Thinking about Making & History

I'm on the road in California working with the fine folks from Folsom History and thinking about Making & History.

So what prompts me to make this trip to Folsom?  Well, Maker Stuff.  And by "Maker Stuff" I mean the eclectic group of artists, craftspeople, tinkerers, and engineers (amongst others) who get herded under the big umbrella term "Makers."

At a recent meeting of museum folks in Atlanta, it turned out that many of the other folks in the room were History Museum people. It's not that I don't like History Museums, or admire the people who work in them, but my museum "tribes" tend more toward Science Center and Children's Museum folks (and their respective conferences.)

Anyway (me being me) at a certain point I started to berate those nice fellow museum professionals for "completely missing the boat" on the Maker Movement.  It also immediately became clear that many of the people at that meeting had absolutely no idea of what a Maker Space or "makers" even were! YIKES!

I mean, what genre of museums is better placed than History Museums to engage people with the stories and stuff behind inventing, designing, building, and manufacturing things?  It's in their institutional DNA!  Not to mention the enormous opportunities for History Museums to tap into new sets of audiences and communities that are deeply engaged in Maker activities that would love to connect with such awesome repositories of the stories and stuff associated with Making.

I'm very excited to help the folks in Folsom think more about the possibilities of bringing making and history together. If you've seen or created interesting opportunities for making/history, include some info in the COMMENTS section below!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration -- Literary Clock

Maker (and manager of the electronics workshop at the Royal Academy for Arts) Jaap Meijers released this Instructable that shows how to repurpose an old e-reader into a very special type of clock -- a Literary Clock!

What is a "Literary Clock" you might ask?  It's a device that tells the time by quoting "timely" passages from literary works.  The "literary time" updates every minute, so for instance at 9:23 in the evening, it will read:

My father met me at the station, the dog jumped up to meet me, missed, and nearly fell in front of the 9:23 pm Birmingham express.

This is an incredibly inventive concept, and I kinda want to see one in every library.  If you don't have an old e-reader handy, you can still use this Web-based version called "Literature Clock" that was developed by Johannes Enevoldsen, inspired by Jaap Meijers' original idea.

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"

Sometimes It Really Is About The Box ...

 

I'm inherently resistant to museum experiences that seem to put much more emphasis on "the box" than the stuff inside the box.  I cringe when I encounter a bad exhibit experience that seems like a five dollar idea stuffed inside a five thousand dollar container.

Similarly, it often seems that the resources poured into "starchitect" fees for many new museums would be much better spent on staffing, more creative exhibits --- or better yet, buildings with traffic flows that actually work and don't seem like crazy experiments in social engineering or dystopian sci-fi movie sets.

Despite my bias against pretty, empty experiences in cultural institutions, I went to an opening last week and found an instance where the emphasis on the high-level design aesthetics of the environments actually makes sense.

Those environments are part of Design Lab at the New York Hall of Science (NYSci) a collaboration between an amazing content team at NYSci and the talented designers at Situ Studio that totally transformed a core section of the original 1964 World's Fair building that formed the original part of the New York Hall of Science.

The design-based activities happening inside the five distinct areas or zones within Design Lab (and the adjoining Maker's Space) are, on one level, deceptively simple: building structures with long dowel rods and rubber bands, or creating parts of a "Happy City" using cardboard, tape, batteries, and LEDs.  But if Situ and NYSci had only deployed these activities by themselves (with simple fences or functional barriers around them) I don't think the experiences would have "worked" as well.

The combination of Situ's carefully-crafted "boxes" and the (on the surface at least) "less flashy" design activities combines to create an incredibly strong presence and makes the design-based activities inside much more attractive to visitors. (And from a practical matter, more attractive to funders as well.  I can't imagine the funders behind Design Lab ponying up the cash for simpler, utilitarian spaces.)

All of this makes me want to re-think my impressions of different "Maker's Spaces" I've encountered (like The Tinkering Studio or MAKESHOP® ).   How much of an impact are the "non-functional" environmental design considerations actually having on visitor experiences in these most ultilitarian and user-focused of museum activity spaces?

Could rough-and-ready Hacker/Maker Spaces and even Maker Faires benefit from additional, and intentional, interior/environmental design? Would it make the experiences and activities more satisfying for visitors in a way? 

It's a bit paradoxical (to me, at least) that activities that easily lend themselves to happening on workbenches in crowded shops, or portable tables under tents in parks (or parking lots) might actually become more effective or memorable when placed inside bespoke environmental surrounds.

But I think that's part of what makes Design Lab work.  If you find yourself around NYC, make sure to take the 7 train to Queens and check it out!

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Cool Museum Exhibit Design Tool: Spoonflower

Spoonflower is one of those cool Web-based service sites that lets you turn your ideas into real stuff!

It's also a great example of how the intersection of the Web and the Maker Movement can trickle down to serve museum folks and exhibit designers.

Spoonflower gives individuals the power to print their own designs (like the one above) on fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap. The idea is that you upload a digital image (or use the Spoonflower imaging tools) to the Spoonflower Web site and the company prints the design on a range of materials that they then ship directly to you.

