bl">Creativity Labs: Bookmarks and Puppets Come to Life at Public Libra...</a>: This summer, Creativity Labs members Verily Tan, Naomi Thompson, Tony Phonethibsavads, Anna Keune, and Sophia Bender have offered two sewin...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-7088117413297850012015-07-12T23:40:00.001-07:002015-07-12T23:40:51.418-07:00Creativity Labs: World Children's Festival @ Washington, D.C. (Jul ...<a href="http://creativitylabs.blogspot.com/2015/07/world-childrens-festival-washington-dc.html?spref=bl">Creativity Labs: World Children's Festival @ Washington, D.C. (Jul ...</a>: The World Children's Festival is an annual celebration of creativity, diversity and unity, with participants from all over the world. ...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-92180572347719980282015-06-24T00:40:00.001-07:002015-06-24T00:40:24.821-07:00Creativity Labs: Gathering STEAM: E-textiles at South Fayette School District's STEAM Innovation Summer Institute<a href="http://creativitylabs.blogspot.com/2015/06/gathering-steam-e-textiles-at-south.html?spref=bl">Creativity Labs: Gathering STEAM: E-textiles at South Fayette School District's STEAM Innovation Summer Institute</a>: <br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.southfayette.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">South Fayette School District</span></a> in the Pittsburgh area has been a hub for educational innovation for several years now, pioneering a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Studio model and hosting the <a href="http://www.southfayette.org/cms/lib03/PA01001917/Centricity/shared/district/files/SUMMER%20INSTITUTE%20REGISTRATION.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">STEAM Innovation Summer Institute</span></a> to train educators to spread these innovations to their own classrooms. The Creativity Labs has <a href="http://computationaltextiles.blogspot.com/2013/07/full-steam-ahead-for-e-textiles-at.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">worked</span></a> with them <a href="http://computationaltextiles.blogspot.com/2014/01/modkit-coders-and-lilypad-stitchers.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">before</span></a> (links) to provide professional development in e-textiles. This summer, we were happy to do so again as part of our summer service activities.<br /><br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To learn more about the awesome e-textile projects pictured here, read the rest of the post below!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a name='more'></a><br /><br /> As part of the STEAM Innovation Summer Institute last week, South Fayette invited teachers from across the western Pennsylvania area to participate in STEAM workshops ranging from robotics to game design to environmental literacy. Five participants--three science teachers and two Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) teachers--chose to attend an e-textile workshop hosted by the Creativity Labs and our partners at <a href="https://learn.sparkfun.com/about" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Sparkfun Education</span></a>.<br /><br /> For the first two days of the workshop, Sophia from the Creativity Labs led the teachers in learning about circuits, creating an <a href="http://sewelectric.org/diy-projects/bookmark-book-light/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">e-bookmark</span></a> <a href="http://creativitylabs.blogspot.com/2015/05/summer-2015-service-kick-off.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">project</span></a>, making a <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10899" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">LilyTiny</span></a> project of their choice, and beginning to program in <a href="http://www.modkit.com/micro" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Modkit Micro</span></a>. Even those teachers who were not well-versed in sewing enjoyed the chance to create and personalize projects that combined crafting and circuitry.<br /><br /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XeHXtav3i4nHStx_wxqurmLPyfy3s0j-3h_agiwZQ3r8O3Rhjgl94aG3oeiN_H-_YRgOG4dsCVRuSl77PLHR-HJdGa3NOiq_cbiPfxHNeTSd7zWjniqLBiSu_Od9ra3iZ-JKHGfVXILu/s1600/IMAG2111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XeHXtav3i4nHStx_wxqurmLPyfy3s0j-3h_agiwZQ3r8O3Rhjgl94aG3oeiN_H-_YRgOG4dsCVRuSl77PLHR-HJdGa3NOiq_cbiPfxHNeTSd7zWjniqLBiSu_Od9ra3iZ-JKHGfVXILu/s320/IMAG2111.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Chemistry teacher's e-bookmark consists of a battery holder on the back, sewn with conductive thread to a push-button switch and two sewable LilyPad LEDs. She customized it to fit her class's theme!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBnGzzs6LQB4dyr9q1-SzrOF56KUr0J-SoENbAO6h0Q1S32qYrphNYu3fze_0cR1C6Jt8LQCuOJg8rSllq779sf2cx1OEptpmO9m2oV8IyIFZscRFlda8x5mY-jwAiZ6AXB1hAp7b-VgY/s1600/IMAG2128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBnGzzs6LQB4dyr9q1-SzrOF56KUr0J-SoENbAO6h0Q1S32qYrphNYu3fze_0cR1C6Jt8LQCuOJg8rSllq779sf2cx1OEptpmO9m2oV8IyIFZscRFlda8x5mY-jwAiZ6AXB1hAp7b-VgY/s640/IMAG2128.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the FCS teachers works on sewing LilyPad LEDs to the pre-programmed LilyTiny, which makes the lights flash in different patterns.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL92xIdCJf9LBXaMWDpZEKcT7z4or9sL2BnT0QOWsTR_hOv8kjEDdhdv8NzEJFa2uBK23AtLex8l0IeddKCTOTp59SC7jq4mznM-bgq02TiwzCq5o3kmiS6fx9rOnQYdKpHEDHspHRGcNO/s1600/IMAG2138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL92xIdCJf9LBXaMWDpZEKcT7z4or9sL2BnT0QOWsTR_hOv8kjEDdhdv8NzEJFa2uBK23AtLex8l0IeddKCTOTp59SC7jq4mznM-bgq02TiwzCq5o3kmiS6fx9rOnQYdKpHEDHspHRGcNO/s320/IMAG2138.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Science teacher was the first to figure out how to program LEDs to blink in Modkit!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /> On the last two days of the workshop, <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/users/462904" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Angela Sheehan from Sparkfun Education</span></a> joined Sophia to facilitate working with the <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11201" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">ProtoSnap LilyPad Development Simple Board</span></a>. Angela shared a great many e-textile projects as inspiration, as well as her expertise from a great deal of work on e-textile workshops with teachers and youth. On the last day of the workshop, Angela shared some <a href="https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/insulation-techniques-for-e-textiles" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bb2188;">insulation techniques</span></a> such as using fabric glue or iron-on interfacing to shield the conductive thread stitches from touching each other and causing dangerous short circuits.<br /><br /> The final projects the teachers created were ambitious and creative! They programmed the LilyPad Simple microcontroller in the block-based programming software Modkit to make LEDs flash and the LilyPad buzzer play music notes. Angela helped some of them to program a momentary switch as well. Finally they sewed all these components onto textiles of their choice, resulting in the projects below:<br /><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBc5L8rm9s4HdGTzYO2nET70fqNvHVN8uTVjuN5FAIH7-gIJOfTqRI9ywsDkURr5v6LZ6ZI4yZRx9cPojVXJd4_TkKOKiOJcv-9x6RQWNsxHiT0qmIJWw-Z5eQklIX_mwVJm7CFpLbT1D/s1600/IMAG2175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRBc5L8rm9s4HdGTzYO2nET70fqNvHVN8uTVjuN5FAIH7-gIJOfTqRI9ywsDkURr5v6LZ6ZI4yZRx9cPojVXJd4_TkKOKiOJcv-9x6RQWNsxHiT0qmIJWw-Z5eQklIX_mwVJm7CFpLbT1D/s320/IMAG2175.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Science teacher sewed two red and two green LEDs onto this ugly Christmas sweater. Her buzzer plays "Jingle Bells." The LilyPad and buzzer are both on the underside of the sweater.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCgZvYqaFNSGq4yXc-5lSl7EIA3e30ED0-tK-W6ZRd5bSnV9v7joDrbtFd5Xty6yKhpdwuR4bEge-zByKMeEaPhNBeD9hb35RU6OWOqoALLwMkfXT3wZPn4k5v9NGkvKGIcwJYZjSqKdW/s1600/IMAG2178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFCgZvYqaFNSGq4yXc-5lSl7EIA3e30ED0-tK-W6ZRd5bSnV9v7joDrbtFd5Xty6yKhpdwuR4bEge-zByKMeEaPhNBeD9hb35RU6OWOqoALLwMkfXT3wZPn4k5v9NGkvKGIcwJYZjSqKdW/s320/IMAG2178.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Science teacher used iron-on decals to attach the "Jedi Master" letters to this jersey, and sewed on a white Yoda patch. She programmed the lights to flash in order from Yoda outward, mimicking a lightsaber coming to life.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELIPj7H2xeloIXLggXYeboyL6D-Qa0Jpb6osCCHZHxydLcHbyjrWX0uQqmF4H9s58gp7I8JjoTfqBniM-2eLhPfg0ISDRqzcwjxGEJjPMBWHePz0vochmG5d7nLjk1WGyhLRkqAVP8jGn/s1600/IMAG2183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELIPj7H2xeloIXLggXYeboyL6D-Qa0Jpb6osCCHZHxydLcHbyjrWX0uQqmF4H9s58gp7I8JjoTfqBniM-2eLhPfg0ISDRqzcwjxGEJjPMBWHePz0vochmG5d7nLjk1WGyhLRkqAVP8jGn/s320/IMAG2183.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This FCS teacher added lights to the teeth of "Bac-Man," a bacteria monster puppet used to teach kids about hygiene. She added a tongue with a momentary switch made of conductive fabric, so that the lights light up when the puppet's mouth is closed, and the puppet makes a noise from the buzzer when the mouth is opened.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDk4lvB_KEb4HhPE4edcE_uuomn5zGoFrMS7Kbo0wsELkFMR-zBOM0-j_YwDIPEQM2EX__WVcloTbrLxMXpdvfKfKk2GUki63XA9CX9FnmJ4UlbZawN_TZzd0ypnnbIkTyvayME9HO984_/s1600/IMAG2191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDk4lvB_KEb4HhPE4edcE_uuomn5zGoFrMS7Kbo0wsELkFMR-zBOM0-j_YwDIPEQM2EX__WVcloTbrLxMXpdvfKfKk2GUki63XA9CX9FnmJ4UlbZawN_TZzd0ypnnbIkTyvayME9HO984_/s640/IMAG2191.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This FCS teacher decided to attach both her LilyPad and buzzer to this jacket with snaps so they could be removed when the jacket needs to be washed. She added four white LEDs, and her buzzer plays "Morning Has Broken."</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchyjqOLgWoRVDyfrdK7okvtTnnRMa6UzlUaZg2EGWa25FSgbJ-a2GTaDut8PzkWL6ZzLljIwoNfeM16rUSvq-ZFJ4FtwDIzMAUqlSKUG5JmRB6CBYlUv2wLKgHZrt9wouHbajh0LVU3oT/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchyjqOLgWoRVDyfrdK7okvtTnnRMa6UzlUaZg2EGWa25FSgbJ-a2GTaDut8PzkWL6ZzLljIwoNfeM16rUSvq-ZFJ4FtwDIzMAUqlSKUG5JmRB6CBYlUv2wLKgHZrt9wouHbajh0LVU3oT/s400/unnamed.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Science teacher designed a print-out iron-on decal that contained all of her favorite things, ironed it onto the shirt, and then added nine lights in varying colors and a buzzer that plays the chorus from "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br /> The Creativity Labs was proud to continue our relationship of innovation with South Fayette School District and Sparkfun Education! We wish our teacher participants all the best as they bring e-textiles back to their classrooms!<br /><br /> Special thanks, as always, to Aileen Owens, Director of Technology and Innovation at South Fayette, who invited us, as well as to everyone who helped her to put together this immensely successful STEAM Innovation Institute.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-28254999941526057912015-06-17T05:56:00.000-07:002015-06-17T05:56:22.498-07:00A brief history of yarn in video games<h1 class="title" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Lora, sans-serif; font-size: 2.5em; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0.5em auto 0px; max-width: 1000px; text-align: center;">
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A charming game called Unravel stood out at E3 2015. But before that, there was the Nintendo Knitting Machine, and you've been missing out. </div>
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BY <a href="http://boingboing.net/author/laurahudson" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">LAURA HUDSON</a></div>
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Legendary film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that he would rather take up knitting than review video games—as though the two were mutually exclusive. Lately, it seems like that couldn't be further from the truth. </div>
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At E3 this week, Electronic Arts unveiled a lovely game called <em>Unravel</em>, where you play as a tiny yarn character that slowly unravels as it moves through the level. Although that sounds a little like a metaphor for the slow but inexorable march that we are all taking towards death, in <em>Unravel</em> this thread is a versatile tool you can be use as a climbing rope, grappling hook, trampoline, fishing line, and whatever else the game can imagine. Enjoy the earnest trailer that produced many wistful sighs and misty eyes:</div>
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There have been more than a few yarn-based video games over the last several years, from the <em>Little Big Planet</em> series (which stars a knit doll called Sackboy) to the recent rash of Nintendo games like <em>Kirby's Epic Yarn</em> and the upcoming <em>Yoshi's Wooly World</em>. And while this uptick in might be partly attributable to the more recent popularity of <a href="http://amigurumi.jp/" style="color: #0808e0; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">amigurumi</a>, yarn and knitting has made their way into video games since the very beginning. Let's take a look back.</div>
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<strong>THE NINTENDO KNITTING MACHINE</strong><div style="margin: 1em 10px;">
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This is surely one of the greatest gaming artifacts of the 1980s: a magazine advertisement for a device that would allow you to knit sweaters with your Nintendo Entertainment System. In it, Nintendo claims that video game knitting is "just one more example of the innovative thinking that keeps Nintendo on the cutting edge of video technology," noting that no other game systems—not one!—have knitting peripherals. This is indeed true. Ultimately, the Nintendo Knitting machine was <em>so</em>unique that it was never actually manufactured.</div>
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<strong>SUPER MARIO SWEATER</strong><div style="margin: 1em 10px;">
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The Nintendo Knitting Machine should not be confused with <em>I Am a Teacher: Super Mario Sweater</em>, a game designed for a Japan-only '80s console called the Famicom Disk System. It allowed players to create pixel art patterns for sweaters, although you still had to knit them by hand.</div>
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<strong>LOOM</strong><div style="margin: 1em 10px;">
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Created by LucasFilm Games and Brian Moriarty back in 1990, <em>Loom</em> was one of the great works of the early adventure game era—and it revolved entirely around weaving. Rather than a text parser or a traditional inventory system, you solved puzzles by playing magical four-note tunes that weave "subtle patterns of influence into the very fabric of reality." There's a giant and all-powerful loom at the heart of it all, and at one point it tears apart the world and everyone turns into swans and flies into space. It's weird as hell, and I love it.</div>
