So far we have seen the following:
- How humans have been makers all the way
- How making is the in thing now with technology and how technology itself works.
- We saw why modern way of organized large scale mass manufacturing leaves a whole bunch of population deprived of the benefit of technology because of economics.
- With a guest lecture we saw how the city we live in is driven top-down of what and how a city should develop, not concerning the citizens’ opinions itself but that of corporates and non-native glamorous ideas – big money!
- We have also began in a workshop making things for a change – the mainstay of this course.
- Now, over the time we have also collected problems we face first hand in small hand written notes.
Assignment #1 (CA1) is almost over and i am correcting the submissions. Stupid me i asked the poor students to write 2.5k words each on the topic of how technology plays a role in A) World politics B) Nature C) Rich/poor economic divide D) Gender divisions and E) In our intimate personal lives. Many did a fabulous job, and its a real pleasure to read from the fresh young passionate minds here. I guess these kids should be the teachers and we the old ones should learn to be their students and followers!
Given all this recap, where to now? OK what we will head to is here:
- Some electronics basics with a little theory and then some burning stuff.
- Some modern making tools like 3d printers
- And projects
But before we go to the above it will be important to discuss the boring subject of documentation. I know this is really not my thing, i do it sometimes, but most of the times its in my head and if i happen to have an accident or something and am alive after that but minus the memories – all is gone. Not that there’s much worthwhile in there but a lot of journeys were the bricks of mistakes and failures could make a solid pyramid.
Why we document? A boring question, but if we really ask this and ponder on it its worthwhile. Documentation is an act of casting memory, thoughts and experiences into something that will last longer. Why do we wish to make something last? A typical Society and Science type open-ended question this one. Would be interesting to get student’s views and discussions on this. A simple answer from my simple mind is – so that we may not repeat it, again! How we run away from repetitions in this case is very interesting in contrast to how we run towards repetition when it comes to rituals and traditions. So a little more poking can reveal a better answer – so that we can avoid the cognitive burden of repeating mistakes. Now rituals and traditions fall into place as there are no mistakes there, just the apparently proven, ages old techniques to hang on to for safety.
Often one encounters the notion that its stupid to reinvent the wheel. So very common, i have been at the receiving end of it numerous times. Although documentation can help prevent reinventing the wheel kind of situations, its nevertheless should not be made an excuse. Reinventing the wheel is essential for learning – artists begin by mimicking the work of masters, artisans and apprentices do the same. So do scientists and engineers. Its utter crap, this idea of avoiding reinventing the wheel. It is a must despite knowing that mistakes have been documented. But facing the mistakes first hand gives a huge dimension to our experiences – the expectation of an outcome totally falling on its face and the emotional commotion at that moment, not knowing what went wrong and what to do next. This going through the fire of mistakes (literally firey moments for many makers), catapults oneself to a significant experiential height. Coming back to documentation, reading past documentation on one hand and dealing with the humiliating defeat in front of nature makes a wonderful revelation often. It is then that the documentation of the past fits right into the cavity of the moment, the mind red hot prepared and all. So this way first hand experience and learning from n-th hand sources go hand in hand.
However, not always the experiements we do is exactly repeatable like the ones described in words of the past. The past works only can give a gist, the remaining must form an unfathomable experience only to be retained and lost forever after life’s down. Every maker makes new experiences, even if the experiment and work is the same. And there can be so many variations in the experience that if everyone chooses to write down and document, still its all worth it. This documentation of 1st hand info is one of the most valuable thing that differentiates us from the animals. In our short lifespans, its equivalent to living 1000s of years, just because we could read and contemplate a little of the documentations of the past. And thanks to this beautiful property of nature – repeatabilty, we can build from where others have left off, or even choose to go back and build from an 100 year old version!
Another advantage of documentation is for self-reference, within a lifetime. We’ll be doing many things, and will be forgetting many things. But somethings if we document, we take the pains to sit and write, kind of parking the ideas somewhere to be referred to in future, we that isn’t a bad thing is it? Often when i am asked about my projects, i point them to this site and makes my and the asker‘s job easier. I write here to clear my mind before class and also so that i could look back and see if i made sense. Sometimes some students may use some of this shit for some referencing or pointing out how dumb that teacher was 😉
In short, we should begin somewhere, so that’ll be the task tomorrow. To make a blog and post photos and videos of our projects and works and assignments for posterity.