Sketching in Hardware Day 2: Leah Buechley

5 Memos

(citing Calvino's 6 memos)

openness

• trying to make a new medium accessible to kids, and other novices


• and using something pre-existing (Arduino) to save herself unnecessary time and labor

engagement

• Weiser envisioned technology disappeared into the background of a physical world


• But that misses the vision of a provocative, engaging technology - technology that asserts itself as a subject for discussion - that brings emotions like delight, flirtation, that take on active roles in social lives (workshop on touch-based sensing that gave teenagers an excuse to flirt)


• Or engagement as flow

• not a big part of engineering schools


• color, shape, scale


• why are some things ugly? aesthetics is not just the box, and yet the tools for board design don't really allow for personal aesthetics

• playing with non-traditional materials


• using conductive paint on canvas with magnetic arduinos to make a literal (fantastic and compelling!) sketchbook of electronics

• bringing more different people into technology design

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