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More at http://boingboing.net/2015/06/16/yarn-video-games.html</div>
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</article>Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-28958271453254226922015-06-15T09:11:00.002-07:002015-06-15T09:11:56.049-07:00Impressive Crocheted Leaf Sculptures by Susanna Bauer<br />
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<span class="post-date" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #8f8f8f; font-size: 1.142857143rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">by <a href="http://thisiscolossal.com/about" rel="author external" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #8f8f8f; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Visit Christopher Jobson’s website">Christopher Jobson</a>on June 15, 2015</span></h1>
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To truly appreciate the delicacy of <a href="http://www.susannabauer.com/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5d9121; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Susanna Bauer</a>‘s leaf sculptures, think of crunching a dead leaf in your hand, how it disentigrates into dust with the slightest effort. To work with dry and fragile leaves as a medium for crochet seems nearly impossible, but Baur somehow manages it with ease, turning leaves into cubes, tunnels, and geometric patterns with techniques that might be more appropriate for durability of leatherwork. She shares about her process:</div>
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There is a fine balance in my work between fragility and strength; literally, when it comes to pulling a fine thread through a brittle leaf or thin dry piece of wood, but also in a wider context – the tenderness and tension in human connections, the transient yet enduring beauty of nature that can be found in the smallest detail, vulnerability and resilience that could be transferred to nature as a whole or the stories of individual beings.</div>
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Bauer has a new exhibition of work at <a href="http://lemonstreetgallery.co.uk/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5d9121; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Lemon Street Gallery</a> in Cornwall, England through June 27th, and you explore a bit more on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susanna-Bauer/298980526880093?sk=photos_stream" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #5d9121; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook</a></div>
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Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-81898279783934031092015-06-07T16:29:00.000-07:002015-06-07T16:30:06.212-07:00A Three-Dimensional, LED-Lit Dance Costume that Exposes the Performer — Or Hides Her<br />
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<span class="post-kicker" style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/category/perfect_pairing/?module=BlogCategory&version=Blog%20Post&action=Click&contentCollection=T:Style&pgtype=Blogs&region=Header" style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">PERFECT PAIRING</a></span></div>
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<span class="kicker" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.1em; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/category/culture/" style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">CULTURE</a>, <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/category/womens-fashion/" style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">WOMEN'S FASHION</a></span><br />
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BY <a class="url fn" href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/author/ashley-hoffman/" rel="author" style="color: #909090; text-decoration: none;" title="More Posts by Ashley Hoffman">ASHLEY HOFFMAN</a></address>
<time class="dateline " datetime="2015-06-05T18:30:12+00:00" style="border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #909090; display: inline-block; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 2px; padding: 0px 6px 0px 8px; text-transform: uppercase; zoom: 1;">JUNE 5, 2015 2:30 PM</time><span class="visually-hidden updated" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">June 5, 2015 2:30 pm</span></div>
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<img alt="The dancer Emily Smith demonstrates several of the many possible ways of wearing the artist Elizabeth Tolson's performance-art dress. Smith will perform a work titled "In the Presence of Myself" that incorporates the dress tonight at a show in Bushwick." src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2015/06/05/t-magazine/05ballerina-hoffmann/05ballerina-hoffmann-tmagArticle.jpg" height="444" id="100000003723306" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2015/06/05/t-magazine/05ballerina-hoffmann/05ballerina-hoffmann-tmagArticle.jpg" itemprop="url" width="592" /></div>
<figcaption class="caption" itemprop="description" style="color: #909090; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2727em; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="caption-text">The dancer Emily Smith demonstrates several of the many possible ways of wearing the artist Elizabeth Tolson's performance-art dress. Smith will perform a work titled "In the Presence of Myself" that incorporates the dress tonight at a show in Bushwick.</span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; font-size: 1em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-top: 8px; text-align: right;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Credit</span> Michael Kosciesza</span></figcaption></figure></div>
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There are more than seven different ways to wear the artist <a href="http://elizabethtolson.com/" style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">Elizabeth Tolson</a>’s new performance-art dress, which features a stunning three-dimensional, expandable LED-lit attachment. At the debut of “In the Presence of Myself,” a performance premiering this weekend at Bushwick’s Open Studios, the dancer Emily Smith will demonstrate them all. Tolson built the costume’s focal point by crafting rings with plastic boning. When Smith pushes the exoskeleton out, the viewer is forced to see how it juts out, like a tiered wedding cake; but when she pulls it back in, it collapses flat against the body. Tolson also tucked a hundred lights inside the sack dress’s silver and white sheer cotton, and the layers of fabric diffuse the battery-powered LEDs and illuminate Smith with a fuzzy white-yellow glow. “I wanted the lights to shine toward the body instead of out,” Tolson says.</div>
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Tolson and Smith, who met at Alfred University, have both since moved to New York, where they now regularly swap critiques of each other’s work; when it came time to bring her dress design to life, Tolson turned to Smith. “We have similar thoughts about making the body the centerpiece in different atmospheres, and that’s where our voices cross over,” Smith says. At the show, Smith will be changing the dress’s shape in slow motion as she navigates through the audience. “It’s instinctual,” Smith says. “We talked about how having the light on my stomach feels vulnerable, but when I move it onto my head, it’s almost like I absorb the light so I make more powerful movements.”</div>
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The piece, Tolson explains, explores self-image; though it’s certainly innovatively designed, to simply call the dress “wearable tech” doesn’t capture its expression of the inner conflict between self-acceptance and shame. “I keep thinking of it as the elephant in the room,” Tolson says. “By using the dress as an object to discuss how you become obsessed over a certain aspect of yourself that makes you self-conscious, it shows the beauty behind those imperfections.” Tolson and Smith discussed how to transform the dress into a tool for self-exposure — or as a shield, albeit one that still lets you glimpse the woman underneath in a flesh-colored bodysuit. It even stretches enough for Smith to crawl inside and cover her whole body — “like a turtle shell,” Tolson explains. “If people are staring, the dress can convey that need to hide.”</div>
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<em>“In the Presence of Myself” takes place Friday, June 5 at 7 pm at The Loft Show, 248 McKibbin Street, Apt. K, Brooklyn, <a href="http://artsinbushwick.org/" style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">artsinbushwick.org</a>.</em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.533em;">FROM </span></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 15px;"><a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/elizabeth-tolson-performance-art-dress/?hpw&rref=t-magazine&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well" target="_blank">NYTImes</a></span></span></em></div>
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Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-31942494763392235102015-06-05T06:06:00.003-07:002015-06-05T06:06:39.318-07:00SECRETS 11: WEARABLES – INTERAKTIVE TEXTILIEN<div class="zusatz" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">
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BMBF-Projekt „MediaArt@Edu“</div>
Eine Ausstellung des Institut für Berufspädagogik am KIT<br />
<b>11.06.2015 OUTER SPACE<br />12.06.2015 OUTER SPACE<br />13.06.2015 OUTER SPACE</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.staatstheater.karlsruhe.de/programm/info/2113/" target="_blank">Interaktive Textilien</a>, auch als „Smart Textilien“ oder „Wearables“ bezeichnet, bilden eine neue Generation in Kleidung und Accessoires eingebetteter Mikrocomputer. Sie bieten viele Möglichkeiten der kreativen Auseinandersetzung mit so genannten „intelligenten“ Medien, die ihre Umgebung mit Hilfe von Sensoren wahrnehmen können. Verwendet werden z.B. leitfähiges Garn und Stoff, Sensoren, Motoren, LED und einnähbare Platinen (Arduino LilyPad - Technologie). Smart Textilien stellen eine Verknüpfung zwischen sinnlich-haptischem Material, präziser Computersteuerung und kreativem Konzept her. Neue Schnittstellen – genäht, gewebt oder gestickt – werden zwischen Körper, Bekleidung und Umgebung erlebbar. In der Ausstellung haben Sie die Möglichkeit, diese Textilien kennen zu lernen und mit den anwesenden Projektbetreuerinnen zu diskutieren.<br /><br />Ausstellung<br />11.06: 15.00 - 20.00 Uhr (Vernissage)<br />12.06: 18.00 - 20.00 Uhr<br />13.06: 17.30 - 19.30 Uhr</div>
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Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-38987570502166368472015-05-31T11:38:00.003-07:002015-05-31T11:39:19.803-07:00Project Jacquard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu4SFYbm5XfF8kRMRV7ZH4g5BvgTuZ_0CId2_6Bm2ilnXSjbcs99MMB0UPQG7090udoqEMopCP5_GOD8V16HiCMHZMQM5RftwiCA8sqyE_VIv6ZTw5tWIJQLprxxT_ZnwtGSP0cW1C_Jb/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-05-31+at+2.37.52+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMu4SFYbm5XfF8kRMRV7ZH4g5BvgTuZ_0CId2_6Bm2ilnXSjbcs99MMB0UPQG7090udoqEMopCP5_GOD8V16HiCMHZMQM5RftwiCA8sqyE_VIv6ZTw5tWIJQLprxxT_ZnwtGSP0cW1C_Jb/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-05-31+at+2.37.52+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Project Jacquard makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms. Everyday objects such as clothes and furniture can be transformed into interactive surfaces.</div>
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Read more <a href="https://www.google.com/atap/project-jacquard/" target="_blank">here</a></div>
<br />Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-41553102117693879462015-05-23T15:48:00.000-07:002015-05-23T15:48:27.652-07:00Creativity Labs: Summer 2015 Service Kick-Off!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Originally posted here: <a href="http://creativitylabs.blogspot.com/2015/05/summer-2015-service-kick-off.html">Creativity Labs: Summer 2015 Service Kick-Off!</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"> <em>A post by </em></span><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/"><em><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Tony Phonethibsavads</span></span></em></a><em><span style="font-size: medium;">, </span></em><a href="http://google.com/+SophiaBender"><em><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Sophia Bender</span></span></em></a><em><span style="font-size: medium;">, </span></em><a href="about:blank"><em><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Anna Keune</span></span></em></a><em><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></em><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdld3gJXLmOQifxO5-rilgCdpWMju24ip2QnN7ADS3ZBazT7mhKmTfSaCY98sP7TkMp7E0OE97Er2epbT9E33msr9Wme9i8TMb3rmmeDQnydJkwQG21MdZnwvXIXBALyQNAefP6MpKilOS/s1600/IMAG1964.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdld3gJXLmOQifxO5-rilgCdpWMju24ip2QnN7ADS3ZBazT7mhKmTfSaCY98sP7TkMp7E0OE97Er2epbT9E33msr9Wme9i8TMb3rmmeDQnydJkwQG21MdZnwvXIXBALyQNAefP6MpKilOS/s320/IMAG1964.jpg" width="180" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmXe6lkbL8ZQ53fTZx_X8TejsxqXIqD_t8Xi25u8PrgpZ3jcpJEqWkNZIdhP-i97ScgiRbTDA-EwBt0uLQ3pS4r_1ykradUPjVeEZ0HfHi6JErK5-g2GYg83o72AkPfNS0cKtaKZ7f6hO/s1600/IMG_20150522_193012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmXe6lkbL8ZQ53fTZx_X8TejsxqXIqD_t8Xi25u8PrgpZ3jcpJEqWkNZIdhP-i97ScgiRbTDA-EwBt0uLQ3pS4r_1ykradUPjVeEZ0HfHi6JErK5-g2GYg83o72AkPfNS0cKtaKZ7f6hO/s320/IMG_20150522_193012.jpg" width="180" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDlwUmqzf_EzbbCCtFPNzCZd8nyKKWGyyUlLAMlq46a11lKRJful2IgJtbHKwoxG7523K8bD1RtfEoEQNe9VlkIemQUgJ1jN20cy_Q_HEDGviYtS949y9o90hB35HV427eggGtGWHhBBC/s1600/IMG_20150522_192900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFDlwUmqzf_EzbbCCtFPNzCZd8nyKKWGyyUlLAMlq46a11lKRJful2IgJtbHKwoxG7523K8bD1RtfEoEQNe9VlkIemQUgJ1jN20cy_Q_HEDGviYtS949y9o90hB35HV427eggGtGWHhBBC/s320/IMG_20150522_192900.jpg" width="180" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">This past Friday, we hosted a hands-on exploratory workshop at </span><a href="http://www.bcsc.k12.in.us/domain/681"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Clifty Creek Elementary School</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;">’s STEM Fair in Columbus, IN. Given the drop-in and walk-by atmosphere of a fair, we wanted to offer a project that is easy to create but at the same time offers all of the circuitry learning benefits of the electronic textiles toolkit. We offered one of the many e-textiles activities documented in our colleague Leah Buechley’s book </span><a href="http://sewelectric.org/"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Sew Electric</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;">, the </span><a href="http://sewelectric.org/diy-projects/bookmark-book-light/"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">light-up bookmark</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;">, and another project we made up on the fly while preparing for the workshop, a light-up bow. However, much of the preparation was done in coordination with the Clifty Creek Elementary School teachers, who also provided materials for the workshop, including electronic components and crafting supplies.