This Wednesday was our second 3D printing workshop and it really left me wanting more! That’s not to say that the workshop was insufficient, but that it did it’s job of making me realize how possible and realistic it is for me to create and print 3D models. For her second workshop, Michelle introduced the open source program Inkscape (“drawing” software comparable to Adobe Illustrator). In Inkscape, users can change black and white images/objects into vector images that can then be imported into Tinkercad and manipulated. The same thing can be done with text as well. I got another look at the maker movement in some of my readings this week. I read two papers by the Deloitte Center for the Edge, A Movement In The Making and Impact of the Maker Movement. The two papers, particularly the latter, explore the economic and cultural impact makerspaces and the maker movement are having and will continue to have in the future. I am somewhat familiar with the ways the movement is manifesting itself in the education world (i.e. this whole grant project) and had heard it tossed around that the movement is predicted to revitalize the manufacturing industry in the country. But I had never really heard it put into such precise and optimistic (is that the right word?) terms. One of the points I found interesting in A Movement In The Making was Dale Dougherty’s breakdown of makers into three categories: 1) zero to maker, 2) maker to maker, and 3) maker to market. These seem to capture the different aspects of the movement pretty well. Zero to maker (the level at which I proudly know I am most rooted in) is those who are just learning and/or putting their skills to use. This category quite nicely captures the idea that everyone is a maker, that the access to ideas and technology are putting making back in peoples’ hands. The maker to maker aspect captures the sense of community, sharing, and building on others’ ideas that is so vital to the maker world. And clearly maker to market reflects the economic impact of the market. Possibly my favorite line or concept from both articles was the seemingly contradictory idea that our digital technologies are, paradoxically, leading us back to the physical realm. “Physical ‘making’ is the new frontier,” the authors say. When so many lament the “end of society” because of the machines, it is refreshing to think of the potential renaissance that all of these machines could be leading to. While I often wondered whether the authors were a bit idealistic or self-serving in their predictions about the impact the maker movement has/will have, I am also hopeful that they are mostly right. Their ideas clearly strike a chord with me and how I would like to see the world continue to evolve in the future. | “The same forces that are democratizing information— improved cost-performance of technology driving digitization and connectivity— are also lowering the cost to produce physical objects.” --A Movement In The Making, Deloitte Center For The Edge |
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So, as it is with the laws of the universe, a Blackboard malfunction coincided with our first workshop on 3D printing this week. However, I don’t think this really slowed down the pace of the workshop. In fact, it may have actually helped in some ways, since Michelle was able to record a tutorial introducing us (I consider myself a participant) to some basic 3D modeling tools without the interruption of other technical difficulties.
One of the most notable revelations I’ve had thus far working with the makerspace team is the value of open source software. As a young, naive undergrad and even during my professional duties as a writer/page designer at a small newspaper, I was often snobbish about having to use such open source software as Open Office - it didn’t work the way I WANTED it to. I was spoiled and, having never really incurred the costs for such software, blissfully ignorant of how prohibitive those costs are. The wonderful thing about Michelle’s workshop this week was that all of the tools she used (with the exception of the printer itself) were free. The development of web applications has really enhanced access to these tools and allows people to harness their experimental and creative powers much more easily. I cannot imagine having to pay for proprietary software in order to tinker with (pardon the pun!) Tinkercad, the application we used for 3D modeling. The availability of such programs really fits well with the maker mindset of sharing and collaboration and greatly increases one’s ability to try new things. Within 30 seconds, and at no cost, I was ready to start basic 3D modeling, or to modify the free downloadable models available at Thingiverse. I can go home and share this with my sister, or send her the link and let her try it on her own. I am not prohibited by the fear of paying for a program that I will never use, and in this case, I’m not even slowed down by the need to download the program. The workshop itself was a great introduction to Tinkercad, which is surprisingly easy and intuitive to use. I am looking forward to next week and to hopefully making some neat additions to our poster for ALISE (fingers crossed)!
