Difference between revisions of "PracticalTheExpandedToolbox"

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==Content Summery and Methods==
 
==Content Summery and Methods==
  
Making is Connecting is comprised of two main components: Research and Studio Practice. Each component provides a different entry to the understanding and potential of craft practises in times of electronic, digital and networked media. Each week you are required to read, reflect, make and discuss (each week a theoretical text is assigned and discussed, and each week you are expected to experiment in the workshop!). Aside from in-class hours, you are also required to plan and carry though your own independent study by sourcing your own relevant reading material, further your making skills connect to communities, workshops, exhibitions or excursions.  
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Electronics is a hard subject and can not be mastered over the course of a quarter. Hence the practical goal of The Expanded Toolbox is to develop an intuition on how to use electronics and to be able to apply the acquired knowledge in a thoughtful. It should provide you with enough insides to start making/using existing relatively simple circuits.  
  
The following is a summery of each component of the course:
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The expanded toolbox has three components: Lecture / workshop, Lab / Experimentation and an independent project.
  
===Research===
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=== Lecture / Workshop ===
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During the lectures you will learn essential basic knowledge on a given subject. Often the lectures will contain a little workshop or demo to demonstrate the contents in a practical scenario.
  
In Making is Connecting Research you will focus on making connections between historical and contemporary discourses and your own position towards craft. You will look back to the medieval craft guilds and the call of their revival through the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris, as well as explore contemporary and cross-cultural manifestations and debates within craft. You will examine the explicit, nuanced, and sometimes contradicting stances on technology and machine production throughout from Arts and Crafts to the Bauhaus movements. You look at the more recent democratisation of knowledge and tools through online and offline communities – such as FabLabs and Makerspaces. You will explore and position contemporary concepts craft in DIY, hacking, and haute couture. The first four weeks you will explore and discuss these various perspectives through key texts. In the last four weeks you will reflect upon your own motives for making in the in the final assignment "Why I Make" through a written reflection, statement, or manifesto that is also richly embedded in a personal crafted artefact.  
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=== Lab / Experimentation ===
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Hands on trial and failure is essential for learning the content given in The Expanded Toolbox. The labs / experimentation is meant for just that. After a lecture / workshop you are given instructions to carry out a certain experiment independently. In order to fulfill the labs / experiments successfully you will need to connect previous material with research you will carry out yourselves. The results should be documented clearly on your WiKi page. You are free to carry out the labs/experiments together but the results should be documented individually. Copy/Pasting each others work is not allowed.
  
The goal of the research component of digital craft is to ground your production as part of a wider debate, to support your formation of sound concepts, and to facilitate the translation of your concepts as tools to apply back into practice.
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The goal of these lab and experiments is to develop intuition, a feel on where to find and interpret information, persistence.
  
===Studio Practice===
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Important to remember during the labs is that failing to make something to work is not bad. Important is trying to understand why. 
  
In Making is Connecting Studio Practice you will explore existing craft practices while applying new techniques, experimental approaches, and pushing the limits of your tools and media. You will be given carving, printing and drawing, fusing and bonding, or stitching as a technique and departure point.
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=== Independent project ===
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You will need to produce an independent project that shows you are able to apply to acquired knowledge and skills to work of your own. There are two paths you can choose depending on your own personal preference:
  
In carving, you will make woodcuts, engravings, sculptures and moulds by exploring subtractive fabrication technologies and mastering the CNC milling machine. In printing and drawing you will survey traditional printing methods, invent your own printing and drawing tools, explore with reactive media (conductive/sensitive inks) and animation techniques. In bonding you will deepen your knowledge different additive fabrication and 3d printing technologies, their different materials and bonding processes, and search for the craft in an industry that markets itself as fast and cheap. In stitching you will produce samples of machine embroidery and knitting, research small-scale textile production and tinker with electronic textile techniques. Your first five weeks will comprise of deepening your knowledge and exploring possibilities within your given craft practise and producing a total of 5 samples to be published on the wiki and presented as part of your assessment. The five examples must connect with the following list. 1-4 will be carried out independently, while number 5 (shared example) will be carries out as a group facilitated by a workshop mentor.
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# A work of your own
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This will give you total freedom in producing and individual piece.
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 +
# A technological interpretation of an otherwise 'passive' work
 +
For people needing a little more boundaries this may be a good choice. You will need to capture the original intentions of an existing work and reinterpret these into an technological enhanced work.
 +
 
 +
For both paths the same criteria (in no particular order) hold:
 +
* the project is conceptually sound
 +
* the project has technological component (electronic, mechanical, software or a any combination of those)
 +
* the technological component is essential to the work; the work is not possible or its meaning significantly altered without this component
 +
* the project is well crafted
 +
* the execution of the technology matches the concept and execution of the project
 +
* the project is well documented
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* the project works
  