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">E-textiles are electronics embedded into clothing, accessories, or other wearables. In the Creativity Labs, we like to use the </span><a href="http://lilypadarduino.org/"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">LilyPad Arduino</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> toolkit, which includes sewable LEDs, battery holders, and microcontrollers that can all be connected with conductive thread. This provides opportunities to combine both high- and low-tech, both crafting and electronics, and represents an unusual and very powerful approach to learning circuitry and programming that tends to be more inviting to girls. The Creativity Labs is always happy to share e-textile workshops with our partners!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The Clifty Creek STEM Fair was an informal after-school field day, kind of like an open house, for families and people of all ages to enjoy the pre-Memorial Day Friday. Throughout the fair, barbecue grills, face painting, and moonbounces gave the festival a true Mini Maker Faire vibe, that was sprinkled with science explorations at every corner of the schoolyard and house. The focus of the Fair was many science-themed activities, such as our e-textiles workshop.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">E-sewers hard at work!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Our workshop was set up in Ms. Lucas’s 3rd-grade classroom. To create light-up bookmarks, we provided various materials to the visitors of our table. These included fabric strips, felt stickers, bows, conductive thread, sewable LEDs, sewable battery holders, and batteries. Many children gathered at various tables with their parents and embarked on highly imaginative creations, which included various patterns with stripes, hearts, and happy animals. The children were captivated by the lights sewn into the fabric, but naturally, many lacked experience with sewing and needed assistance from adults. Thus, parents were highly involved; while children focused on the imagination, decoration, and connectivity of the circuits, any parents who were present primarily helped with the stitching and knot-tying.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PiR9Y1wCPbPl5yGHhqyJ3Om97R9oASoW9dGdDwlDS9B3EivPFVruy3kfj-ZBE6gQu59KOxl0RUdqAV3UIw-rT9cCZxDZOB95NMLSyH0sccMiqz1N8tSdR1x-y-zsZRijVdY45gfcFTDE/s1600/IMAG1956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PiR9Y1wCPbPl5yGHhqyJ3Om97R9oASoW9dGdDwlDS9B3EivPFVruy3kfj-ZBE6gQu59KOxl0RUdqAV3UIw-rT9cCZxDZOB95NMLSyH0sccMiqz1N8tSdR1x-y-zsZRijVdY45gfcFTDE/s400/IMAG1956.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The classroom setup</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">The drop-in nature of the workshop provided many interesting facilitation challenges. For instance, our workshop was very popular and attracted more youth than the two facilitators could address at the same time. Many participants were excited by the prospect of bookmarks that lit up, so they got ahead of themselves before one of the facilitators could provide instructions on the next step, and even made some mistakes when connecting the circuits. Backtracking was necessary, but this simply led to even deeper circuitry learning. Excited about the decorative possibilities, but confronted with limited time towards the end of the day, some of the children did not finish their e-textiles projects at the table. We provided them with little take-home bags filled with samples of conductive thread, a battery and some decorative craft materials. One of the mothers said that this might be a fun evening at home finishing the project together with her children. We hope to further explore how to improve facilitation of drop-in e-textile workshops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Given this great start to the Creativity Labs' summer service activities, we are excited about the other upcoming opportunities to interact and share our learning with the local community in and around Bloomington, IN, and, in fact, throughout the country. Here is a list of some of the events we are looking forward to:</span></div>
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<li><a href="http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/geninfo/maker-days"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">Monroe County Public Library Maker Days for Teens</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> in Bloomington, IN </span></li>
<li><a href="http://wonderlab.org/programs/wondercamp/"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">WonderCamps at WonderLab</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> in Bloomington, IN</span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.southfayette.org/cms/lib03/PA01001917/Centricity/shared/district/files/SUMMER%20INSTITUTE%20REGISTRATION.pdf"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">STEAM Innovation Summer Institute</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> at South Fayette School District near Pittsburgh, PA</span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.worldchildrensfestival.org/"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">World Children's Festival</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> in Washington, DC </span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.iceberg.org/ice_conference"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #bb2188;">ICE Conference</span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> in Bloomington, IN</span> </li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-78955522749136618292015-04-05T18:49:00.004-07:002015-04-05T18:52:02.865-07:00Announcing the DML Commons Connected Courses! Get involved!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 20.7px;">We here at the <a href="http://creativitylabs.com/" target="_blank">Creativity Labs</a> </span>have been collaborating with folks from the <a href="http://dmlhub.net/" target="_blank">DML Hub</a> to design the <b>DML Commons</b> (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://dmlcommons.net/</a>)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> – </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">see info below. We are excited to announce that the DML Commons are officially <b>kicking off this week</b>! Now is a great time to <b>get caught up</b> before the first units start!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DML Commons is an new <b>open online course</b> that is designed for graduate students, postdocs, junior scholars, and early career professors figuring out a <b><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/professional-pathways/" target="_blank">professional pathway</a></b> and/or delving into <b><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/design-research/" target="_blank">design-based research</a>.</b> We are hoping to unearth the kinds of stuff that graduate school does not commonly explicitly teach!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many ways to <b>get involved</b>, e.g., by joining all units, joining one unit, blogging, tweeting etc. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The best way to get started would be to <b>set up a blog</b> <b>and to connect it to the DML Commons</b> >> <a href="http://dmlcommons.net/connect/" target="_blank">http://dmlcommons.net/connect/</a> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are looking forward to an exciting few months ahead. We would love to have people from all across the world join the fun! Come join and invite your friends to participate too!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This coming week, the Design-Based Research strand will kick off with "<a href="http://dmlcommons.net/unit-1-dbr/" target="_blank"><b>Purposes/Argumentative Grammar of DBR</b></a>", and the Professional Pathways will get started with live events on "<a href="http://dmlcommons.net/unit-1-propath/" target="_blank"><b>How to Fund, Launch, and Collaborate on a Research Project</b></a>"!</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looking forward to seeing you online! More info can be found in the press release after the break below.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">MORE INFO</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DML Hub Presents Free Online Course for Junior Scholars (Press Release)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">new open online course</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> — designed for graduate students, postdocs, junior scholars, and early career professors figuring out a professional pathway and/or delving into design-based research — is being offered this spring by the </span><a href="http://dmlhub.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Digital Media and Learning (DML) Research Hub</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The DML Hub created </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DML Commons</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the distributed open online course to provide a service that junior scholars in the DML field had been asking for.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Since its inception, the DML Hub has been dedicated to supporting the emerging field of digital media and learning. DML Commons is a complement to our annual conference, publications, webinars, and online resources,” said </span><a href="http://www.itofisher.com/mito/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mimi Ito</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Hub’s research director. “It provides an open online forum for our community to engage from any time and place, centered on the needs of our junior scholars who are powering the next generation of research and innovation in the field.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DML Commons has </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/commons-course/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">two tracks</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: the “Professional Pathways” strand that provides a platform for junior scholars to create and share resources of benefit to their scholarly community, learn from the life experiences and endeavors of other DML researchers in the field, and discover practical ways to develop and shape their own professional pathway; and the “Design Research” strand that aims to support junior scholars in using design to bridge research and practice.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The free course begins with an orientation session March 23 to April 5, and continues through <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1441462119" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">May 31</span></span> with four units per strand, each featuring two webinars addressing unit topics led by DML scholars.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An orientation session to the new site features </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/unit-0/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">live webinars</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> — from <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1441462120" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">10 to 11 a.m. PST</span></span> on </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/event/webinar-1-getting-set-up-connected/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">March 23</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/event/blog-talk-garage-part-2-webinar/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">March 30</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> — hosted by DML experts </span><a href="http://jimgroom.net/about/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jim Groom</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://cogdogblog.com/about/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alan Levine</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://rheingold.com/about/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Howard Rheingold</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To learn more about the course and to sign up, visit </span><a href="http://dmlcommons.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dmlcommons.net</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Background</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2013, the DML Hub, as part of the MacArthur Foundation-supported Digital Media and Learning Initiative, launched</span><a href="http://open.media.mit.edu/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reclaim Open Learning</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an effort to explore the intersections between higher education, open learning, and the connected learning model in the midst of MOOC mania. The effort focused on returning to core pedagogical and learning principles, the ethos of the open web, and end-to-end faculty and student innovation when attention was shifting to large institutionalized initiatives and old-school, top-down pedagogical and learning models.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2014, the DML Hub offered </span><a href="http://connectedcourses.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Connected Courses</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, an open, online class teaching higher education faculty ways of developing and teaching connected courses.</span></div>