You can see some real-life examples and read commentary on using different materials and techniques on the Spoonflower blog.  (Or vote in their weekly "Design of the Week" challenge!)

All in all, Spoonflower's services look like another interesting tool to add to the exhibit developer's repertoire. 

So why not give Spoonflower a try, and then email us a picture of what you made?



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Making Your Ideas Real: The Art Of Tinkering

The crazy winter weather where I live on Long Island has not been very conducive to the sorts of slightly frenetic spurts of creativity that I love.  The whole world seems encased in ice and snow and one gets the feeling of being both trapped and sluggish.

So I couldn't have asked for better timing for the arrival of the new(ish) book called "The Art of Tinkering" the other day.

The Art of Tinkering is billed as a way to "meet 150+ makers at the intersection of art, science & technology."  It's a colorful book bursting with photos, ideas, and even simple DIY projects.  The cover of the book (shown above) is printed with conductive ink --- so you can even experiment with and hack your copy!

Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich, the folks who spearheaded The Tinkering Studio at The Exploratorium, have put together a fantastic book that captures the spirit of The Tinkering Studio while also giving you a sense of the inspirations and working styles of the makers featured inside.

Here's one of my favorite suggestions from inside the book:  Put yourself in messy, noisy & sometimes dangerous situations!

But enough talk --- grab a copy of The Art of Tinkering and warm up your own creative impulses! 




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Another Case for the Exhibit Doctor: 3D Printers

When even my 8 year old daughter asks during Maker Faire, "When are we getting a 3D Printer, Dad?" you know something's up.

Museums and museum workers know this, too.  3D printers are cool, like "science fiction" cool, like "change the world" cool.  So naturally, museum folks want to share this shiny new technology with our visitors.

The question is: HOW?

(I've spoken with several museum folks recently who purchased 3D printing gear and still have the goodies sitting in a box in a storage closet because they can't sort out how to use them inside the museum, not just behind the scenes ...)

There is no denying that the end result of creating a digital file (either by laser scanning or through software programs) and producing an actual usable object with a 3D printer is super.  But the actual process of waiting for a 3D printer to produce that object is like watching paint (or plastic filament) dry. 

Which is perhaps fine for a museum program, or a multi-session museum class, but are their ways to leverage the inherent "coolness" and flexibility of 3D printers in the rapid-response, "show me something now!" context of many interactive exhibition galleries?

So in this edition of The Exhibit Doctor, I'm asking for examples of successful exhibit-centered ways of using 3D printers.

Please share your successes, failures, and bright ideas in the "Comments" section below this post and I'll round them up to share in a follow-up posting.


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ReWind: Inventables

As I've been thinking about and developing "maker" type spaces a lot these days, I thought I'd commend the Inventables website to ExhibiTricks readers again.

Who wouldn't love a website that provides cool stuff like Soft Gel Magnets or Aluminum Foam?   Inventables is just such a website, and it's been great fun trying out their stuff for new exhibits and prototyping projects.

The clean and simple Inventables website gives you examples of new and interesting materials (with specs!) to investigate,  as well as nice search features that lets you sort materials by qualities like "glow in the dark" or "magnetic".

Also, the Inventables site lets you buy small quantities of materials at relatively inexpensive prices.  Maybe you could set up demos or materials science investigation areas for visitors --- a "Material of the Month" perhaps? 

So take a little "mad money" from your current project budgets and click on over to the Inventables web site.  Who knows where some of those cool materials may lead you?

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Goodbye Columbus, Hello Makers!

The biggest takeaway I had from the 2012 ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) conference that just wrapped up in Columbus was all the session (and hallway) chatter about making and Makers.

In some ways, I find the interest in giving museum visitors access to (relatively) open-ended situations where they can use cool tools and materials a great step forward from past years of over-designed, neon-encrusted exhibition spaces (especially in Science Centers.)

On the other hand, is the term "making" destined to become an over-used "hot" topic that starts to mean so many things to so many people that it becomes a mushy buzzword like "interactivity" or "multimedia"?

It worries me when the appellation "Maker Space" fits everything from a "rebranded" recycled crafts area (where, let's face it, the main activity is globbing together pieces of junk with gallons of glue ... sort of like a bad real-life Katamari Damacy) to a well-staffed space filled with truly generative activities for visitors to explore (like MAKESHOP in Pittsburgh or the tinkering studio at the Exploratorium.)

That tension definitely came out in conversations and session presentations where some ASTC attendees thought letting kids "mess around" with tools and materials in any way they wanted was fine (and seemed to fit their definition of "making") while others felt that unless activities were "framed" in careful ways that lots of opportunities for "authentic making" as well as learning about science were getting lost in the rush to hop on the maker bandwagon.

My own feeling is that this is all getting shaken out during an incredibly active time, with inevitable leaps forward (as well as howl-worthy missteps.)  Ultimately though, if the buzz around "making" can help organizations like museums (and schools, too) get motivated to provide space, tools, and materials for people to push the boundaries of their own skills and experiences, what's the downside? 

