Political Resistance?

No just electrical. Learn How-to read the color code on resistors thanks to Home X hero Becky. Posted on Makezine.com,

Add comment February 3rd, 2007

I Didnt Do It.

Home X students have made the press once again. This time Home X hunk, and first-responder, Todd Vanderlin has bested the Dept. Of Homeland Security in his ever-vigilant war on terror in Boston. Initial investigations pointed a finger at Todd, Makezine.com and even the beloved GRL. Makers should follow this story as it evolves because it stands to set a precedent for electronics hobbyists, hackers and culture jammers. Especially those who work in public spaces. It’s relevant to our class as it highlights a socially constructed aspect of technology that engineers often disregard: the publics perception of in-situ technology. And public techno-literacy (i.e. can you tell a bomb from a blinkie?). This is a very cool and relevant article on Steve Lambert’s Anti-Advertising Agnecy blog about the interpretation of technology by the mases in public places. Note that the press decided to cover this story with more vigor than the troop surge in Iraq, the presidential race, Joe Biden’s racist comments and the Libby Trial. Yuck right?

More coverage on Boingboing.

Add comment February 3rd, 2007

Home X: Making the World a Better Place

Well, at least google.

On Monday night of last week, while putting together the intro slide-show for class, I discovered that if you put the term “African ingenuity” into google, it would ask, “Did you mean: American ingenuity”. I initially entered the phrase as part of a search for the URL to a dope website, called Afrigadget. I couldn’t remember the URL but I could remember their tagline: “Solving problems with African ingenuity”. Here is a screen-shot from my search on January 22nd:

Complete with “American Ingenuity” sponsored links:

After I showed the slide in class Tuesday night, I emailed the screen-shot to 10 or so of my colleagues on the OpenLab discussion list. 3 hours later it was posted on boingboing.

Google has since removed the evidence that they ever put their punch card in their mouth on this one. Though, on the first page of the search, they do link to blogs that covered the “African Ingenuity” story.

I included the screen-shot in the class presentation on Tuesday mostly because it’s a real dramatic backdrop when you’re talking about the similarities and differences between DIY technologies and motivations in rich and poor countries. Both real and perceived. But, I don’t think google’s suggestion is a form of algorithmic apartheid or even an easter egg left by a racist developer. More likely, it’s a naturally occurring data visualization of our language bias and presumptions regarding Africa and it’s role in technological innovation and ingenuity. Google’s suggestion is a mirror image of our attitude in the rich world toward the poor. Our biased search tendencies indicate that we are at risk of not understanding and even possibly obscuring Africa’s role in the history of technology. What is at risk if we do? For one, we will miss those underlying commonalities and shared lessons that run through the innovative uses of technology across the economic divide (refer to Afrigadget if you have any doubt). And two, we risk misunderstanding our own role in the global history of technology and ignoring the lessons of the twentieth century. One thing is sure: we don’t need computers giving us more bad suggestions. That’s one resource we already have in great supply.

Add comment January 30th, 2007

Pavpertas omnivm artivm repertrix

Welcome to the Disruptive Home Economics class at Parsons New School for Design. To the initiated, the class is called Home X. The goal of this class is to expand our ability to make things at home, whether for entertainment, expression or survival. Home X will take us all through the center and to the fringe of what it means to make-it and do-it-yourself. We will start by making or modifying existing DIY and How-to projects and studying the way other makers solve problems and create documentation. Over the course of the semester, we will get hands-on experience researching, designing, documenting and sharing our own DIY projects. We will take a generalist’s approach and gain experience with a wide range of mechanical, electrical, computational and chemical processes. We will combine novel tools and materials with common ones and build projects for ourselves as well as tools for others. Along the way, we will also look at the way cultural and historical contexts influence the technologies we make and use, as well as the implications of open source production by the masses. Students will be encouraged to release their work as openly and widely as possible and to experiment with traditional and contagious distribution of their projects.

Though this website is primarily here to support registered Home X students, we invite the public at large to take a look at the projects and class material. We would appreciate your participation and feedback.

Anyway, Let’s Roll. D.I.Y till you R.I.P.

Add comment January 28th, 2007