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<a href="http://dmlcommons.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DML Commons</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the Hub’s latest offering.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">About the DML Hub</span></h3>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><a href="http://dmlhub.net/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Research Hub</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was created in 2009, and its mission is to advance research in the service of a more equitable, participatory, and effective ecosystem of learning, keyed to the digital and networked era. Located at the systemwide</span><a href="http://uchri.org/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of California Humanities Research Institute</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at UC Irvine, it is an international research center that is committed to promoting compelling research collaborations about best participatory learning practices, applications, programs and their assessments that engage digital media. All of its activities — which include original research, blogs, websites, a webinar series, publications, online courses and an annual conference — are supported by the John D. and Catherine T.</span><a href="http://www.macfound.org/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MacArthur Foundation’s</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.macfound.org/programs/learning/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Digital Media and Learning Initiative</span></a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<h4 dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.32; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Media Contact</span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.6363; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mimi Ko Cruz</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.6363; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #428bca; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="mailto:mcruz@hri.uci.edu" target="_blank">mcruz@hri.uci.edu</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.6363; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="tel:949-824-4587" target="_blank" value="+19498244587">949-824-4587</a></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-61467345224041984402015-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:002015-01-23T06:00:00.109-08:00Electronically-Enhanced Cosplay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last semester, for my final project for my Introduction to Digital Arts and Humanities class, I decided to combine e-textiles, Maker technologies, and cosplay all in a single artifact. As a fan of many different media properties, cosplay--making a costume and dressing up as a character from a story--is something that I'd been interested in for a long time but that I'd never taken the plunge to actually try before. And with so much media starring characters with special powers and technologies, it makes sense to use electronics to enhance a cosplay.<br />
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If we think of the broader implications, technologically-enhanced cosplay is another possible way for technology to reach a wider audience than it normally would. We talk a lot on this blog about how women tend to feel shut out from techie fields. Well, what if female fans got a chance to add techie enhancements to their cosplays? (I would love to help run a workshop like this one day!) This would allow them to build on a preexisting deep interest in a fandom. Adding technology to that equation might help spark a lifelong interest in tech to go alongside the interest in fandom, in a way that may have a stronger long-term impact than one-time workshops typically do.<br />
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The cosplay item I decided to make was the brooch and bow of Sailor Moon. When I was a kid, the <a href="http://www.hulu.com/sailor-moon" target="_blank"><em>Sailor Moon</em> anime</a> inspired me with its tale of an ordinary teenager who, with the power of this brooch, could transform into the super-heroine Sailor Moon and save the world from evil. She was joined by several other female friends who also could transform into Sailor Scouts. It felt really empowering to watch a show in which, unlike most other superhero stories, all the heroes with the strongest powers were female.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Tdxq5UW5J0P5DHjovXeWnDH0IhpM-Ey4zVaaMBg23kl_7yAdyGosppqnZyRQ6bj7qi9bmQbn1YrW9Q5WE4yLdJuM8TBy_KucgAyseLTyGYs9fDD5Hh3EGr3Y11raz4W3pd9kmRh5ACnD/s1600/Sailor_Moon_Crystal_Brooch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Tdxq5UW5J0P5DHjovXeWnDH0IhpM-Ey4zVaaMBg23kl_7yAdyGosppqnZyRQ6bj7qi9bmQbn1YrW9Q5WE4yLdJuM8TBy_KucgAyseLTyGYs9fDD5Hh3EGr3Y11raz4W3pd9kmRh5ACnD/s1600/Sailor_Moon_Crystal_Brooch.png" height="320" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sailor Moon's transformation brooch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Just like Sailor Moon's brooch allows her to transform into a magical girl, cosplay allows fans to transform into their favorite characters. Here's how I accomplished my own "transformation."<br />
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To make the bow, Gail Hale from <a href="http://www.discardia.org/" target="_blank">Discardia</a> helped me to tie a red ribbon into an elaborate bow.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUL7v6Y6w8tOtUL1pTFRxePgwXdSrdTa28CCYKGvQFNQD3JD0Pm_hSI5cnl2xUAZGNV29nU7bV4bsiKPjA5OQJF8HZ-HpbfcOw_OlX6dozo8ajE8aIze1Jj2mlngHvsep5kcRcJcZXNcP/s1600/IMAG1203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwUL7v6Y6w8tOtUL1pTFRxePgwXdSrdTa28CCYKGvQFNQD3JD0Pm_hSI5cnl2xUAZGNV29nU7bV4bsiKPjA5OQJF8HZ-HpbfcOw_OlX6dozo8ajE8aIze1Jj2mlngHvsep5kcRcJcZXNcP/s1600/IMAG1203.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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For the main part of the brooch, I used 3D modeling software <a href="http://www.rhino3d.com/" target="_blank">Rhino</a> and a 3D printer. Dr. Nicole Jacquard, a professor of Fine Arts at IU and an expert at using computer modeling and Maker technologies to enhance her art, helped me to model the brooch on Rhino.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhA1ZJbivmtqvrX_D9UAIPQ2OLrBhnJym5czG1Cf616ugrwb9blNhoOK0BRtDQfgxsHSyM6wA40c1g1p8TP5sfi6t18PWTZvGdunZmAT-3zyYpCfVUFtFbrhuX-DCoN4nL50YaHniLPrDt/s1600/SMCbrooch+rhino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhA1ZJbivmtqvrX_D9UAIPQ2OLrBhnJym5czG1Cf616ugrwb9blNhoOK0BRtDQfgxsHSyM6wA40c1g1p8TP5sfi6t18PWTZvGdunZmAT-3zyYpCfVUFtFbrhuX-DCoN4nL50YaHniLPrDt/s1600/SMCbrooch+rhino.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then she was kind enough to let me use her department's 3D printer to print the brooch in PLA plastic. A 3D printer extrudes layers of plastic to form a 3-dimensional shape that has been modeled on a computer. This was my first time using a 3D printer, even though it's the quintessential Maker technology. It was very exciting!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJt6isvCJsrOjWwFJhA3SwwuECO1nNyDhI5ueKmDmNw1rYktuqPoCQrMbspy1C5JytDMY_w8uWmxEMrPMi1wS-HvKFzE8YHLfiB6H9_hy3CCeC8oPM4p1l2VM5UeKHYbPGJbJUDCpEPsq/s1600/IMAG1213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJt6isvCJsrOjWwFJhA3SwwuECO1nNyDhI5ueKmDmNw1rYktuqPoCQrMbspy1C5JytDMY_w8uWmxEMrPMi1wS-HvKFzE8YHLfiB6H9_hy3CCeC8oPM4p1l2VM5UeKHYbPGJbJUDCpEPsq/s1600/IMAG1213.jpg" height="400" width="225" /></a></div>
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This particular shape required a support structure in order to print properly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MAeGAWo90x7-fdT9sC_XUCzahf1gjGYnpIU5lEMUjaGTu0ikV6qmfx1J9syHu8BxQlUZInpqAfcC2Nlof8V8EcmMQt0hvAjqwMPI_CV73PU-FzXzyzTl4Nz9EJEfeEMwIG5E11WvAuHa/s1600/IMAG1219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5MAeGAWo90x7-fdT9sC_XUCzahf1gjGYnpIU5lEMUjaGTu0ikV6qmfx1J9syHu8BxQlUZInpqAfcC2Nlof8V8EcmMQt0hvAjqwMPI_CV73PU-FzXzyzTl4Nz9EJEfeEMwIG5E11WvAuHa/s1600/IMAG1219.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's what the brooch looked like once I broke off and filed down the supports.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ROTl2AcuQNdKqaRh4HCM_MYJlH9UHvdPgd_CDWbKHFjW2oTNmhdi24VEGubXob7KLYyc6eTdygwP9adY3wxdNAZ0UwFvvhZvDl0gIx6FawY9CGqtLr3Yvon2VIKpQTOULMkZvhXVkgDa/s1600/IMAG1220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ROTl2AcuQNdKqaRh4HCM_MYJlH9UHvdPgd_CDWbKHFjW2oTNmhdi24VEGubXob7KLYyc6eTdygwP9adY3wxdNAZ0UwFvvhZvDl0gIx6FawY9CGqtLr3Yvon2VIKpQTOULMkZvhXVkgDa/s1600/IMAG1220.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also used a laser cutter (another common Maker technology that I'd never used before!) to cut small circles out of plexiglass to go over the circles on the brooch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ncaYzgpWAnXT1BCLnAwZqBpx6kRPxYC4BbmzL_2qwhRYUesq3NLS4pY9X6fo_YCIkcojSVaMMGNZDuE-DJkIcJvrfQ0xzmEe5XAoLYxLwzjTX6wlxJjMY0mYzkXYM8G_vd7WeRM9mUIr/s1600/IMAG1222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ncaYzgpWAnXT1BCLnAwZqBpx6kRPxYC4BbmzL_2qwhRYUesq3NLS4pY9X6fo_YCIkcojSVaMMGNZDuE-DJkIcJvrfQ0xzmEe5XAoLYxLwzjTX6wlxJjMY0mYzkXYM8G_vd7WeRM9mUIr/s1600/IMAG1222.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I then spray-painted the brooch gold.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14VKGZnlocKdVp696X08A332sX5d6KNfzrz_xTKyEV3ffH6mLocBCjUt9EF88BdW58TE_JT3-MRprufEFiymgUcZL78fzq9Y9QLrLLbjZLSxbc0YYyGjfE2wLGRTfQ1OE2I7ZfwIffzNe/s1600/IMAG1228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh14VKGZnlocKdVp696X08A332sX5d6KNfzrz_xTKyEV3ffH6mLocBCjUt9EF88BdW58TE_JT3-MRprufEFiymgUcZL78fzq9Y9QLrLLbjZLSxbc0YYyGjfE2wLGRTfQ1OE2I7ZfwIffzNe/s1600/IMAG1228.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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Then I sewed it onto the bow, along with four <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11842" target="_blank">LilyPad LEDs</a> and a <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10899" target="_blank">LilyTiny</a> microcontroller to make the LEDs sparkle and flash.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72RVi4faka4KOgKvom7tJug5DJEIzys-J3i_3W6_X5ljhqvOEjMWnChfVG92Nw4Kqnf_mVkVY_C5Y1wYNMbVV2nrGTapTYwKEiFPXf-Pxk9lZ_61a170OQfymcggt_v1MAmtIa2zcDhPK/s1600/IMAG1233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72RVi4faka4KOgKvom7tJug5DJEIzys-J3i_3W6_X5ljhqvOEjMWnChfVG92Nw4Kqnf_mVkVY_C5Y1wYNMbVV2nrGTapTYwKEiFPXf-Pxk9lZ_61a170OQfymcggt_v1MAmtIa2zcDhPK/s1600/IMAG1233.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's the final product:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODPoS1JgSCo96Lj12nwf37JO_zh-hM35VWobsETCO7i8f18X9UcI34oqRHwskkI1mT8ro1IpPwSLpJr1mQgh3I7tC-yte97pU9HvyKoKrfc0iY7yZzyDFKMn38-SpNp0FQzSKCofinTVT/s1600/IMAG1235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODPoS1JgSCo96Lj12nwf37JO_zh-hM35VWobsETCO7i8f18X9UcI34oqRHwskkI1mT8ro1IpPwSLpJr1mQgh3I7tC-yte97pU9HvyKoKrfc0iY7yZzyDFKMn38-SpNp0FQzSKCofinTVT/s1600/IMAG1235.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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And here's my complete cosplay!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Yjnn0ZVd0g29C0r9jEvh5_ze9lwfrYK2uVj9uDNeh0ie_kafVgS5b1FETnC3KBqWA-n8LhL9JSnXgC3ZDVgnvGIRXJtwTkM1_IcDas4sOucds1y7i50du-UPX3wCcGPlP59XZnRUWsHS/s1600/me+in+SM+cosplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Yjnn0ZVd0g29C0r9jEvh5_ze9lwfrYK2uVj9uDNeh0ie_kafVgS5b1FETnC3KBqWA-n8LhL9JSnXgC3ZDVgnvGIRXJtwTkM1_IcDas4sOucds1y7i50du-UPX3wCcGPlP59XZnRUWsHS/s1600/me+in+SM+cosplay.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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There are still a lot of things missing from my cosplay, including the skirt, gloves, and tiara. I hope one day to be able to finish it, and perhaps add some more techie embellishments!<br />
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Fans may wish they could have the magic that their favorite characters have. In the real world, one form of "magic" is technology. Learning how to harness it can be very empowering. Technology-enhanced cosplay is one possible way to get fans--especially female ones--to experience this empowerment. Cosplay really can be transformative and magical! If I ever do get a chance to do an e-cosplay workshop, this blog will be the first to get the full report!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-67839579102857096912014-08-12T19:07:00.004-07:002014-08-12T19:09:00.490-07:00#TechTuesday: Why Do We Need More Women Leaders in the Wearable Industry? | Women 2.0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Originally posted here:<br />
<a href="http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/" target="_blank">#TechTuesday: Why Do We Need More Women Leaders in the Wearable Industry? | Women 2.0</a><br />
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<a href="http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid31bzkpYBe2hHwUpuKrJr_yGLuL8vjliUTREaxx6tr6YKvfbgqxB9W-S3mTuzfvyRnhLakRJK32lvhDd6cTWkbzliYLQB03L98cYmzdbO1HlLXSC65YDDxDzN-Uo5kaAAOzbpQ8PKA5Zw/s1600/elemoon+bracelet.png" height="301" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="copy-paste-block">
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><i>The
founder of a new tech bracelet touches on why women are needed in the
wearable tech industry to make products more appealing for women. </i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span id="more-76110"></span>By Jing Zhou (Founder, Elemoon)</span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">In 2010, I
moved back to China from New York to launch my first tech startup. Since
then I have built and sold one of China’s first rich-media mobile ad
companies, and developed a tamagotchi-like social app for young women to
communicate with their best friends. I had two epiphanies while doing
these projects. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">The first happened while I was running the mobile ad company. I reconfirmed that the <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/01/09/women-and-technology/"><span style="color: #333333;">majority of digital consumers are women</span></a>,
yet far too few products are tailored to them. This motivated my team
and I to create a more emotional digital experience for women, spawning
the social app, elepon. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">We saw a lot of
smiles when girls were playing with elepon, but we also realized that
there were limitations in the app experience. Our users wanted something
tactile, something that they could touch and smell—something physical.
We started brainstorming how we might marry the app with consumer
products. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">A year ago, the
emergence of wearable technology captured our imagination, but none of
the products on the market truly inspired us. We instantly knew this was
a huge opportunity. So there came the second epiphany: the utilitarian
and fashion value that hardware could bring is limitless. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">We decided to
combine software and hardware to evoke a truly emotional experience and
make technology a bigger part of people’s lives.</span></div>
<h2 style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><b>Wearables made by men <i>for</i> men can be a problem. </b></span></h2>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">Since most of our team members are women, it’s always quite easy for us to recognize products made by Silicon Valley men <i>for </i>Silicon
Valley men. The first time we wandered around the wearable section at
an Apple Store in New York, we saw a lot of group-think. Almost all of
the products were in the health and fitness category, and there was an
unrelenting hype for smart-watches. But most of these products focused
on function while ignoring form. They lacked personality, sex appeal and
just weren’t pretty! A wearable is something we incorporate into our <i>lifestyle</i>—it’s not enough that something works, it also needs to be attractive and reflect our taste. One month into the design and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/meetelemoon"><span style="color: #333333;">development of our product</span></a>, we saw the media calling for more fashionable wearables. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">Here’s an awesome quote from <i>Wired Magazine</i>’s cover story <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/12/wearable-computers/">Why Wearable Tech Will Be as Big as the Smartphone</a>.
“Wearable devices—technology that people will want to display on their
bodies, for all to see—represent a new threshold in aesthetics.