But I also think it is important to acknowledge that if you give some people a pile of tools and materials they immediately feel comfortable "jumping in" while other folks need a bit more guidance or examples to help them get started.  And it would be wrong to design a space that makes either end of this learning/personality spectrum feel excluded.

The Maker Movement is in the air both inside and outside of our museums.  I hope we can find ways to capture the core making experiences (like access to new tools and materials) inside exhibit areas without those fundamentals getting swept away by all the media hoopla.

What do you "make" of these topics?  Are you excited by the possibilities for "real making" or are you concerned about "fake make"?  Let us know in the "Comments" section below! 

(Also, if you attend the ASTC Conference --- since I'm just coming onto the Program Committee, I'd like to encourage you to submit session proposals on make (and non-make!) topics for the 2013 meeting in beautiful Albequerque.)



UNABASHED PLUG: In the whole "making" vein, I've just embarked on a collaboration with Brad Larson of Brad Larson Media (that's Brad and me pictured at the top of the post) and Jim Polk of Canstruct to create a series of "Pop-up Maker Space" exhibits and activities for museums. 

We're helping our museum partners help their visitors to make cool projects, share their ideas, and then continue creating and making at home.  You can find out more by checking out (and Liking!) our Pop-Up Maker Space Facebook page, or by going to the newly-started PopupMakerSpace.com Web site (where you can download a free animation activity to make at home.)




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Off to Columbus for ASTC 2012

The annual gathering of the international science center clans is coming up in Columbus, Ohio for the ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) conference.

I'm happy to be attending the conference and presenting on one of my favorite topics: Prototyping!  

If you're in Columbus for the ASTC Conference, be sure to mark your calendar for Sunday the 14th starting at 2:15 p.m. in Rooms C123-125 of the Convention Center.  I'll be part of a rollicking session entitled:

Do You Want to Touch Me There?

From the conference program:   “Prototype” is a slippery term, but the “down and dirty” physical nature of both the prototyping process and products are essential.  Join an eclectic group of passionate exhibit makers for this showcase to examine hands-on prototype examples followed by a group discussion of practical ways for creating good prototyping experiences."

C'mon,  it's worth going to this just for the Session Title alone!

My session "show and tell" will focus on both the low-tech (Be an Office Supply Ninja!) and high-tech (Using physical computing interfaces like MaKey MaKey) aspects of exhibit prototyping.


I'll also be kicking off a cool new "Pop-up Maker Space" project in Columbus with Brad Larson of Brad Larson Media and Jim Polk of Canstruct.  We'll be showing off some fun new ways that your museum can tap into the Maker and DIY movements sweeping the planet.   (Sneak peak in the photo at the top of this post!) Your visitors will make cool projects, share their ideas, and continue creating at home with our Pop-up Maker Space exhibits and materials!  Come visit Booth 812 in the ASTC Exhibit Hall for more info and a free project to play with at home.


Last but not least, I'll be doing my best to post conference updates via Twitter (@museum_exhibits) and a conference wrap-up when I get back home.  So stay tuned!




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Design Inspiration: Project RE_

"Using familiar things in unfamiliar ways" is one wonderful definition of creativity.

Project RE_ is a great place to get ideas that play with the notions of upcycling (increasing the value of broken or unused objects by giving them new functions or forms) and creative reuse.

Project RE_ was started by Samuel Nelson Bernier,  an industrial designer from Quebec as a university research project.

There are some really novel DIY ideas on the  Project RE_ site, and each idea features a materials list and instructions for you to make your own "upcyclables"!

So look through your junk drawer or attic and head over to Project RE_ to get inspired to start your own project!


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A suggestion for the MacArthur Foundation: Give Arthur Ganson a "Genius Grant"

The MacArthur Foundation just announced the class of 2011 for the "genius grants." And while I sincerely congratulate this year's winners, for the past several years I keep noticing that there is a name missing from the list of awardees.

That would be the artist and creator of kinetic sculptures, Arthur Ganson.

If anyone has "shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction" to quote the grant standards, it is Arthur Ganson.  To further quote from the MacArthur website: "There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work."  Again an apt description of Arthur and his work.

Rather than speak in greater detail for Arthur or his work,  I'll just direct you to his excellent website, and the wonderful video from the TED Conference embedded at the top of this post.

Creative work is often un(der)appreciated work, and while many wonderful artists, craftspeople, and facile thinkers will never receive the recognition they deserve, I hope that Arthur Ganson soon becomes part of the cadre of MacArthur award winners.



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Ponoko + Google SketchUp = Your Personal Design Factory!

The fine folks at Ponoko (the company that creates real stuff from your digital designs) have a contest going with the equally fine folks from Google SketchUp.

The aim of the contest is to create "how-tos" or "Instructables" that show how you can use your Google SketchUp designs to create real stuff using Ponoko's tools.  (Ponoko basically lets you run your own personal factory to fabricate your digital designs into a variety of physical materials and finishes.)

You can find out more about the contest here.  But hurry! The entry deadline is December 17th.

Even if you don't enter the contest, it is worthwhile for any museum maker or designer to check out both Ponoko and Google SketchUp.

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