Tag: sharing

Categories
Uncategorized

Maker Faire Milwaukee Needs You!

Hello Friends, I’m here to tell you about Maker Faire Milwaukee, and to ask for your help. If you’re not familiar with Maker Faires, they are events that happen around the world, and are part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new. We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth.

Most of the Maker Faire are smaller in scale, typically a one-day or even half-day event with a dozen or so people sharing their passion for making things. Here in Milwaukee we decided to go big. We did a two-day event which grew into a three-day event by the third year (the third day being a Field Trip Friday for disadvantaged youth in our community) and we also hold the distinction of being the largest FREE Maker Faire in the North America. In 2015 we had over 50,000 attendees see amazing things, and experience hands-on making. Many attendees were kids, but Maker Faire is not just for the young, or the young at heart, we’re for anyone who likes to learn and loves to see new things.

henry

This is Henry. When he was 6 years old he came to Maker Faire Milwaukee, and when he left he told his dad that he wanted to make a robot for Maker Faire, and in 2016 he brought his creation to show it off and share it with others. We love this kid! We want everyone to be inspired by Maker Faire and leave wanting to create new things.

bill

Here’s Bill teaching a young girl how to use a nail gun to build a shed. Bill works in the Be A Maker space at the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and spends his days teaching kids how to build the world they’ll inherit. He probably showed a few hundred kids how to properly use a nail gun over the course of the weekend.

r2d2

Oh yeah, not just for kids! We’ve got plenty of adults who live normal lives and have jobs and families and spend their free time building things, like props or robots or costumes from their favorite films, books, and TV shows. Droids, Daleks, 3D Printers, machines that etch wood with electricity, you name it!

jenie

There are also professional artists and art instructors who take the time to teach people about their art, and how to make it, and how to clean the ink off of your hands after you’ve make your first block print. You might discover that something you’ve never done before is fascinating, and you can talk to someone who can tell you all about it.

jake

Or maybe you’ll see a college kid playing with 20,000 watts of power flowing from a home-built Tesla coil while wearing a suit of armor he made himself at Milwaukee Makerspace. Who knows?

Now, I did say that Maker Faire Milwaukee Needs You, and we do. To make this incredible event happen for our community, including field trips for disadvantaged youth, and a professional development conference for teachers that happens during Maker Faire, we need you. We need help from sponsors, we need help from volunteers, we need help spreading the word, and we need you and your family and friends to come to Maker Faire Milwaukee and see what we are trying to do for the Greater Milwaukee Area.

Find out more at milwaukee.makerfaire.com

Categories
Uncategorized

Remix ~ Improve ~ Share

CinemaPi

I was alerted to the fact that someone created a new design based on one of my designs. The Laser Cut Case CinemaPi is based on a design I created called Raspberry Pi Case (with Camera) which you might remember from this post. (Oh, if you want more info on the Cinema Pi, see the notes here.)

But wait! It doesn’t end there…

Remixes

My case is actually derived from Stacking Pi Case by CongoJoe. And CongoJoe? Not even the original creator, as he based his work on a design from Adafruit called the Adafruit Pi Box.

And Adafruit? They created the case and it’s a product they still sell, and they’ll tell you how to put it together. (And yes, they do have a newer, cheaper version if you just want a Pi case.)

Adafruit is just plain awesome, of course. They know that it’s not just about selling products, but about sharing information, teaching, spreading knowledge, and inspiring people. They get it.

This… this is the kind of world I want to live in.

Categories
Uncategorized

Return of the EXPERT

EXPERT

Back in 2009 I took this photo of myself with EXPERT written on the whiteboard behind me. I had no grandiose scheme when I took the photo. It was taken at the office of z2 Marketing, in the conference room. I’ll admit, part of the reason I took the “EXPERT” photo had to do with a (slight) jab at people who were declaring themselves “experts” at the time. The photo gets used a lot when someone posts an article and needs a photo that depicts an expert or expertise.

When the photo is used, people who know me tend to tell me about it, which is nice, as it’s fun to track the usage of the photo. Of course I really do like to get credit for my work, so if you use it, please credit it properly, because I am also an expert in Creative Commons.