The techcompanies that mastered design will now need to conquer the
entirely different realm of fashion. And that could require
technologists to unlearn a great deal of what they think they know.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><b>What can women bring to the wearable world? </b></span></h2>
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<span style="color: #333333;">By being “superficial.” </span></div>
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<div style="color: #ff2500;">
<span style="color: #333333;">As Wired
magazine pointed out, wearables have to look good first. When we started
rethinking wearables, we made sure to think untech: Whatever we ended
up making had to be beautiful even when not activated. We decided to
stay away from things that have little emotional attachment for us, such
as watches. We also didn’t want to waste effort on making things that
smartphones can already handle well, like step-tracking. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Everyone on our
team is obsessed with color and Native American jewelry. We have an
eclectic taste in fashion and love wearing accessories, but all we were
seeing in the market were these bland rubber wristbands.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">So we asked
ourselves: What if we could have a bracelet that changes color and
pattern to match whatever we wear? We all liked that idea, and tried to
recreate the sensation of traditional jewelry with new material and
interactive features. The first thing we nixed was an electronic
screen. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span class="sumo_twilighter_highlighted twilighter-cbed4a6">Thinking untech encouraged us to avoid too many features and simplify the user interaction.</span>
</span> We didn’t want to overwhelm the user. We paid attention to how people
naturally interact with a designer bracelet. Nothing beyond tapping,
rubbing or shaking. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">However, our
thinking untech approach also created some major technical challenges.
Smart jewelry really set the standard high for design and engineering.
As creative thinker Matthew E. May articulates, “Elegance is simplicity
found on the far side of complexity.” Even though our hardware team had
10 years of experience in making smart devices, we found ourselves in
uncharted territory. After we made our working prototype in June, our
male collaborators were psyched about its tech capacity and wanted us to
unlock more features. We said no. </span></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #232323;">
<span style="color: #333333;">Innovation is
born out of diversity. Engaging talent with different culture
backgrounds while giving an equal voice to women is crucial—especially
in such an interdisciplinary field as wearable tech. And beyond the
fitness and health niche, there’s something broader called <i>lifestyle</i>.
This is a trend particularly driven by female consumers who are willing
to spend more money for something that truly speaks to them. But the
only way to speak to them is to make sure that their voice is integrated
into the product, from concept through completion. </span></div>
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What wearable tech would you like to see in the future?</h2>
<span style="color: #333333;"><small>Photo via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/meetelemoon/photos/a.249867628537728.1073741825.249865725204585/249867755204382/?type=1&theater" target="_blank"><span style="color: #333333;">Elemoon Facebook</span></a>.</small></span><br />
<br />Original at <a href="http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/#lbB4t6xkGMDgPKr4.99">http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/#lbB4t6xkGMDgPKr4.99</a></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-56074892563982312442014-02-24T13:55:00.000-08:002014-02-24T13:55:28.786-08:00OpenKnit: 3D Printing Knitted Clothing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As reported on <a href="http://boingboing.net/2014/02/20/openknit-a-reprap-inspired-op.html" target="_blank">boingboing</a>, <a href="http://openknit.org/" target="_blank">OpenKnit </a>is a new open-source knitting machine that can "3D print" knitted clothing that has been designed in a computer program and saved in a digital file.<br />
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Inspired by the open-source 3D printer <a href="http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Reprap</a>, OpenKnit is entirely open source, costs less than $500, and can knit a complete garment in under an hour. Here are some examples of garments knitted by OpenKnit:</div>
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<a href="http://openknit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/OpenKnit_winter14-1024x650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://openknit.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/OpenKnit_winter14-1024x650.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></a></div>
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With its focus on open-source and personal fabrication, OpenKnit very much fits within the spirit of the Maker Movement. It shows how the open sourced computerization of textile creation can take the power out of the hands of huge clothing corporations and their mass-production models, and give it back to consumers, who can be free to circumvent traditional forms of clothing acquisition, customize their garments to make them unique rather than mass-produced, and have a sense of agency over the creation of their clothes without having to take the time to knit them the traditional way.</div>
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Openknit also brings the history of computation full circle: the first "computer programs" were punched cards that told <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom" target="_blank">Jacquard looms</a> what patterns to weave. Computation and textiles have been more intimately connected to each other throughout history than most people think.</div>
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<a href="http://doknityourself.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DkIY-mango1-477x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://doknityourself.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DkIY-mango1-477x640.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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Openknit: Challenging the corporate hegemony over the clothing industry, one 3D-printed beanie at a time.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-53820036548531534812014-01-21T21:58:00.002-08:002014-01-22T19:51:23.631-08:00Modkit Coders and LilyPad Stitchers "Create, Innovate, Inspire" at South Fayette School District<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Earlier this month, the Creativity Labs (Sophia, Naomi & Diane) returned to the <a href="http://www.southfayette.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1" target="_blank">South Fayette School District</a> in the Pittsburgh, PA area to provide another e-textile professional development workshop to follow up on <a href="http://computationaltextiles.blogspot.com/2013/07/full-steam-ahead-for-e-textiles-at.html" target="_blank">the one conducted in Summer 2013</a>. The district is gearing up to do a LilyPad Arduino project with its entire fourth grade (plus selected MS Art & Home Ec), as a part of its innovative STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) Studio, so all of South Fayette's fourth-grade teachers attended, as well as its STEAM, Art, Home Ec teachers and technology coordinators. The workshop also shared e-textiles for the first time with teachers from two of South Fayette's partner schools: <a href="http://www.fortcherry.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1" target="_blank">Fort Cherry</a> and<a href="http://www.macsk8.org/" target="_blank"> Manchester Academic Charter School</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teachers at the South Fayette e-textile PD work on their LilyPad projects.</td></tr>
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The e-textile project taught at the workshop involved the <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11201" target="_blank">ProtoSnap LilyPad Development Simple</a>, a kit that includes a LilyPad Simple sewable microcontroller, four sewable LEDs, and a sewable buzzer that plays musical notes. Teachers sewed these components with conductive thread onto a t-shirt specially created for this purpose.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One teacher's LilyPad project. The orange flower with the buzzer on it has snaps so the buzzer can be detached for washing. This is one of the many innovative ideas that emerged during the workshop.</td></tr>
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For the coding, teachers used the visual block-based programming interface <a href="http://www.modkit.com/" target="_blank">Modkit Micro</a>, which makes programming various Arduino microcontrollers easy and kid-friendly. The teachers used Modkit Micro to program the LilyPad, which told their LEDs to flash in various patterns and their buzzers to play musical tunes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A teacher customizes her shirt with beautiful decorations that also serve to disguise the electronic components.</td></tr>
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The "Create, Innovate, Inspire" slogan was a very apt choice for a shirt that would feature e-textiles. Making an e-textile project necessarily involves <i>creating</i>. Every one of the Creativity Labs' e-textile workshops has prompted <i>innovations</i> to emerge, whether in the way the electronics are used, in the way the participants personalize their work, or in their Modkit programs. And we also hope that these projects <i>inspire</i> people to become more interested in computing and electronics. It's wonderful that South Fayette, Fort Cherry, and Manchester are sharing e-textiles with their students, and we at the Creativity Labs are excited to be a part of this creativity, innovation, and inspiration!<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once again, we thank Aileen Owens, Director of Technology and Innovation for South Fayette, who coordinated this amazing workshop, to all of the wonderful, creative participants for their enthusiasm and thoughtful participation and to the school district's administrative officials who took time from their busy schedule to stop in and lend support to this tremendously ambitious endeavor. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-73255923241073120232013-10-30T23:44:00.002-07:002013-10-30T23:44:37.515-07:00Creativity Labs Bring E-Textiles to the IU CEWiT Launch!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This past Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, Indiana University held the official launch ceremony for the new <a href="http://cewit.indiana.edu/index.shtml" target="_blank">Center of Excellence for Women in Technology</a> (CEWiT). The Center, the first campus-wide establishment of its kind in the nation, will seek to promote participation of women in technology-related fields throughout all stages of education and career. Since women are woefully underrepresented in technology fields, CEWiT is an extremely important initiative.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpLrVBX1amgoI55OXNuAjmNZZV-MByarH4B6nz8untmmcE1lRK4NcuEGLf6gjdndRrMR-rk3duwXvAB6uOS6-tgetYuLK-6bwudpVoYchyphenhyphenHbzIPbAAnKmCfpwEuynuqRKaoV9xAKMkUiS/s1600/IMAG0450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvpLrVBX1amgoI55OXNuAjmNZZV-MByarH4B6nz8untmmcE1lRK4NcuEGLf6gjdndRrMR-rk3duwXvAB6uOS6-tgetYuLK-6bwudpVoYchyphenhyphenHbzIPbAAnKmCfpwEuynuqRKaoV9xAKMkUiS/s320/IMAG0450.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sophia, in a CEWiT shirt that she enhanced with a LilyPad Arduino and several LEDs, "sits to take a stand" in the Red Chair at the CEWiT launch. The <a href="http://sitwithme.org/" target="_blank">Sit With Me</a> campaign seeks to bring more women to the table in IT and computing fields.</td></tr>
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CEWiT celebrated its launch with a keynote speech by Moira Gunn, host of NPR's Tech Nation, followed by a reception, where women from all across campus showcased the technology they use in their work and research. This ranged from Google Glass, to 3D printed objects, to a friendly baby seal robot, and more!<br />
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Naomi Thompson and Sophia Bender of the IU Creativity Labs brought a plethora of e-textile artifacts to display as part of this showcase. We had bags, shirts, e-cuffs, puppets, and a solar-powered backpack, all shining brightly with LilyPad LEDs, and some controlled by the LilyPad Arduino. We had <a href="http://www.modkit.com/" target="_blank">Modkit </a>running on a computer, showing how simple programming e-textiles can be. We also had a copy of the newly published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Textile-Messages-Dispatches-E-Textiles-Epistemologies/dp/1433119196/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383198909&sr=1-1&keywords=textile+messages" target="_blank">Textile Messages</a> book, edited and written by several friends and contributors to this blog, for visitors to leaf through.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Indiana Daily Student, IU's student newspaper, <a href="http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=94959" target="_blank">ran a feature</a> on the CEWiT launch and snapped this picture of Sophia at the e-textile table.</td></tr>
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Visitors to our table included members of both the IU and wider Bloomington, IN community. We spoke with teachers, journalists, Girl Scout troop leaders, an entire (very interested!) Girl Scout troop, and even Moira Gunn herself! The table was humming with activity for the entire duration of the reception.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naomi sits in the Red Chair and shows off the e-cuff she made.</td></tr>
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As reported in the Textile Messages book, e-textiles is the first computing field to be dominated by women. It represents an alternative technological pathway to that of more traditionally male-dominated fields like robotics. As such, the Creativity Labs' e-textile researchers plan to remain deeply involved in CEWiT. Dr. Kylie Peppler is a member of the Center's faculty alliance, and research assistant Sophia is committee director of the Affinity Groups Committee for CEWiT's student alliance. In the future, we hope to train CEWiT members to run e-textile workshops for youth in our community. We congratulate CEWiT on its launch, and wish it all the best!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-6723934473199358542013-10-06T16:58:00.000-07:002013-10-06T16:58:25.134-07:00E-Textile Design Night for IU Makes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.iub.edu/~iumakes/" target="_blank">IU Makes</a> is a new organization created by people from all over IU's campus in order to share events, work produced, and highlight work being made using innovative technologies. One of its founders is Dr. Kylie Peppler, director of the Creativity Labs, and several of her students are IU Makes affiliates.<div>
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It was only a matter of time, then, before members of the lab would begin to offer making-related programs to the IU Makes community. The first of these was a lecture on September 5, at which Graduate Research Assistant Sophia offered a similar talk and activity to the<a href="http://computationaltextiles.blogspot.com/2013/05/e-textiles-broadening-participation-and.html" target="_blank"> one she did at the Bay Area Maker Faire in May 2013.</a></div>
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The second was an E-textile Design workshop on the evening of September 26. This workshop was open to the entire IU Makes community, and attracted about 20 participants from all across campus, including students, faculty, staff, and even a couple of children of IU Makes members!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Nicole Jacquard, co-founder of IU Makes and School of Fine Arts professor, shows off the e-cuff she made at the IU Makes e-textile workshop.</span></td></tr>