 
=Deliverables=
 
=Deliverables=

Revision as of 19:23, 16 May 2016

The Expanded Toolbox

Introduction

The Expanded Toolbox deals with the application of technology in a thoughtful and skillful manner. We will see technology, no matter how little its net contribution to the work, as a real and essential part of the work that needs thought and insight in order to be applied. In Q8 the main focus will be on the use of electronics but many of the principles can be applied to mechanics as well. Enough basics of electronics will be covered to start developing some intuition on its usage and we will look at methods that will help you to craft your circuits. Software will be covered briefly when we will talk about source code management and documentation.

Content Summery and Methods

Electronics is a hard subject and can not be mastered over the course of a quarter. Hence the practical goal of The Expanded Toolbox is to develop an intuition on how to use electronics and to be able to apply the acquired knowledge in a thoughtful. It should provide you with enough insides to start making/using existing relatively simple circuits.

The expanded toolbox has three components: Lecture / workshop, Lab / Experimentation and an independent project.

Lecture / Workshop

During the lectures you will learn essential basic knowledge on a given subject. Often the lectures will contain a little workshop or demo to demonstrate the contents in a practical scenario.

Lab / Experimentation

Hands on trial and failure is essential for learning the content given in The Expanded Toolbox. The labs / experimentation is meant for just that. After a lecture / workshop you are given instructions to carry out a certain experiment independently. In order to fulfill the labs / experiments successfully you will need to connect previous material with research you will carry out yourselves. The results should be documented clearly on your WiKi page. You are free to carry out the labs/experiments together but the results should be documented individually. Copy/Pasting each others work is not allowed.

The goal of these lab and experiments is to develop intuition, a feel on where to find and interpret information, persistence.

Important to remember during the labs is that failing to make something to work is not bad. Important is trying to understand why.

Independent project

You will need to produce an independent project that shows you are able to apply to acquired knowledge and skills to work of your own. There are two paths you can choose depending on your own personal preference:

  1. A work of your own

This will give you total freedom in producing and individual piece.

  1. A technological interpretation of an otherwise 'passive' work

For people needing a little more boundaries this may be a good choice. You will need to capture the original intentions of an existing work and reinterpret these into an technological enhanced work.

For both paths the same criteria (in no particular order) hold:

  • the project is conceptually sound
  • the project has technological component (electronic, mechanical, software or a any combination of those)
  • the technological component is essential to the work; the work is not possible or its meaning significantly altered without this component
  • the project is well crafted
  • the execution of the technology matches the concept and execution of the project
  • the project is well documented
  • the project works

Deliverables

Learning goals

Assessment criteria

Daily Planning

TUESDAY

  • Lecture / Workshop

Interaction Station - 10:00 - 13:00

Schedule

Date Location Content
April 26 Interaction Station Kick Off
May 3 () Holiday
May 10 Interaction Station Presentation Ivan Henriques on science, technology and artistic practice
May 17 Interaction Station Intro into electronics
May 24 Interaction Station Making a circuit etching / soldering
May 31 Interaction Station Sensors and actuators
June 7 Interaction Station ?
June 14 Interaction Station ?
June 21 Interaction Station Assignment Due


Presentations / Workshops / Visits

Ivan Henriques on science, technology and artistic practice http://www.ivanhenriques.com

Yaprak Sayar (To be confirmed) Graduate Art/Science KABK https://vimeo.com/147938963

Rene Wassenburg (To be confirmed) Visit the EMM++ Tesla Coil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4HwN1TtU4


Reading Material

*What is the function of your wiki?

The wiki is an ongoing document, throughout the whole Quarter, that will be presented and/or discussed at different stages of the process. It will be the result of research, concept development, tests, experimentation, workshops...

The content should be visual (collected images, mapping ideas etc, animations, interactive experiments, your own sketches), textual (collecting articles, quotes, creating keywords, adding links and references) and material (documentation of the tests and experiments from your own project, your first models, prototypes etc.).

In all cases, make sure you add your own descriptions and explanations, giving insight into your thoughts regarding both ideas, knowledge, skills and execution.

The goal of the wiki is manifold:

  1. a place to keep track of your process
  2. to offer a thinking framework within which to develop your projects both individually and collectively
  3. to be a resource that aids you in your concept development, design, planning and realization.
  4. to offer a context that enables you to collect and organize the research and design process both individually and collectively.
  5. it's a tool that helps to communicate about your project to others, at different moments throughout the process, about concept; decisions; planning (plan van aanpak) and final outcome.
  6. to be a source of your own material and content from which you can select and and which you can reorganize for specific presentations.