Creative Making in Libraries and

Museums

An iSchool Institute Symposium SeriesJuly 22-23, 2013

Stephen Abram, MLSStephen.abram@gmail.comwww.stephenslighthouse.com

Welcome

Welcome Washrooms WiFi Lunch Starbucks No-host dinner tonight Tomorrow

The Philosophy

What is creative making? Critical making?

What are the academic underpinnings of making, critical thinking?

How does this relate to libraries, learning, research, museums, and cultural institutions?

What’s happening today? And, what can we vision and imagine

for the future? How do we do this? Where can we

start?

The Agenda for Monday Introduction Critical making R&D at the iSchool’s

Semaphore Lab Lunch & Tour of the Critical Making Lab &

Semaphore Chattanooga Public Library Learning with Lego® LibraryBox Fayetteville Free Library Dinner conversation

The Agenda for Tuesday

Coffee & Muffins Smithsonian Institution Critical Making

Program Practitioners Panel:

MakerKids Natural History Museum of Los

Angeles County University of Nevada (Reno)

Brainstorming and Idea Share – Taking it home!

Define terms:

Maker Movement: what happens when the limits of cost and complexity are removed from imagination.

Makerspace: an area devoted to the development of ideas by giving users access to technology, equipment and an engaged community.

Maker: anyone who makes something.

Making

The broadest definition through example: Cooking, gardens, hobbies Crafts for all ages Making games, virtual creations Writing labs, short story contests, poetry

slams Genealogy charts … Music Video, film, documentaries… 3D printing, scanning Arduino and robotics Simple Lego® Gaming Photography and local history

What is critical making?

Tentative working definition: “We can't fully understand our technologies,

and bring a critical understanding to them, simply by reading or talking about them. We need to, you know, make stuff.” Matt Ratto

“Open design can be employed to develop a critical perspective on the current institutions, practices and norms of society, and to reconnect materiality and morality. Matt Ratto introduces ‘critical making’ as processes of material and conceptual exploration and creation of novel understandings by the makers themselves, and he illustrates these processes with examples from teaching and research.”

What is critical thinking?

“Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.”

http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/our-concept-of-critical-thinking/411

What is creative thinking?

A way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions (which may look unsettling at first). Creative thinking can be stimulated both by an unstructured process such as brainstorming, and by a structured process such as lateral thinking.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/creative-thinking.html#ixzz2ZbaI9BaK

What is creative thinking?

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created (such as an idea, a joke, a literary work, a painting or musical composition, a solution, an invention etc.). It is also the qualitative impetus behind any given act of creation, and it is generally perceived to be associated with intelligence and cognition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity

How does making impact libraries and museums?

Making is the creation of cultural objects.

Making is an experience and libraries and museums have a key focus on the user experience.

Think: what is an experience? Transformational versus Transactional

experiences

Experience Life UX – User Experience Design Play – Learning through play Plays, theatre, movies, music, concerts,

comedy, … Experiential Learning Programs Education versus Learning Curating / curation . . . Experience Applied and theoretical Experimental or regimented

Pre-Creative?

ResearchSupport

InspirationLearning

CreativeSpaces?

PlayLearningMaking

Performing

Post-Creative?

OrganizeStore

ExhibitSensemaking

Are libraries and museums…

Libraries…

Critical Question: What is the information content of

a physical object (or it’s digital surrogate)?

Rethinking access, searching, indexing and storage systems for non-textual creations: 3D, visuals, music, audio, gaming, learning object, DNA, chemical compounds, MRIs, …

What are the implications for intellectual property and ownership?

Museums …

Critical question: What are the opportunities in new

technologies for the museum experience, research, curatorial sensemaking . . .?

Rethinking the hands-on experience… and preservation and conservation.

What are the implications for intellectual property and ownership?

Ooohs and Ahhhs

Printing an entire house Printing skin grafts Printing bone and skull

plates Printing guns Printing car parts (Jay Leno) Printing original art Printing historic objects Printing food Printing jewelry

Prototyping and distributed manufacturing with applications in architecture, construction (AEC), industrial design, automotive, aerospace, military, engineering, civil engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech (human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education, geographic information systems, food, and many other fields.

Professional applications (3D)

Rapid prototyping Rapid manufacturing Mass customization (solo copies) Mass production Domestic and hobbyist uses Mass distribution

Simple and Easy Scaffolding

LEGO® and duplo® and Mega Bloks®

Scaffolding

Pre-school, Elementary, Middle School, High School

Competitions, Communities, Hackers Mega Bloks large-size, primary colour – macro-motor skills Duplo – medium-size – motor skill and manipulation development LEGO – fine motor skill development, colour awareness, creativity LEGO Kits – instruction sets, reading, levels of complexity LEGO Mindstorms (LEGO Robotics) +software LEGO Software- e.g. LEGO Digital Designer (CAD/CAM), Mindstorms software (bluetooth), plus non-Lego free software like

BlockCAD, LDdraw, LeoCAD … LEGO Hackers – LegoBOT 3D printing (pictured)

Teaching with LEGO

LEGO Mindstorms®

LEGO® a place to start

3D Photo Booth at the CNE

http://hiconsumption.com/2012/11/3d-figure-printing-photo-booth-in-japan/

James Bond’s Skyfall Car

http://www.slashgear.com/james-bond-skyfall-crew-turned-to-3d-printers-for-aston-martin-db5-stunt-double-12256594/

Filigree Skull

http://makezine.com/craft/3d-printed-filigree-skull/

Portrait Sculpture

http://blog.ponoko.com/2012/04/19/3d-printing-as-an-art-form/

Prosthetics

http://gizmodo.com/5993147/how-3d-printing-gave-this-man-his-life-and-face-back

Clothing

3D Home Printing in one day

http://www.dezeen.com/2013/02/13/protohouse-2-3d-printed-house-by-softkill-design/

Prototyping

Manufacturing

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/3d-weapons/

Play & Learning

http://southweb.org/lifewise/fabrication-power-to-the-people-why-no-government-can-stop-the-3d-printing-revolution/

Preservation and Study

http://www.geekosystem.com/staples-3d-printing/

Theatre

http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/04/23/mbtv-s02e08-scenic-design/

Bio-printing

http://on3dprinting.com/2012/07/06/infographic-go-on-print-a-liver-the-evolution-of-bio-3d-printing/

Medical

Making for Libraries

Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Little Bits LibraryBox Publishing, Art, Music Infographics Video & Podcasts Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo,

RocketHub, etc.) Your imagination

As simple as a can of paint and a green wall

And don’t forget whiteboard paint

too

What does it look like?

Maker Faires HackFests Play Tinker Make (Westport PL) FabLabs Maker in Residence Library as Publisher (Douglas County) Inventors, patenters, models Look What I Made Art Shows, flower arranging, cook-offs

Questions . . .

Some resources

Maker Librarian: http://www.makerlibrarian.com/ (on hiatus) Westport PL PPT: http://

www.slideshare.net/ALATechSource/makerspaces-a-new-wave-of-library-service-the-westport-ct-public-library

ENGAGE

Enjoy the Symposium

Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAConsultant, Dysart & Jones/Lighthouse Partners

Cel: 416-669-4855stephen.abram@gmail.comStephen’s Lighthouse Blog

http://stephenslighthouse.comFacebook, Pinterest, Tumblr: Stephen Abram

LinkedIn: Stephen AbramTwitter: @sabram

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