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The program was one our lab has done many times before: e-cuffs. Participants first learned about circuits in series and parallel by playing with alligator clips and LEDs, and then sewed three LilyPad LEDs to a felt wristband with conductive thread. A conductive metal snap served as a switch.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Not everyone used felt for their wristband, however! One participant brought in this beautiful lace, and used it as the base for her light-up bracelet.</span></td></tr>
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Creativity Labs members Kylie Peppler, Sophia Bender, Anna Keune, Naomi Thompson, and Verily Tan all helped to facilitate the event. We were all inspired by the wonderful creativity and enthusiasm surrounding us at the workshop, and were grateful for the IU Makes community's openness to our work and positive response.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9RO-X3qG7WqX3INuPHOmKxPfw5zouYJwC97H83ibKTdn1PGyoB7-YXJctTxhLnBi_jWQoWhiff1bRy9-UKC7kYZrFqnQWCcltOq-9wW-oIiVtGMLkzgcb76CApWDfwvW5RVheRFJV3Eq/s1600/IMAG0287.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9RO-X3qG7WqX3INuPHOmKxPfw5zouYJwC97H83ibKTdn1PGyoB7-YXJctTxhLnBi_jWQoWhiff1bRy9-UKC7kYZrFqnQWCcltOq-9wW-oIiVtGMLkzgcb76CApWDfwvW5RVheRFJV3Eq/s320/IMAG0287.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Meghan McGrath, intern for the new student organization <a href="http://cewit.indiana.edu/students/wesit/index.shtml" target="_blank">Women Empowering Success in Technology (WESiT</a>), displays her Halloween-themed wristband.</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-14998076756169220192013-09-30T12:23:00.002-07:002013-09-30T12:23:59.840-07:00Sewing Jobs<br />
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AMERICAN MADE</h6>
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<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">A Wave of Sewing Jobs as Orders Pile Up at U.S. Factories</nyt_headline></h1>
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Ruth Kirchner, an instructor at the Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minn., showing students different kinds of fabrics and stitches.</div>
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By <span itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/stephanie_clifford/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/stephanie_clifford/index.html" rel="author" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by STEPHANIE CLIFFORD">STEPHANIE CLIFFORD</a></span></h6>
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Published: September 29, 2013 <span class="commentCount" id="datelineCommentCount" style="border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; margin-left: 4px; padding-left: 7px;"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/a-wave-of-sewing-jobs-as-orders-pile-up-at-us-factories.html?hp&_r=0#commentsContainer" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/multimedia/comment_icon.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #666699; padding-left: 13px; text-decoration: none;">348 Comments</a></span></h6>
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MINNEAPOLIS — It was past quitting time at a new textile factory here, but that was not the only reason the work floor looked so desolate. Under the high ceilings, the fluorescent lights still bright, there were just 15 or so industrial sewing machines in a sprawling space meant for triple that amount.</div>
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American Made</h3>
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<em>A series that examines the challenges associated with manufacturing in the United States.</em></div>
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Previous Article in This Series:</div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/business/us-textile-factories-return.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">U.S. Textile Plants Return, With Floors Largely Empty of People</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/09/19/business/100000002318557/back-to-made-in-america.html" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"><span class="icon video" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/multimedia/video_icon.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-left: 16px;">Related Video</span></a></div>
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The issue wasn’t poor demand for the curtains, pillows and other textiles being produced at the factory. Quite the opposite. The owner, the Airtex Design Group, had shifted an increasing amount of its production here from China because customers had been asking for more American-made goods.</div>
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The issue was finding workers.</div>
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“The sad truth is, we put ads in the paper and not many people show up,” said Mike Miller, Airtex’s chief executive.</div>
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The American textile and apparel industries, like manufacturing as a whole, are experiencing a nascent turnaround as apparel and textile companies <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/business/global/fair-trade-movement-extends-to-clothing.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699;" title="Times article on the trend.">demand higher quality</a>, more reliable scheduling and fewer safety problems than they encounter overseas. Accidents like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/bangladesh-building-collapse.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699;" title="Times article on the accident.">the factory collapse</a> in Bangladesh earlier this year, which killed more than 1,000 workers, have reinforced the push for domestic production.</div>
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FOR DISCUSSION</h4>
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Have the changes in American manufacturing affected the livelihood and opportunities of you or your family?</div>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/a-wave-of-sewing-jobs-as-orders-pile-up-at-us-factories.html?hp&_r=0#commentsContainer" style="color: #6288a5; text-decoration: none;"><strong>Please share your story in the comments below.</strong></a></div>
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But because the industries were decimated over the last two decades — 77 percent of the American work force has been lost since 1990 as companies moved jobs abroad — manufacturers are now scrambling to find workers to fill the specialized jobs that have not been taken over by machines.</div>
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Wages for cut-and-sew jobs, the core of the apparel industry’s remaining work force, have been rising fast — increasing 13.2 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis from 2007 to 2012, while overall private sector pay rose just 1.4 percent. Companies here in Minnesota are so hungry for workers that they posted five job openings for every student in a new training program in industrial sewing, a full month before the training was even completed.</div>
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<img alt="Patricia Ramon during a sewing and production specialist class as part of the Makers Coalition, an effort to create a skilled work force from scratch." height="263" id="100000002464545" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/09/30/business/30workforce-inline2/30workforce-inline2-sfSpan-v2.jpg" style="height: 200px !important; width: 300px !important;" width="395" /></div>
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Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York Times</h6>
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Patricia Ramon during a sewing and production specialist class as part of the Makers Coalition, an effort to create a skilled work force from scratch.</div>
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“It withered away and nobody noticed,” Jen Guarino, a former chief executive of the leather-goods maker J. W. Hulme, said of the skilled sewing work force. “Businesses stopped investing in training; they stopped investing in equipment.”</div>
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Like manufacturers in many parts of the country, those in Minnesota are wrestling with how to attract a new generation of factory workers while also protecting their bottom lines in an industry where pennies per garment can make or break a business. The backbone of the new wave of manufacturing in the United States has been automation, but some tasks still require human hands.</div>
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Nationally, manufacturers have created recruitment centers that use touch screens and other interactive technology to promote the benefits of textile and apparel work.</div>
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Here, they are recruiting at high schools, papering churches and community centers with job postings, and running ads in Hmong, Somali and Spanish-language newspapers. And in a moment of near desperation last year — after several companies worried about turning down orders because they did not have the manpower to handle them — Minnesota manufacturers hatched their grandest rescue effort of all: a program to create a skilled work force from scratch.</div>
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Run by a coalition of manufacturers, a nonprofit organization and a technical college, the program runs for six months, two or three nights a week, and teaches novices how to be industrial sewers, from handling a sewing machine to working with vinyl and canvas.</div>
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Eighteen students, ranging from a 22-year-old taking a break from college to a 60-year-old former janitor who had been out of work for three months, enrolled in the inaugural session that ended in June. The $3,695 tuition was covered by charities and the city of Minneapolis, though students will largely be expected to pay for future courses themselves.</div>
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After the course, the companies, which pay to belong to the coalition, sponsored students for a three-week rotation on their factory floors and a two-week internship at minimum wage. Then the free-for-all began as the members competed to hire those graduates who decide to pursue a career in industrial sewing.</div>
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“We need to think practically about getting skilled labor,” said Ms. Guarino, a founder of the training effort, known as the Makers Coalition. “The growth is there but we’re going to be in trouble if we don’t have a pool to draw from.”</div>
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Last year, there were about 142,000 people employed as sewing machine operators in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, which had almost 1.75 million workers last year — and where the unemployment rate as of July was 4.9 percent — only 860 were employed in 2012 as machine sewers..</div>
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Airtex had room for 50 of them. “We are looking for new sewers every day,” said Mr. Miller, the Airtex executive.</div>
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<strong>Wooing Immigrant Workers</strong></div>
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Airtex’s roots in Minneapolis date to 1918, when Mr. Miller’s grandfather started the Sam Miller Bag Company, specializing in potato and feed bags. In the 1980s, Susan Shields founded a baggage company, and the two combined in 2000 as the Airtex Design Group, producing home textiles for companies like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.</div>
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Soon after the merger, the company began producing in China, first in the Dongguan area, then Wuxi and Shanghai. Today, it still employs about 100 Chinese workers through a partner factory in Dongguan, but production there is no longer the bargain it once was, said Ms. Shields, Airtex’s president.</div>
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Initially Airtex paid $3 an hour on average for its Chinese workers; now, it pays about $11.80 an hour, including benefits and housing.</div>
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Its American factory-floor workers make about $9 to $17 an hour, though Airtex estimates benefits add another 30 percent to those figures.</div>
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As costs were rising in China, Airtex was also getting a new message from some of its clients: They wanted more American-made products.</div>
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Health care clients wanted medical slings and other sensitive medical products made domestically to ensure quality. Retailers did not want to pay overseas freight costs to import bulky items like pillows, and they wanted more flexibility in turning around designs quickly. As Airtex considered production in Vietnam and elsewhere, it became concerned about safety and quality issues — and increasingly interested in the American alternative.</div>
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“The opportunity for domestic business right now is unbelievable,” Ms. Shields said. “Either we start to bring it back here, more of it, or we start going to places that are marginally unsafe.”</div>
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But the lack of workers here in Minnesota made shifting business back home frustrating.</div>
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It had gotten to the point where new business sometimes felt like a headache, not an opportunity. As Mr. Miller was headed to Chicago for a sales pitch in February, for instance, he was more worried than excited about landing a new contract.</div>
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“What concerns me is, if I get it,” he said, “where are we going to find the people?”</div>
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In the various waves of American textile production, dating to the 1800s, the problem of an available and willing work force solved itself.</div>
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Little capital was required — the boss just needed sewing equipment and people willing to work. That made it an attractive business for newly arrived immigrants with a few dollars to their name and, often, some background in garment work. Typically, the mostly male factory owners would recruit female workers from their old countries for the grunt work.</div>
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From the 1840s until the Civil War, it was new arrivals from Ireland and Germany. From the 1880s through the 1920s, it was Russian Jews and Italians, who would buy newly mass-produced <a href="http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/singer-sewing-machine-patented" style="color: #666699;" title="More about the machines from History Today.">Singer sewing machines</a> and often set up shops in their tenement apartments with wives, daughters and tenants making up the initial work force, said Daniel Katz, provost of the National Labor College and author of a book about the garment industry.</div>
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Puerto Ricans, who <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/puerto-ricans-become-us-citizens-are-recruited-for-war-effort" style="color: #666699;" title="More about those who became citizens.">were given citizenship</a> on the eve of American entry into World War I, and black migrants from the South rounded out the work force until the 1960s, when Chinese and Dominican laborers took over, Mr. Katz said.</div>
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In San Francisco and New York, a small number of Chinese women came to the United States despite the <a href="http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=47" style="color: #666699;" title="Explanation of the act.">Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 barring Chinese laborers</a>, making up a base of garment workers. After 1965, when <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/us-immigration-since-1965" style="color: #666699;" title="History.com page on immigration.">immigration restrictions eased</a> and Chinese were allowed to <a href="http://paa2006.princeton.edu/papers/61305" style="color: #666699;" title="Study by Princeton University.">join family members</a>, greater numbers of women came and that pool of workers grew.</div>