This week, Beth proposed that Michelle and I consider attending the ALISE and/or mid-winter ALA conferences in Chicago in January, with the goal of presenting a poster at one or the other. After some research, we realized that ALISE hosts a Works In Progress poster session during their annual conference. This is especially exciting for me, because it presents a number of great opportunities (not to sound self-centered or anything). One, it gives me the opportunity to attend some of my first conferences as a soon-to-be professional librarian. It also gives me the opportunity to visit Chicago, somewhere I’ve never been and a city that holds some special significance to my family (my grandmother’s sister lived there for most of her adult life). Finally, it gives me the chance to come up with a really great deliverable for the practicum/independent study portion of my role with the team.
I am also quite excited about the possibility to present a poster on such an interesting and relatively innovative topic and something that I am so interested in sharing. The Mobile Makerspace project is remarkably in line with the “Re-imagining LIS Education” portion of the poster session theme. Below is our abstract/poster description that will hopefully land us a spot at the ALISE conference. Here’s hoping! LIS Education - Making Makers In the past few years, there has been a shift in thinking that libraries have a responsibility as spaces for creation. With that in mind, it is important to prepare and familiarize librarians-in-making with makerspaces. The Mobile Makerspace Team at the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s Jackson Library received a Library Services and Technology (LSTA) grant from the North Carolina State Library for the 2014 - 2015 year. The grant furthers the team’s goal of educating LIS students and others about the world of makers and makerspaces with the message that EVERYONE IS A MAKER. As two LIS students working on this grant project, we have helped spearhead this project for our classmates and colleagues. Our resources include a 3D printer, Arduino kits, a laptop with open source software, and a mobile cart to hold them all - comprising the Mobile Makerspace. Our poster will include discussion on our involvement in the initiative, what we have accomplished so far, such as workshops and assessment creation, what we have learned and what comes next. The poster will bring the products and results of our venture to the conference with a three-dimensional twist and will include LED lights and sample 3D modeling projects. Preliminary assessment results will also be available to explore the impact our workshop sessions may have had on participants’ perceptions of their “maker” abilities. This week we met with Bob Anemone, chair of UNCG’s Anthropology Department. One of the goals of the LSTA grant is to reach out to academic departments on campus and show them how 3D modeling/printing and circuit technology can be incorporated into their curriculum. This was not much of a leap for the Anthropology department. In fact, the department (or Bob, actually) has a 3D scanner which it already uses to create 3D images of various artifacts.
We particularly got a close-up look at several mammalian teeth and jawbones Bob and his students found during recent digs. His undergraduate assistant, Ashley, explained to us that patterns on the teeth could indicate everything from the animal’s diet down to its species. It’s her job to scan the teeth and jawbones and other objects using the scanner, a process that even at its fastest takes several hours. The scans can be saved as any number of image file types, including PDFs, which can then be manipulated on several dimensions. The obvious value of 3D printing in that environment is to create scaled replicas of artifacts, like teeth, that can be increased in size, measured, handled by students, or sent to colleagues. In fact, Bob said, there is a certain amount of sharing among colleagues of 3D scans. In some aspects, it increases access to physical items in ways that molds and casts may not. This was one area of particular interest to him, the accuracy of such replicas. A potential research project would be to compare the accuracy and precision of different replicas (casts, 3D prints, 3D images) to the original by comparing measurements. This was an application, Bob said, where 3D technology may (dare I say it) surpass even the purity of the physical object, the ability for much more precise measurements of hard-to-measure surfaces. I probably showed my ignorance, or idealism, when I asked whether 3D technology was incorporated into the Anthropology curriculum AT ALL. The answer, I’m told, is no. While Bob and his undergraduate assistants are becoming versed in the possibilities, the department itself has no formal or informal education on the subject. In a previous job as a newspaper reporter, I was accustomed to being at least 10 years behind such current trends, but I was definitely surprised that even in a field where there is such a direct application, the transition is relatively slow. I can see both positive and negative aspects to this. While it’s a little disappointing that these awesome tools are not being totally taken advantage of (and yes, I understand budgetary and bureaucratic restraints), it’s also pretty neat to realize just what a positive force something like the Mobile Makerspace can be in educating others about what’s available.
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