Makerspaces: Aotearoa New Zealand: June 2016

Thursday, 30 June 2016

Make Edible Paper in 3 Easy Steps

You can whip up this super-easy edible paper in as little as 15 minutes and use it for secret messages, decorative foods, and more!

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Human-Sized Griffin Puppet Wows at Maker Faire Kansas City

This is probably the closest a person can get to meeting a mythical griffin in real life.

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5 Ways to Find Time for Making

Making time for making can take some strategy when you have a full time job and family obligations, but it's not impossible.

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These Custom Night Vision Goggles Don’t Even Look Homemade

We were super impressed with these custom raspberry pi powered night vision goggles. You won't believe they're DIY.

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Crush Cans Effortlessly with an Arduino-Powered Arm

Use an Arduino and an H-bridge motor circuit to build an automatic can crusher

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Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Deadpool’s Disembodied Head Shares a Catchphrase When It Holds Your Gear

Julia needed a place to rest her cool, new headphones when she wasn't using them, so her dad made a quipping Deadpool head.

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3D Knit Your Own Clothes with Kniterate

You might say that the relationship between textile production and computing has always been a little close-knit.

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State Library of Queensland: Something Wicked This Way Comes

This year we have the distinct pleasure of hosting updates from Dr. Matt Finch, with whom we’ve worked on a number of LAIP features, as he serves as Creative in Residence at the State Library of Queensland, Australia. He’s working to support the work that State Library staff do to plan and implement large-scale cultural programming for a huge swath of the Australian library community. Enjoy! ~Laura

by Matt Finch

A rumble of trucks in the night. Lights flickering in the dark, just beyond the city limits. At dawn, a familiar smell of candy floss carries on the breeze. A sense of anticipation suffuses the whole town.

The carnival has come to visit once more.

Or is it the library?

Last time on Library as Incubator, we talked about the Signature Team at State Library of Queensland (SLQ), a “seven-fingered fist” responsible for creating year-long themed programs and partnerships in a state three times the size of France. That’s a tall order for any organisation, but when you also have to provide activities and events for a major city-centre venue in the same year, it’s nigh-on impossible.

That’s where the library’s Regional Partnerships team come in. Luckily, impossible is their specialty.

“Our job is to keep the 340 libraries across Queensland FIT,” says Deb Miles, the team’s executive manager. “We give them funding, ideas, and training.”

Like most of her team, Deb is not herself a librarian. A formal social worker and community development officer, her eclectic resume also includes running restaurants, working in a pineapple canning plant, and front of house roles with a roving funfair.

Deb’s not the only regional outreach officer who has a carnival background. Michelle Hughes, Coordinator of Public Library Services for SLQ, is one of the team’s fully qualified librarians, but she’s also a biker and former journalist who also had a “spangles and sequins” phase as a trapeeze-swinging circus aerialist.

“We’re trying to support and inspire people across Queensland – our mission is inspiring the state’s creativity forever,” explains Michelle. “But it’s the public librarians who inspire me. There’s a lot of spreadsheets to be completed in my job but when I hear what they’re up to in the regions, that’s what keeps my enthusiasm up. I’d never have thought of putting robots in a swimming pool, for example – but Logan City Libraries are planning just that, using waterproof Sphero devices.”

Project Officer Tammy Joynson is another ex-journo and former teacher who cut her teeth on regional newspapers before ending up on the front lines of public library engagement. “That time in the newsroom gave me curiosity and an instinct for finding the human story behind social issues and technological change.”

I recently teamed up with Tammy and her colleague Eva Ruggiero (who also drove trucks for a travelling carnival!) on a robot game design project which let me understand what it was like for a state body to work with regional communities.

Australia can often see communities in terms of cities versus regions, with rural areas sometimes feeling treated as second class citizens. This tendency has to be fought. Events I ran in regional New South Wales like the infamous zombie siege showed that rural areas can actually be more resourceful and better suited to swift innovation than some urban settings.

There’s also a digital access problem, in a country of 23 million people spread out over a landmass which is bigger than Europe and in places very inhospitable. It’s simply the case that Australian regional internet access is still very patchy – although modern day agriculture is more advanced and computer-based than ever before. The question for us is often: how do libraries engage rural communities in the digital age?

By going out and listening, of course.

The Case of the Cotton-Picking Robots

This led to me sitting in the cab of a combine harvester for a day out on the Darling Downs, home to Queensland’s cotton industry. By spending that time listening carefully, and paying attention, we saw that even small family farms were loaded with digital technology.