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“It was pretty well known that basically the day after you landed, you’d be taken to a factory by a relative to learn how to use an industrial sewing machine,” said Katie Quan, associate chair of the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley. In Los Angeles, Latinos made up much of the work force. And in the Carolinas, Hmong immigrants filled textile manufacturing jobs well into the 1990s, halting — or at least delaying — the migration of jobs overseas, said Rachel Willis, an American studies professor at the University of North Carolina.</div>
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Now, here in Minnesota, immigrants are once again being seen as the new hope.</div>
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<strong>Wanted: English and Math</strong></div>
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Last fall, Lifetrack, <a href="http://www.lifetrackresources.org/about" style="color: #666699;" title="Lifetrack s Web site.">a nonprofit group</a> in St. Paul that helps immigrants, people on welfare and those with disabilities, began screening clients for possible admission to the sewing training program. Inside a gray-green room in a building on the edge of a four-lane road, people gathered around three tables: Burmese women at one of them, Ethiopian men at another, and at the back of the room an African-American woman, then 61, and a white man, 60, both born in America.</div>
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The first task was for students to test their English and math proficiency. Language skills are essential so workers can communicate with their bosses, but math skills are just as important in textile work because sewing requires precise measurements. As the students worked on the proficiency tests, Tatjana Hutnyak, Lifetrack’s director of business development, went over the basics.</div>
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Starting wages: $12 and $16 an hour. Transportation: The college, Dunwoody College of Technology, is on a bus line, but if students interview with a company not on a bus line, Lifetrack will help them get there. After passing career-readiness tests, students could qualify for the course, which would give them a certificate in industrial sewing — and, ideally, a job.</div>
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“They want to have a career rather than packaging, assembling, cleaning jobs,” said a Lifetrack manager, Dagim Gemeda, explaining why clients were interested in the sewing certification.</div>
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The Burmese women had come to Minnesota after spending time in refugee camps in Thailand. Paw Done had done piece work, sewing at home while she watched her children. The others had little sewing experience.</div>
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The Ethiopian men, who ranged in age from 21 to 42, had been in this country several years. A couple were students, one was a former custodian who had moved from another state to be close to his college-bound son, and a fourth, Abdulhakim Tahiro, had been laid off from his job at an airport car rental kiosk.</div>
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“It’s good, for my level it’s good,” Mr. Tahiro said of the starting wages.</div>
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Mr. Tahiro and Ms. Done enrolled in the course that started last January, when about half of the class were immigrants. Another student in the course, Patricia Ramon, 56, was an entrepreneur in Mexico with sewing experience. Ms. Ramon already had a job as a sewer at J. W. Hulme, but quit to take the course with the goal of obtaining certification. She wanted proof, she said, that she had technical skills.</div>
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“I am not like an old-time seamstress,” Ms. Ramon said. She expects to sew as a career, and said that making $16 an hour with health insurance would be enough to live on.</div>
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The students who were not immigrants often had difficult work histories or other problems. One of them was Lawrence Corbesia, the man sitting at the back table during the screening session. He was a former machine operator and custodial worker who had been looking for work for three months.</div>
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Another was Edward Johnson, 44, who was homeless when the course started. After food service and call-center jobs, he went to prison for felony assault, and had a tough time finding a job when he got out in 2009. He moved to Wisconsin to pick fruit, moved back to Minneapolis because he hated picking fruit, and was living on the streets and selling watercolor paintings when a homeless-center counselor hooked him up with the sewing program.</div>
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Until now, the only sewing experience Mr. Johnson had was sewing on buttons — a punishment meted out by his mother when he misbehaved. To save money, Mr. Johnson walked the 45 minutes to and from the college.</div>
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The program was overwhelming at first, he said, “so frustrating that sometimes I’d go home crying.” But he spent days at the library, watching YouTube videos on sewing techniques and studying terms used by the industry. By the end, it had gotten easier, he said, making pajamas, tote bags and aprons.</div>
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So many people are on government assistance, he said. “I’d rather learn a trade and go to work — and work,” he said.</div>
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By Margaret Cheatham Williams</h6>
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For Edward Johnson, 44, a criminal record made it hard for him to get a job. He turned to an industrial sewing program after enduring bouts of homelessness and unemployment.</div>
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<strong>A Long-Term Solution</strong></div>
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Manufacturers elsewhere are also trying to build a new labor pool.</div>
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In a former glove factory in Conover, N.C., the Manufacturing Solutions Center has touch screens showing the technologies that textile manufacturers use today, while new machines spool out printed fabric. In Pennsylvania, a work force investment board has started a program with plant tours, YouTube videos of workers and <a href="http://www.industryneedsyou.com/about-us/" style="color: #666699;" title="The Web site s About Us page.">a Web site</a> promising that “contrary to popular opinion, many good jobs in manufacturing are still available.”</div>
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Other industry groups have created a curriculum for high schools on manufacturing, including <a href="http://www.mfgday.com/" style="color: #666699;">Manufacturing Day</a>, with factory tours for school groups.</div>
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Still the difficulty attracting young people frustrates Debra Kerrigan, a dean at Dunwoody overseeing the Minnesota program.</div>
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“I think it’s just the idea of, ‘Oh, I’m a sewer,’ that doesn’t thrill the average young individual today,” she said. “Skills for a lot of different industries are coming back now, machinists and automotive workers and sewers. I think if you have a skill when the economy gets bad, you’re more likely to succeed than someone who doesn’t.”</div>
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Compared with the other courses Dunwoody offers — graphic design, Web programming, robotics — sewing can seem a little old school, students say. But Elizabeth Huber, 22, who took a break from the University of Minnesota to take the sewing course, said that can also be a selling point.</div>
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<img alt="Elizabeth Huber, 22, and several Makers Coalition students completing sewing samples." height="263" id="100000002464737" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/09/26/business/30workforce-inline4/30workforce-inline4-sfSpan.jpg" style="height: 200px !important; width: 300px !important;" width="395" /></div>
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Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York Times</h6>
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Elizabeth Huber, 22, and several Makers Coalition students completing sewing samples.</div>
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“I like getting back to making things, to touching and manipulating materials rather than just pushing buttons or tweeting all day,” she said.</div>
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As the sewing course drew to a close, members of the Makers Coalition were jostling for the 18 graduates. Don Boothroyd at Kellé, a firm that makes dance costumes, hoped to snag 10 of them. J. W. Hulme wanted five, and was considering covering a student’s tuition for another course exchange for a contract promising that the student would work at Hulme for one year. Airtex hoped for five to 10 students.</div>
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But only nine students completed the course — many dropped out for personal reasons, or decided they just weren’t interested in the work — and eight got jobs. The coalition is now revamping the curriculum to focus more on hands-on work and machine maintenance.</div>
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Airtex decided it could not afford to wait for the coalition’s training program to work out its kinks. So, as the course proceeded, Airtex redoubled its efforts to find people who had some background in sewing. Mr. Miller and Ms. Shields offered a bonus to existing employees who brought in friends. They hosted an open house for prospective workers, and tried to think of groups they had not approached before — like a nonprofit that works with people with disabilities.</div>
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“I had a guy driving me to the airport the other day,” Mr. Miller said, “and he mentioned he knows a lot of people in the Cambodian community and I should call his pastor.”</div>
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Finally, Airtex decided it had to pay for training itself, even if that meant the company was less profitable for a while. It trains workers for a few hours a week, with a technical-college instructor and existing employees instructing new ones on topics like ergonomics and handling tricky materials. Airtex has since made 10 new hires for floor jobs, none of whom were highly experienced.</div>
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“The reality is, if we want good workers we know we have to train them and bring them in ourselves,” Ms. Shields said.</div>
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The factory floor now seems less barren because there are 25 sewing stations (there is still room for another 25). And most significantly, the additional workers mean the company can take on new work: Airtex has tripled its capacity, and is now making about 70 percent of its products in the United States.</div>
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A version of this article appears in print on September 30, 2013, on page <span itemprop="printSection">A</span><span itemprop="printPage">1</span> of the <span itemprop="printEdition">New York edition</span> with the headline: As Orders Pile Up, U.S. Seeks Textile Workers.</h6>
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Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-56854173084628534912013-09-25T10:58:00.001-07:002013-09-25T10:58:37.989-07:00Textile Visionaries<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Textile-Visionaries-Innovation-Sustainability-Design/dp/1780670532/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377872228&sr=1-1&keywords=textile+visionaries" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg61EYxhRkP1PJYGxkduj5zVfkKZu3aFdHJ2c2Sp0cLax7Z_x0Ez03BbsJhbdUYlLwRu-z5bpepLRI0ZfH_NT_BfD_O0HFNQ087rT8m1shISmNJwIJ0I9pWBbiV87FpNekUs0UnchTwcuW6/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-09-25+at+1.56.33+PM.png" width="269" /></a></div>
Yasmin Kafaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06066999632642924442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-88683854263635284122013-09-02T01:07:00.002-07:002013-09-02T01:07:45.813-07:00Makevention: Bringing Maker Culture (Including E-textiles) to the Larger Bloomington Community<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On August 24, Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University, held its first <a href="http://makevention.org/" target="_blank">Makevention</a>, a Maker Faire-like event introducing the community to aspects of Maker culture, from 3D printers to <a href="http://www.usfirst.org/" target="_blank">FIRST robotics</a> teams to upcycled clothing to medieval-style weapons and costumes.<br />
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Diane and Sophia from IU's Creativity Labs participated by running an e-textiles booth in the ReFashion Textile Area. At least 20 youths stopped by our tables with their families and learned about circuits using alligator clips and LEDs, learned how to curl the legs of regular LEDs to make them sewable, and sewed LEDs into shirts, fabric scraps, felt bracelets, etc.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This girl had a "close encounter" of the STEAM kind when she sewed a blue LED onto a Roswell shirt!</td></tr>
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Creativity Labs member <a href="http://kateshively.com/" target="_blank">Kate Shively</a> stopped by with her daughters. One daughter wanted to repair a tear in her stuffed snake by using e-textiles, and the other upcycled and decorated an old t-shirt.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creativity Labs member Kate Shively and daughter enjoying the ReFashion Textile Area at Makevention</td></tr>
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While only about 20 youths were able to complete their e-textile projects at the event, about 100 people per hour passed through the doors, and many of those who could not stop to sew at our tables at least stopped to talked to us about e-textiles, took some of the informational flyers we had, saw many demonstrations of e-textile projects, and found out more about how they could get involved.<br />
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We greatly enjoyed spreading the word about e-textiles at Makevention! This was our first showcase of these materials for the larger Bloomington community, and we are thrilled at the positive response we received. We'd like to extend our thanks to <a href="http://bloominglabs.org/index.php/Main_Page" target="_blank">Bloominglabs</a>, which hosted the event and invited us to participate, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Discardia-A-ReBoutique/459819170702651" target="_blank">Discardia</a>, which collaborated with us on the ReFashion Textile Area.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-36675053928378679032013-07-31T16:26:00.002-07:002013-07-31T16:26:21.750-07:00Full STEAM Ahead for E-Textiles at South Fayette School District<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last week, Dr. Kylie Peppler, Verily Tan, and Sophia Bender of IU's Creativity Labs visited the <a href="http://www.southfayette.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1" target="_blank">South Fayette School District</a> near Pittsburgh, PA to facilitate e-textiles workshops at the district's STEAM Summer Institute. The district has been working to integrate Art into its teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and, in fact, it will open a new intermediate school (grades 3-5) this fall where STEAM will be the focus. The STEAM Summer Institute introduces South Fayette's teachers to STEAM innovations they can use in their classrooms. Besides e-textiles, this year's Institute featured workshops on <a href="http://scratch.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Scratch </a>programming, <a href="http://www.makeymakey.com/" target="_blank">Makey Makey</a>, game design, and flipping the classroom with <a href="http://www.classroomsalon.org/" target="_blank">Classroom Salon</a>.<br />
