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Bloggers: 2015

Blogging: 2015


It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a “bloggers your should follow” post, so it’s time. I mean, I’m sure you’re content with just reading the insane ramblings at RasterWeb!, but there are some people I know who are doing some amazing sharing, or are new at the game and could use a few more eyeballs, so here’s the list… and yes, they are all maker-focused.

handverkerfrankieflood.blogspot.com – Frankie Flood is responsible for the DCRL at UWM and a prolific maker and crafts-person. He shares many of his own projects (which often involve motorcycles or vehicle rebuilds) and he also shares the work of his students, and things that inspire him.

Bryan Cerabryancera.blogspot.com – Bryan is a former student of Frankie’s and leans a lot more towards physical computing projects involving computers and electronics. He also shares project with lots of photos and great detail. Like Frankie, some of Bryan’s posts involve things he’s working on for his students. (Instructors take note: blogging is a great way to document your curriculum!)

BridgeMakerchadbridgewater.blogspot.com – Chad is another former student of Frankie’s (sheesh!) and he’s a lot more focused on machines and machining and has a love of old tools. Like Frankie and Bryan, Chad also shares projects he works on for his students. Chad tends to do multiple posts for projects so you get to follow along with the progress. It’s better than TV!

MAINSPRINGjohnmcgeen.blogspot.com – John McGeen is a co-worker, friend, and also a former student of Frankie’s (see a trend here?) John is an obsessive maker, in a good way! I somehow convinced him to start blogging many months ago, and since then I’ve been greeted with documentation of his projects and skills on a weekly basis. There’s even been a bit of cross-over where we’ve worked on projects together, which is totally awesome, in my book. John’s also a motorcycle and vehicle guy (like Frankie) but he’s always trying something new, which is very inspiring.

Digital Fabrication and Designdigitalfabricationanddesign.blogspot.com – Caitlin Driver is a current student of Frankie’s and spends her days (and nights) in the DCRL at UWM merging art and technology through digital fabrication. Caitlin is documenting most of her work in grad school — from exploration to process to finished piece — which is going to be extremely valuable in the future. (Bonus! Caitlin has another blog at caitlindriver.com/blog)

VRvishalrana.net – Vishal is a member of Milwaukee Makerspace and one of the main organizers of Maker Faire Milwaukee, and he’s finally starting to document his projects. If you want to keep an eye on some projects you might see at the next Maker Faire, keep an eye on Vishal’s posts.

Kathy’s Worldkathy.lt – Kathy is also a member of Milwaukee Makerspace and one of the main organizers of Maker Faire Milwaukee. She’s just recently started blogging but I’m hoping if we keep bugging her she’ll keep going, because she works on a lot of awesome things, and the sharing them with the world would be a good thing.

Well that was fun! All of these people are friends of mine, and they do cool things, so check them out, and hopefully you’ll be inspired to make something.

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18 Years of RasterWeb!

18

I started this blog in 1997, and somehow I never managed to quit. There are some archives and some old archives.

18 years of this is pretty crazy. Some people start blogging and quit after a few months. Some people only write one post. Some people said blogging would never last. I’m not sure what to say to those people… so I’ll just keep posting.

Thanks for reading!

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Two Cardinals – DIY Projects

Two Cardinals

I’ve got a confession to make; lately I’ve been busy doing work that’s keeping me stuck behind a computer (or a camera) and while you may be concerned that all those lovely tools in the basement are sitting idle, they aren’t… in fact, Dana’s been putting them to good use.

She’s started documenting some of her most recent projects at twocardinals.com. Yes, my wife is now making and blogging. Pretty sweet! Since I haven’t made anything cool lately, you might as well check out what she’s been up to. :)

In the past few weeks she’s refinished a sewing table, made a bird-tracking chalkboard, showed off some personalized switch plates, and protected her plants.

Working!

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Still Blogging!

Bloggy

I guess I’m blogging less. Or more. Or something. I don’t know. I am one of those people who tell others they should blog, and I often get depressed when I see some people quit. I’ve been at this since 1997, and yeah, I’m one of those people who can’t not do it.

Jon Udell (who I’ve known online forever) and Tim Bray (who I’ve known online forever) and this Scott guy (who I’ve never heard of, but hey, he’s a blogger) have all been talking about people blogging less.

Am I blogging less? Maybe. It goes it waves. Sometimes I blog more. Sometimes I blog less. Lately I’ve been doing a lot non-web related projects (which is in contrast to a few years ago) and so I spend more time in front of physical thing being assembled instead of in front of a screen and keyboard. Some of the results can be seen on my Projects page.

As for Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, yeah, I use them all, but I’m somewhat selective. All three get my blog posts pushed out to them, and I do it manually, customizing the message to each. (I’m against the “blasting” out to other networks, as I often don’t when others do it.)

Google+ gets more of my attention, mainly because I’ve found a great community of RepRap users there, and without sounding insulting, there’s a higher level of conversation there than there is on Facebook. I still check Facebook pretty often, but don’t publish quite as much there. I’m still using Twitter, but I think I tweet a bit less than I used to. (At least with my own personal account.) Of course I also write for a few other blogs too…

In the end though, I’m not too worried about blogging less, as I’m one of those people who can’t not do it.

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The RasterWeb! Report for 2011

Two-Thousand-Eleven was a banner year for RasterWeb!. We published a total of 253 blog posts, and as you can see from the pretty chart, we were fairly consistent, with March and May being the standout months. The rise in March was due to another successful RPM Challenge which I did in February, and then released all the songs in March. May’s activity was due to me joining in for Processing Month, and posting a lot of sketches.

2011 Report

Compared to 2010, we had 35 more posts. But you don’t care about quantity, you care about quality! Were the posts better in 2011? I don’t know, that’s for you to decide. I did however, have a few really popular posts, mostly thanks to Make Magazine, who featured a number of my posts including: Arduino-Controlled CheerLight, Zen Button, DIY Panorama Rig, Make A Sketch Draws With Processing, and the super-popular DIY Photobooth Rig with Custom Button.

Speaking of buttons, my button posts got a lot of attention/traffic from Sparkbooth and from the Teensy Project page. In fact, the post probably has more comments than any other I’ve written. I’ve also got emails from a lot of people who bought a Teensy and then got totally lost trying to build a button. I helped as many people as I could. Which brings us to…

Why I continue this blog…

It’s safe to say that one of the main reasons I started blogging had to do with wanting to give something back, or as the kids say, to “share” things. When I started using the Internet in the mid-1990s, I learned a lot, and at some point I decided that I wanted to share my knowledge as well, so that’s what I did. I didn’t get into it for the money (there was none back then) but for the purpose of putting things out there that would help other people, the same way other people helped me. Sure, I publish a lot of, um, weird stuff that has nothing to do with helping people, but hey, they can’t all be winners.

So with my latest adventures in making, I’ve started telling people that sharing about making is just as important as making. I believe that, and I know that Make Magazine believes that, and Instructables believes that, and Adafruit believes that. It inspires others to make things, and do things, and that’s a good thing.

If I’ve inspired you, that makes me happy… and if you’ve inspired me, I thank you. Let’s keep it up!