“Sixty years ago these farms were worked with horses,” one farmer said to me. “What will we be using sixty years from now? Will we even be in the fields?”

This inspired us to create a package of youth activities using Ozobots: tiny programmable robots which follow lines drawn on sheets of paper. SLQ sends Ozobots out to libraries across the state, where staff like Toowomba’s Jo Beazley devise amazing activities.

Ozobots play on local maps as part of SLQ’s 2016/16 grant to regional libraries. Image by activity creator Jo Beazley of Toowoomba Libraries.

How can we support such regional libraries, especially ones which may have very limited staffing, to run play sessions – but also not stifle their creativity and expect them merely to implement our instructions?

Tammy, Eva, and I came up with a two-tier game using the Ozobots to let children play at being at farmers of the future. Pretending that the Ozobots were “Universal Farming Machines” of the year 2050, players had to overcome various challenges to successfully plant a field full of crops. Small regional libraries could simply play this game using our rules, the Ozobots, and some pens and paper.

But for librarians who were keen to do something different, we challenged them to expand on, adapt, and rewrite our game to make it better. We used our farm visit to approach the agricultural sector for sponsorship and prize money to offer the regional library who created the best adaptation.

The challenge is always to offer creativity, freedom, and flexibility alongside support for already-busy regional librarians. We try to light small sparks and fan the flames which might ignite greater things further down the line.

Bridging The Digital Divide

For Strategic Projects Officer Eva, these kind of games could seem a little tame. Prior to her library role, she worked in health promotion and has a decade’s experience working with injecting drug users.

“There’s less phlebotomy involved in my current role,” she laughs, “but at heart there’s a great overlap between public health and public librarianship. They’re both about empowering members of the community, no matter who they are, where they’re from, or what they do.”

Eva often works alongside Senior Project Officer Lyn Thompson, herself a former nurse – although Lyn has also been a senior retail manager and has visual merchandising skills to boot. They’re always in demand when a project is in the final stages of design and presentation.

Lyn has a special focus on working with older people and the Tech-Savvy Seniors program.

“There’s a surprising number of people who still don’t even know what a mouse is. There are some people who haven’t touched or connected with the technological changes of recent years, so haven’t seen the relevance of what it would bring to their lives. There was 93-year-old gentleman from Rockhampton who had assumed the Internet was something for young people, all games and trivia; we helped him to research his interest in horses and poultry.”

“The Digital Divide isn’t just about older people, though,” she says. “We have youth programs and programs for seniors, but we also have a lot of people in the 35-50 age bracket who need help with new technology. And they’re also the age range we’re trying to encourage into public libraries.”

The team’s newest member is fine artist and librarian Janet McGuinness, who worked with refugee communities in Victorian libraries before heading to the Sunshine State and working at Noosa Council library. Janet recently supported the rollout of the Welcome Toolkit for community engagement, working in a team of nine librarians from across the state: “We’ve developed a tool to help libraries design, devise, and deliver their own community engagement outreach programs.” You can download a PDF of the Toolkit here.

Creative and clever, determined but responsive to the communities they serve, the Regional Partnerships team are an example of how non-librarians work within library organisations to support their mission of access to knowledge and culture through research, play, and learning.

When you hear the RP team approach…it’s like the carnival coming to town.

To find out more, get in touch with the team at RegionalPartnerships@slq.qld.gov.au

Matt Finch is the 2016 Creative in Residence at the State Library of Queensland and author of the newsletter Marvellous, Electrical. Find out more at www.matthewfinch.me

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Noble Gases Turn into a Light Up Rainbow with a Tesla Coil

A Tesla coil is the only thing powering these glass tubes filled with noble gasses, creating a glowing rainbow.

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Tuesday, 28 June 2016

A Video Sampling of National Maker Faire 2016

Take a little video tour of last weekend's National Maker Faire.

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Bose’s New Bluetooth Speakers Are Made for Modding

The BOSEbuild Bluetooth Speaker, designed with makers in mind, is meant to be modified and customized.

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What Shape of LED Should I Use for My Project?

There's a wide variety of LEDs on the market, in different shapes and sizes. Choose your LED with these things in mind.

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Build a Rechargeable Rocket Launcher That Shoots Over 300 Feet

This rocket launcher is portable, rechargeable, powerful, and awesome looking! Watch as it launches rockets 300 feet away.