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The district has recently taken an interest in e-textiles; after all, they fit right in with STEAM because they integrate science, technology, computational thinking, and creative crafting. South Fayette hopes to bring e-textiles into all of its fourth-grade classrooms as part of an existing unit on electricity, and to use them throughout the district in places like art classes and after-school programs. First step towards doing all of this? Providing e-textile training to teachers!<br />
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The members of the IU Computational Textiles team offered two 2-day workshops with similar content. Over the course of the workshops, educators used alligator clips and LEDs to practice making series and parallel circuits, sewed LEDs onto a quilt square, and learned how to program and sew a final project containing the <a href="https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11201" target="_blank">ProtoSnap - LilyPad Development Simple</a> board. This board contains a LilyPad Simple microcontroller, four sewable LEDs, and a buzzer that can play music notes. Educators learned how to use the <a href="http://www.modk.it/" target="_blank">Modkit </a>visual programming language to program their LilyPad Simple to control the behavior of their LEDs and make music with the buzzer.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_0LaD1VvZJE2Yq3O35NzSI5iydZoA3cUTeltPHdK___GEoC_uJ2CA6SA9-a_G_WNS_TjJXVKUlZm_AT_EXUlLC-c-Cgz4lLJDO53-NcGFTTMwIKX9ccsfCGWjdS3VCyqVcAL1GiPO_GB/s1600/P1020035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_0LaD1VvZJE2Yq3O35NzSI5iydZoA3cUTeltPHdK___GEoC_uJ2CA6SA9-a_G_WNS_TjJXVKUlZm_AT_EXUlLC-c-Cgz4lLJDO53-NcGFTTMwIKX9ccsfCGWjdS3VCyqVcAL1GiPO_GB/s320/P1020035.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A teacher's jazzed-up, double-layered quilt square, with 3 LEDs in parallel.</td></tr>
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On Monday and Tuesday, we had a very diverse group of attendees, including one fourth-grade teacher, art teachers, technology coordinators, a French teacher, and even some high school students who will act as teachers' assistants during the school year. They brought in t-shirts, bags, hats, and hoodies for their final projects, and left with amazing programmed creations.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNgI_skUoDX1IYxNpdIJAncHmFjq5TGKtfJAtwQq_54OX7Zxj7D06ZWHfR0034D1Zh7yTnGD45JNIQi_kBPmZdmIrWgh8FcLNR2oXtpbJfB7uonH3iNe4s0rNZPLt5F0xE4lJKdc8WlcA/s1600/IMG_0851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNgI_skUoDX1IYxNpdIJAncHmFjq5TGKtfJAtwQq_54OX7Zxj7D06ZWHfR0034D1Zh7yTnGD45JNIQi_kBPmZdmIrWgh8FcLNR2oXtpbJfB7uonH3iNe4s0rNZPLt5F0xE4lJKdc8WlcA/s320/IMG_0851.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teachers from the first workshop discover that the maximum number of LilyPad LEDs that can be lit in parallel by one 3V battery is 24.</td></tr>
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On Wednesday and Thursday, attendees included an art teacher and four fourth-grade teachers. The fourth-grade teachers actively planned throughout the session how they could integrate these materials into their classrooms' circuitry curriculum. For their final projects, they sewed their LilyPad onto small cloth bags, and made their LEDs shine in all kinds of beautiful patterns.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbS31_V0Fi8YnIZYi3DxFbQqT99wKqWNQ4NWVpIg0O1O9YeiqCjbafGK2a8aNnf9oh-2mihK-EMItPM_NWaiFggAXbaIWeQJdrLUI-0mR_94i-WgjWdcfMtLp1CZioF7pGaWca-fcyrUG/s1600/P1020099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXbS31_V0Fi8YnIZYi3DxFbQqT99wKqWNQ4NWVpIg0O1O9YeiqCjbafGK2a8aNnf9oh-2mihK-EMItPM_NWaiFggAXbaIWeQJdrLUI-0mR_94i-WgjWdcfMtLp1CZioF7pGaWca-fcyrUG/s320/P1020099.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This fourth-grade teacher told us she planned to add glitter glue to spice up her beautiful LilyPad mini-purse even more.</td></tr>
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The workshop even ended up in the <a href="http://www.thealmanac.net/article/20130726/LIFESTYLES02/130729961/0/news#.UffCdo1jui3" target="_blank">local paper</a>!<br />
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Speaking for myself, I've never led a workshop involving the LilyPad before this, and I was astounded by the new possibilities for creativity that programming afforded, things that normally wouldn't seem possible in the medium of textiles. For instance, this bag actually plays the song "Starry, Starry Night" while the stars twinkle:<br />
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And here's a patriotic shirt with a flashing firework on it:<br />
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The examples of beauty and creativity were endless in these workshops!<br />
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We thank Aileen Owens, Director of Technology and Innovation for South Fayette, who coordinated the Institute and was a constant positive force while we were there. Thanks to our wonderful, creative participants for their enthusiasm and cooperation. We also thank the whole district for taking an interest in e-textiles, and we hope to maintain an ongoing partnership to help showcase the potential of these materials in schools!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-18498597434300759182013-07-21T19:35:00.000-07:002013-07-21T19:35:04.691-07:00The Path of Least Resistance: Bitwise Luna Moth!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sophia here again from the IU Creativity Labs. Today I made a Bitwise Luna Moth and worked with resistors for the first time! See the video below to find out more. :) Bitwise E-textiles was founded, and its kits created, by Fay Shaw, who I met at the Bay Area Maker Faire this year. The project turned out wonderfully, so I definitely encourage you to check out her site www.bitwiseetextiles.com.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzLq1fQ5mZ-b0OjGMVqd_yt7ynTSeQHd_Aj9BWwvrvlsnl5-O2Gisq4W3mLZs8r9RWNEl3HlFTwEukTWhx1GQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
This was a great way to start off a week that will be full of e-textiles for Dr. Peppler, my fellow graduate assistant Verily, and I. Starting tomorrow, we'll be facilitating an e-textile workshop for teachers from the South Fayette School District near Pittsburgh, PA. Stay tuned to see how it goes!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-77816795346543649352013-07-13T16:29:00.000-07:002013-07-13T16:29:05.330-07:00Glovetopus: A Non-E Textile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hi! Sophia here, from Dr. Peppler’s Creativity Labs. A
few weeks ago, I used a couple of extra gloves lying around the lab to make a
Glovetopus as a gift for a friend. A <a href="http://glovetopus.com/" target="_blank">glovetopus </a>is a cuddly undersea stuffed
creature with eight tentacles. I bought a poster of directions to make one from
the Bay Area Maker Faire this year. While a glovetopus is just a mere regular
textile rather than an e-textile, I’d like to share with you my experience
making it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kZyzoZ0U7xOcW_lEXcr94b-U1xdFKQfFkYgqigwQkDmAe9W69e0fjSkRRyCM71koIBwrK2dckvVdAuArhBGcAwIZrxgr-XAjP6DxLJPvwFRXQ6HHwfkvjr3BNzXpxJ-9_ZE4GKbQ6LhS/s1600/IMAG0472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4kZyzoZ0U7xOcW_lEXcr94b-U1xdFKQfFkYgqigwQkDmAe9W69e0fjSkRRyCM71koIBwrK2dckvVdAuArhBGcAwIZrxgr-XAjP6DxLJPvwFRXQ6HHwfkvjr3BNzXpxJ-9_ZE4GKbQ6LhS/s320/IMAG0472.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here’s what I used to make the glovetopus: a pair of
gloves, some matching thread, a needle, and scissors. Not pictured is the
stuffing I used: tissues! (I didn’t have any cotton stuffing) I also used some
white felt and black thread to make the eyes—but you can make the eyes out of
anything you want.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5T5G6m8l_st_0xs6H-pxJgjB-yUQd_abUcHlrQp14xO-iIs_ZqU6dnA1nb-K0lUEwg5XdMYlHEeGMVI9KeIKTTSJiG3IabrGduX3sOQylVlPEI8Ky7y14ZHLyNVL3Nkr1oElR8xcWhyphenhyphenC/s1600/IMAG0452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5T5G6m8l_st_0xs6H-pxJgjB-yUQd_abUcHlrQp14xO-iIs_ZqU6dnA1nb-K0lUEwg5XdMYlHEeGMVI9KeIKTTSJiG3IabrGduX3sOQylVlPEI8Ky7y14ZHLyNVL3Nkr1oElR8xcWhyphenhyphenC/s320/IMAG0452.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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According to the directions I got from Maker Faire, I
stuffed the fingers first. The directions suggest you use a pen to push the
stuffing into the gloves’ fingers, but I found my own fingers worked better.
Then I sewed the gloves together.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTn9I-H8KAX6WZTg-zgGSaEAx-OGk8Y27yWrCwKFHXy7PakHAt3uArSBxIm84Idf7I9-kqvmLlPgpJa03AkqdXLzudkwlOPBVSaZ1bHF3jBklr9TdoznmHi6UdyeUhcRGrq3O09OFqMs0U/s1600/IMAG0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTn9I-H8KAX6WZTg-zgGSaEAx-OGk8Y27yWrCwKFHXy7PakHAt3uArSBxIm84Idf7I9-kqvmLlPgpJa03AkqdXLzudkwlOPBVSaZ1bHF3jBklr9TdoznmHi6UdyeUhcRGrq3O09OFqMs0U/s320/IMAG0455.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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Next I finished the stuffing…</div>
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…and cut off the wrists and thumbs of the gloves.</div>
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Finally I finished sewing the tops of the gloves
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The next part is a little tricky: flipping the gloves
inside-out. The best way to describe it is to see what it looks like when
you’re done:</div>
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Because the friend I gave this to has a one-year-old
baby, I decided to make the eyes out of baby-proof materials rather than googly
eyes or beads that could be pulled off and swallowed. I sewed two little ovals
of white felt on the glovetopus and made the pupils of the eyes by stitching
black thread multiple times over the center of the felt.</div>
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Here’s the finished glovetopus! Say hello! :D</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr1X0ftR0kZPMflcVtEqv1PJ_kBj5Js1deCE1B0T_gDTDSw5mDQeFbvyrKzjRcYbmDHc251aX6nEpHTAL2bqnFOo26CCN0B5INMHAr080-z-UzLlZ2N2u8GjMsgZM2BS9ADX96k5qcmkM/s1600/IMAG0471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivr1X0ftR0kZPMflcVtEqv1PJ_kBj5Js1deCE1B0T_gDTDSw5mDQeFbvyrKzjRcYbmDHc251aX6nEpHTAL2bqnFOo26CCN0B5INMHAr080-z-UzLlZ2N2u8GjMsgZM2BS9ADX96k5qcmkM/s320/IMAG0471.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This was really easy to make and came out super cute. It
would probably be easy to add a LilyPad LED or two to it as well. Highly
recommended little project!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3974852146191272665.post-38532658529595434742013-06-24T08:48:00.001-07:002013-06-24T08:48:10.565-07:00E-textiles at the Library<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Creativity Labs have been busy with e-textiles again
this month! On June 6, members of the lab conducted an e-bracelet workshop with
several girls at the Monroe County Public Library. This program was part of
MCPL’s Maker Days, which will occur throughout the summer.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhUYZfWd4Mv5Z7tXvtN06aDcC1O1tf3V-2Xgqu0aL6hJClR3n4X7yhCwYihuPr98ElZhlQPx6nq5eDZby8Ohw8mZWYaqfY-Td_WW8E9mbLV6J8B4Osv4bCpyVNkmTe6RY8Wdj7CdbdWa8/s1600/DSC01560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhUYZfWd4Mv5Z7tXvtN06aDcC1O1tf3V-2Xgqu0aL6hJClR3n4X7yhCwYihuPr98ElZhlQPx6nq5eDZby8Ohw8mZWYaqfY-Td_WW8E9mbLV6J8B4Osv4bCpyVNkmTe6RY8Wdj7CdbdWa8/s320/DSC01560.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The girls at our E-Fashion Design program created an
e-textile bracelet out of felt, conductive thread, a 3V coin cell battery, and
a single LilyPad LED. We had the girls diagram on paper the circuit they would
put on their bracelet before they began sewing, and we found that this greatly
facilitated the process, giving them more time to decorate their bracelets.
Which they did to tremendous effect! Take a look at these beautiful designs:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjFnltMSgmZ7YEg_G9emUFR_272IVpGKXhfAn7iZIyn3mOLMpcVDrf0FNLsdQ20pdEmA07tywYOkTyiZdTpNxD-fuqtIdB6g_W5yFs3s_3tpoCFFGUiMdD7r2AGPITWSSNQhjBM9ObSgt/s1600/e-textiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjFnltMSgmZ7YEg_G9emUFR_272IVpGKXhfAn7iZIyn3mOLMpcVDrf0FNLsdQ20pdEmA07tywYOkTyiZdTpNxD-fuqtIdB6g_W5yFs3s_3tpoCFFGUiMdD7r2AGPITWSSNQhjBM9ObSgt/s320/e-textiles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dr. Kylie Peppler facilitated the workshop, with help
from her advisees Sophia, Verily, and Kate (who graciously photographed the
event). Thanks to Sarah Bowman from MCPL, without whom the event could not have
happened.</div>
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The next week, from June 11-12, Diane, Sophia, and Verily
facilitated a 2-day e-textile workshop for Teen Program Coordinators from
throughout the Chicago Public Library system. Organized by Yolande Wilburn, the
program took place in the Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago.
This library is opening a Makerspace soon, and its branches are hoping to
provide maker programs as well. The purpose of this workshop was to train
the Coordinators so they can offer e-textile programs in their own branch
libraries.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUZSwqCMfbqp8zYG7Iwznvl4hOQ-RgIjOG8aMAYBkLzSw9A-bNCWfsFuJJv317lhjIdobszhZVXYdWlHwC1DkO2Py_u2vGQjCsuLw3iiTF982Uf8hSFHRBkIFkVu01hNSI7pi3LOTzXOc/s1600/IMG_0126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigUZSwqCMfbqp8zYG7Iwznvl4hOQ-RgIjOG8aMAYBkLzSw9A-bNCWfsFuJJv317lhjIdobszhZVXYdWlHwC1DkO2Py_u2vGQjCsuLw3iiTF982Uf8hSFHRBkIFkVu01hNSI7pi3LOTzXOc/s320/IMG_0126.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the first day,
the program participants learned how to use multimeters to test for
conductivity, and learned about series and parallel circuits by lighting up
LEDs with alligator clips—we discovered that the max number of SuperBright LEDs
that a single 3V battery can light in parallel is 14! They then sewed their
first soft circuit on a quilt square with a single homemade sewable LED, which
is simply a regular LED whose legs have been curled into two flat circles, and finally
they sewed an e-cuff with 3 LEDs in parallel.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8CamHlUtQi1RLfksHK3u_LMw-MDQrl4DKGLlx8K32koajHoHkeAtVwrTs4P9xDyWull6vbNSz38HcbMLymqUKmmtoE4YhfUNBtWH5n3OMfO_JF9WrmAGtgZ4lWtDZpnRk5ypsmW5kYGE/s1600/IMG_0088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8CamHlUtQi1RLfksHK3u_LMw-MDQrl4DKGLlx8K32koajHoHkeAtVwrTs4P9xDyWull6vbNSz38HcbMLymqUKmmtoE4YhfUNBtWH5n3OMfO_JF9WrmAGtgZ4lWtDZpnRk5ypsmW5kYGE/s320/IMG_0088.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next day, they learned how to make DIY battery holder
and switches. Conductive tape came in very handy for this purpose. DIY
e-textile components help to cut costs, since oftentimes e-textile parts are
prohibitively expensive. The participants then used these homemade parts to
make a project with the LilyTiny, which is a small sewable microcontroller with
4 pre-programmed pins that make LEDs flash according to various patterns:
twinkle, heartbeat, fade, or blink. The workshop participants sewed a LilyTiny
and LEDs onto textiles they had brought in, whether they were t-shirts,
jackets, shirts for their children, bags, or even a fabric disco ball! The session ended with an introduction
to programming the LilyPad Protosnap Development Board with Modkit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNj7deGynVIyfzzUHJJdGJ-iSG186utERP3y8eOpdRjL_ta2yCmWlWbW-awiULz5RrVbVEoT5CzPtbxHfphpZier_aG8JkXJv7KR1BrUMYQGAiVs_XXSHaCPA5Ahp92HNtaO3hNM6bQJ6n/s1600/IMG_0325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNj7deGynVIyfzzUHJJdGJ-iSG186utERP3y8eOpdRjL_ta2yCmWlWbW-awiULz5RrVbVEoT5CzPtbxHfphpZier_aG8JkXJv7KR1BrUMYQGAiVs_XXSHaCPA5Ahp92HNtaO3hNM6bQJ6n/s320/IMG_0325.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We wish MCPL and Chicago Public Libraries all the best
with their upcoming e-textile and other making programs!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16312201463033323299noreply@blogger.com0