The most recent use is in an article titled The Death Of Expertise. (It’s an interesting article, go read it!)

Now, as far as being an expert, I like to say “You are an expert at your own experience”. This goes back to 2006, when we had one of the first meetings about BarCampMilwaukee. We were discussion session topics and someone said “Well, I’ve installed Linux a few times, but I’m no expert at it.” I then pointed out to the person the fact that he was an expert to anyone who had never installed Linux, and that sharing your own personal experience is an important part of teaching and learning.

Through the years of helping make unconferences happen, and getting involved in Milwaukee Makerspace, and in publishing this blog, I’ve come to understand just how important it is to recognize that you need be willing to share the things you know, even if you don’t think you know enough, and you also need to be accepting of others when they don’t know everything, because really, no one does. No one is an expert in all things.

Through the open sharing of knowledge, and the willingness to accept that no one is a expert (while we are also all experts) we can all end up learning more than we ever would on our own.

Categories
Uncategorized

A Maker’s Perspective

Laser-cut wood

I was at Milwaukee Makerspace, using the laser cutter (that I adore so much) and another maker asked me some questions, and then offered their thoughts. This was nothing new, and it’s a welcomed thing. Often you’ll get suggestions or ideas for future projects (or the one you’re currently working on.)

The maker was looking at what I was doing (making a laser-cut spool) and said he would probably use a band saw to cut the wood, and find a large dowel to put in the middle. That’s definitely one way to do it.

He guessed about how much time I spent on my method, and if you count the file-diddling his estimate was probably low, and I’m fine with that.

Testing...

But hey, it’s all about perspective, right? I’m comfortable with software, and I like learning and designing things, so I don’t mind picking up new skills in solid-modeling and file conversions. These are skills I’d like to improve, as I plan to use them again and again. If I was just picking up a piece of wood and going at it with a saw… that’s not very enjoyable to me. I’m also not very good at it.

Spool

So instead of just finding a piece of wood and making it work with a saw, I prefer the process I took. I found something close enough to what I wanted, modified it to be exactly what I wanted (and along the way got help from another maker (Gary) and learned more about OpenSCAD) and after some tweaks I should have a repeatable process that will allow me to make as many spools as I want with relative ease. Since I’ll be sharing my files, it also means that others can make the exact same thing. To me this is powerful stuff, and while dumb power tools have their place, the smart tools (design software + CNC machines) offer so much more.

I’m also contributing to a community of makers who share their work, make derivatives, suggestions, and mashups of their work, and allow anyone else to do the same. I’m into that stuff, so yeah, that’s my perspective.

Categories
Uncategorized

The RasterCon Idea

OconoFlickrWalk
Photo by Jeramey Jannene

You can blame Philip Crawford for this idea… After MadCamp he said something to the effect of “You should hold a PeteCamp… I’d be there!” So while the name isn’t set in stone yet (PeteCamp? RasterCon?) I sort of like the idea, and here it is:

An entire day of Pete.

Hmmm, how can I describe this without sounding like an egomaniac… It’s not so much about me, but about how I like to share with others.

I’ve been blogging for 14 years, I’ve dabbled in photography (panoramas, macro stuff, time lapse), audio engineering and recording (including putting out 3 albums), video (shooting and editing, including the RED ONE), building communities (underground music, web and technology), I’ve made a lot of weird things, and a few projects, helped start Web414, helped bring BarCamp to Wisconsin, I’ve got an Egg-Bot, and there’s probably more stuff I forgot about.

So here’s the idea: You get a full day of Pete. 8 hours worth. It would be limited to 20 people, and each attendee would pay $80. This works out to just $10 per hour to attend, during which I will teach you pretty much everything you’d want to know that I know. I’d probably also teach you how I make pizza, and that would be our lunch. I’d answer questions, I’d share what I know, I’d do demos, and I’d teach you how to do things. Sounds simple enough, right?

So does this sound crazy, or does it sound like something you’d sign up for? Leave a comment, and let me know…