Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

Resources for ARTS 499 Makerspace will be located here.

Instructor Contact

Jeff Ginger - ginger@illinois.edu
Tyler Denmead  - tdenmead@illinois.edu

An Incomplete List of Take-Homes

We’d like to give you an idea of some of the “resume-worthy” skills you should be able to walk away with from this course. Throughout it expect to:

• Develop an understanding of the principles and processes behind rapid prototyping
• Hack together and implement tools, ideas and proposals for a workshop
• Critique, test and report on real world examples of makerspace curriculum
• Practice multiple styles of expression for different real-world contexts
• Learn about issues of digital literacy, community-based art education, informatics and the design of makerspaces from an interdisciplinary perspective
• Gain familiarity with open source and proprietary software

Our Community Partner

• http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2013-10-29/its-more-just-fish-tank.html
• http://education.illinois.edu/news/Local-alumnus-Brandon-Rutherford-named-Illinois-New-Science-Teacher-Year
• http://mrrutherfordisawesome.weebly.com/reef-system.html

Assignment 1

Readings on concepts. Finish reading them by the lecture-discussion session on October 27th. Come to class with 2 questions or quotes from the readings that you'd like to discuss!

1. Makerspaces and Teaching Artists (Barniskis 2013) (attached below)
2. Ken Robinson - How Schools Kill Creativity (video)
3. Henry Jenkins - Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture (executive summary, just pages 2-4)
4. Wikipedia Summaries
   • Maker Culture
   • Community Informatics
   • Constructivism
   • Community of Practice

Based on what you learned from readings and in the class discussion write a 1-2 page analysis. Employ a simple and identifiable thesis or guiding inquiry and connect concepts from at least 2 of the readings above. Please do not summarize the readings, instead you should see them as if they are in conversation with one another. What questions to they yield when considered together?

Assignment 2

Make a layered paper artwork example. Guidelines:

• Start with a tribal tattoo
• Do two iterations - a first test and a second refined final piece that is a remix of the first
• Try to use 3 colors (but you don't have to)
• Needs to be at least 3 layers connected by foam tape
• Take pictures of each one of your iterations, so we can see the comparison, store the files in the network drive
• Due by 12/1

Assignment 3

Part 1 - Build some kind of creative silverware with TinkerCAD, doesn't have to be functional

Part 2 - Choose one of the methods you learned in class (Sculptriss, Spore, Kinect) to make an organic form for printing, save your chosen project with your name and a color in the "TO PRINT" directory

Assignment 4

Digital embroidery project - create a simple two-color textile example with the digital embroidery machines. You may do more complicated ones if you finish the first!

Assignment 5

Finalize your Fab Lab portfolio. Upload images of your completed projects to your directory in the class folder. We will present them after Thanksgiving break! You should have pictures of the following:

• Griffin Sticker
• Paper Cutting Layer Art
• 3D-printed monster, scan or sculptris creation (or something else, ask me)
• Photo or STL of your utensil made in TinkerCAD
• Digital Embroidery Piece

Assignment 6

Option A) Stratton workshop at the Fab Lab on Dec 12th from 10a - 12 noon - see attached assignment.

Option B) Assist with existing workshop (Tour de Fab Lab Dec 2, Kenwood Elementary Dec 6) and make/improve lesson plan & tutorial for an underdeveloped tool with a Fab Lab staff person. Options include (1) Digital Emrboidery (Jessica), (2) Graphic Tablets (Judy), (3) Modella Milling MDX-20 (Andrew), (4) 3D Scanning with AGIsoft (Colten), (5) Arduino Sensors (Virginia), (6) Paper Automata with Silhouette (Gabriel).

Option C) Workshop for kids at UNCC (Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center). Any day of finals week possible, 2:30p - 4:00p each day.

Option D) Orientation workshop for families during open lab hours on Sunday (Dec 14 either 1-3p or 3-5p) - see attached assignment.

Provisional Schedule

Week 1 (10/20)

Classroom – intro to concepts, assign readings

Studio – orientation – electronic cutters - Inkscape - Griffin stickers

Week 2 (10/27)

Classroom – Discussion on readings

Wed Studio – electronic cutters - Griffin stickers - Silhouette Studio - introduce layer art

Week 3 (11/3)

Mon Studio – layer art - Silhouette Studio

Wed Studio - finish layer art - introduce tinkerCAD

Week 4 (11/10)

Mon Studio - 3D printing and 3D scanning - Kinect - Sculptriss - Spore

Wed Studio - Arduino / Textiles - SewArt - Arduino

Week 5 (11/17)

Mon Studio - Arduino / Textiles- SewArt - Arduino

Wed Studio - open work time

Week 6 (12/1)

Mon Studio - Finish projects, get Jeff photos of your 'portfolio'

Wed Studio - Split into groups, initial workshop planning

Week 7 (12/8)

Mon Studio – Create initial lesson plan or tutorial prototype materials creation, go through workshop yourself

Wed Studio - Test workshop on another group, revise, let Jeff know what you need ready for the event