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“An Evening to Paint” at North Carolina Wesleyan College’s Pearsall Library

by Melissa Knox

My name is Melissa Knox, and I am the Circulation Supervisor at Pearsall Library on the main campus of North Carolina Wesleyan College. “An Evening to Paint” was such a simple art project for people of all ages. While we aimed for student involvement, it quickly became a program for staff and community. The idea was to give the students who were on campus during the summer, when there is nothing on campus to do, a way to express themselves. As the idea came to life in my mind, I contacted the person I knew could instruct this project, Allison Haislip.

And perfect she was!

She immediately came out to the college to walk the area inside and out of the library to see where would be the ideal space to work with approximately 10 students. We decided within a few moments to do the event outside on our terrace, in the evening around 6:00pm so as not to be too hot, and to provide the paint and canvas for the students. As soon as all of this was decided, I made flyers and hung them up while getting a couple of our work-study students to pass the same flyers out. Then I created an event on Facebook that exploded.

Once the word was out and we asked for people to sign up through the event on Facebook, everything took off. Before we knew it, there were 20 people signed up and growing. We ended up having to turn some away because the cost was beginning to exceed budget. Capping the program at 20 allowed us to go ahead and purchase:

1 dozen 16 oz. bottles of acrylic paint
24 paint brushes
20 16×20 canvases

In order to make this all work, Allison and library staff had to make some arrangements, such as bringing in more tables and chairs, covering the tables with tablecloths, and setting up paint stations for each attendee.

After all the hard work, it was time for the real fun to begin– and this event was amazing! Of course, more than 20 people showed up, but there was concentration along with laughter and chatter all around the terrace. We already had some tables on the terrace, and with the use of a couple other tables and chairs, everyone was comfortable and Allison was able to instruct everyone on the art of painting a simple but lovely tree representing each person’s imagination entwined with their personality.

Paint 3

For the next “Evening of Paint” event, students will continue to be able to paint for free, but others from the community will have to pay a small fee to offset the costs. We plan on doing everything the same way, but incorporating music, and of course, using another picture format to challenge the imagination. It was great how everyone worked together to make this a relaxing evening, and to bring the greater community into an academic library space!

*All photos taken by Breanna Cutler and Allison Haislip

Melissa Knox has worked in the Library field for almost nine years now with a background in youth services and childhood development. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Religion from Liberty University, and is pursuing her Master’s in Library Science.

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Made in Baltimore: Makerspaces as a Hub for Workforce Training

In a tough gig economy, being trained on the latest tools and having a wide range of skills can make all the difference when job hunting.

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Monday, 27 June 2016

Play Pinball in Virtual Reality with Real Haptic Feedback

Build the “PinSim” cabinet controller and play VR pinball with real flipper buttons and an accelerometer-based nudge system!

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Test Your Grip Strength with a DIY Carnival Game

Build a carnival-midway strength tester game using strain gauges and a comparator chip

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Monster-B-Gone Keeps Kids Safe from Creepy Bedroom Critters

Build a (pretend) bedtime scanner to repel creepy critters — so easy a kid can operate it.

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Race Tiny RumbleBots with a Hand-Cranked Raceway

Inspired by a Make: article, here’s a hand-cranked classroom science project that’s also a lot of fun.

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How to Prank Your Friends with Moldable Plastic

Use moldable plastic to create great new practical jokes!

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Create a Raspberry Pi Photo Booth for Your Next Party

Use the new Pi 3 to make a touchscreen photo booth that instantly uploads to Google Photos!

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Make a Wi-Fi Enabled Light Switch Turner Onner

Use a servo to flick a light switch mechanically — without ever touching 110V power — with this Wi-Fi “Turner Onner”

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Sunday, 26 June 2016

“Vance Maker” and the Joys of Making with Kids

Those moments you spend with your kids making things will likely be some of your most cherished.

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This Week in Making: VR Prototypes, Spy Surveillance, and Leaked FAA Regulations

This past week we took a look at Valve's VR prototypes, learned how to make a super small spy bug, and got word of possible drone regulations

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Saturday, 25 June 2016

Last Chance to Share What You Make at the Largest Maker Gathering in Europe

There are still a few days left to submit your application to exhibit as a maker at the largest show and tell in Europe. The fourth annual Maker Faire Rome takes place October 14–16 at the Fiera di Roma, and if you’re a maker, you absolutely can’t afford to miss […]

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Making a Convincing Ant Man Helmet Out of Found Materials

Mikaela Holmes improvises a sweet Ant Man helmet using trash and found objects.

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Weekend Watch: Tiny Home Living with the Von Thompsons

The Von Thompsons are living a charmed life in Washington in their converted school bus tiny home. See how they make small living spaces.

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Friday, 24 June 2016

DiResta: Key Hook

In this week's episode of DiResta, Jimmy makes a simple row of hooks to store keys or wrenches.

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Use Your Smartphone as Your Car Key with an NFC Lock

Adding an NFC unlocker to your car allows you to open your vehicle with your phone, or an NFC ring.

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This Robot Monitors Avalanche Conditions So You Don’t Have To

Currently, the only way to assess avalanche danger is to hike up a snowy mountain and look at the conditions in person. Robots would be better.

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Make a Teeny Tiny FM Spy Transmitter

Oh! I just realized something... they're call spy "bugs" because they're the size of bugs. This FM transmitter is the size of a lady bug, specifically.

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Thursday, 23 June 2016

Making a Train Yard for Ticket to Ride

Need to organize your trains for Ticket to Ride? Why not build some train yards?

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Featuring: Ragnhildur Johanns

This post originally appeared on the LAIP in 2014. We love Ms. Johanns’ work so much we had to bring it back for another round!

We love book art here at the LAIP, and every once in awhile I like to mine the internet for all things book art, just to see what fabulous things can be made from discarded texts. Today’s feature is Ragnhildur Johanns, a captivating artist I stumbled across on one such trip down the rabbit hole. Her beautiful sculptures, which combine book art and poetry, are not to be missed! Enjoy! ~Erinn

The library at the Iceland Academy of the Arts has best librarians ever. They have a disco ball and a record player and a completely different approach to the library that is fresh and fun at the same time. ~Ragnhildur Johanns

Library as Incubator Project (LAIP): Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work!

Ragnhildur Johanns (RJ): I was born in Reykjavík, Iceland 1977. I graduated with a BA degree from the Art Academy of Iceland in 2010 and I have been working on art and writing since then. I work with text, with performance, and more, but I do seek to work with poetry in my art.

The object book is the possibility of a poem and I have been generating poems from the books that find their way to me. I do not need for the poetry to be readable, but it is sufficient to me that the possibility of the poem is visible through the object. Each and every word pulled out of the book is carefully chosen to form a context-free romantic/erotic poem. The poems are extracted from the books, the sentences never leave the books and are not glued in, just pulled out and left there, and the book itself becomes part of the poem.

In addition to my work as an artist I run the website http://ift.tt/1qqqOXH, which covers the Reykjavík art scene in a visual way. I also publish a magazine on contemporary art in Iceland with a group of friends called Endemi.

LAIP: What are you working on right now that you’re excited about?

RJ: At the moment I’m setting up my new studio and that is taking all my time for now– but it gets me so excited since I quite love the space and can’t wait to start working again

LAIP: How have libraries informed your creative work? Tell us about the first library you remember playing a part in your artistic development.

RJ: I would say that the library at my hometown of Hafnarfjörður in Iceland had a lot to say about my upbringing in an artistic sense. I was not brought up to read for my amusement in my house, but I knew early that I really enjoyed reading. I was quite young when I started using the library regularly and I did read a lot. I remember going from one shelf to another trying to figure out what I wanted to read and even though they say “never judge the book by its cover” that is what I did because I had no idea what I wanted to read at the time.

As a teenager I knew what appealed to me and I started reading a lot of poetry and I haven’t stopped since.

I’m sure that this sort of an upbringing in the library as a young child has a lot to do with my fascination with books and not just the written word but the book as an object.

…my fascination with books…is not just the written word, but the book as an object.

LAIP: Can you describe a particular library-incubated project for us?

RJ: The work entitled “SemSé” started as an idea at the library. I saw a lot of books that were being given away, books that no one wanted to read anymore and were taking up too much space at the library. The work consists of 100 books that were not wanted anymore, not only from the library but also from people that wanted to clean out their bookshelves.

LAIP: As an artist, what would your ideal library be like? What kinds of stuff would you be able to check out, and what could you do there?

RJ: My ideal library is located at the fine art department at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. It’s full of many awesome things– books on arts, artists, artists’ books, and theory texts, but it also has the best librarians ever. They have a disco ball and a record player and a completely different approach to the library that is fresh and fun at the same time.

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