The LilyPad Arduino: Using Computational Textiles to InvestigateEngagement, Aesthetics, and Diversity in Computer Science Education

Human Computer Interaction studies are becoming increasingly important as technology steadily penetrates our daily lives. We tend to think of technology in terms of either "making tasks easier and faster" or as a "source of entertainment or distraction." While this may "dictate specific themes for the study of interaction," technology is "expanding and democratizing the range of human expression and creativity."

LilyPad in the Wild: How Hardware's Long Tail is Supporting New Engineering and Design Communities

The paper LilyPad in the Wild: How Hardware's Long Tail is Supporting New Engineering and Design Communities written by Leah Buechley and Benjamin Mako Hill looks at the "distribution, adoption, and evolution of" the LilyPad by analyzing how it was adopted by way of statistics from SparkFun Electronics and project documentation. With a focus on the ability of new media to "decentralize" the production and consumption of digital media, technologies like the LilyPad encourage both the DIY ethic and open-source communities that align directly with this decentralization. Buechley and Hill "argue that the LilyPad enables a new and unique engineering community" that is "engaging large numbers of women," in a "design landscape that is strikingly different from that of traditional electronics."

Potential Reads

Some interesting things I'm considering reading to learn more about Arduino:

The LilyPad Arduino: Using Computational Textiles to Investigate Engagement, Aesthetics, and Diversity in Computer Science Education

LilyPad in the Wild: How Hardwareʼs Long Tail is Supporting New Engineering and Design Communities by way of (http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20101001-00)

Breaking Boundaries: Mentoring with Wearable Computing

Why the Arduino Won and Why it's Here to Stay

Getting Started with Arduino (book in hand)

Code (book in hand)

Arduino Cookbook (purchased ebook)

Making Things Talk (ordered)

Craft:Video

Let me know below if you have any other suggestions.

Getting Started with Arduino

It seems proper to be reading Getting Started with Arduino at the forefront of my research. Massimo Banzi provides a concise explanation of the Arduino UNO through a description of the platform, inputs and outputs, and example projects to help guide the beginning tinkerer along. Arduino is intended to facilitate prototyping of interactive design - I can't wait to try some of the basic sketches out on the new board I got this week.



Banzi introduces 'The Arduino Way': a methodology of investigation through tinkering. He shows all the best ways to really mess with what an Arduino can do. The book includes methods from hacking toys to making music via circuit bending to show the potential variety of uses the Arduino has. The more prevalent ideology of 'The Arduino Way' centers around the strong sense of community and collaboration among its members. One of the key ideas he mentions is "Arduino is not for quitters" and while his reference more directly addresses the way the language is structured, it's crucial that any experimenter approach working with an Arduino as a learning experience that takes time. Patience and curiosity are key.

After detailing Arduino set up and basic coding, he explains all the major components any tinkerer may want to use. There are sensors, software, and actuators - which could be compared to input, code, and output. Digital and analog sensors on the board provide data to the software by evaluating the environment while actuators provide feedback based on the data it is given. The most commonly used actuator would appear to be the LED. He provides a more advanced example that uses a data feed from the cloud to influence colors displayed in a lamp. Seeing the more advanced provides inspiration for more interesting projects, beyond turning an LED on and off.

Things to look into:

Dieter Rams
Circuit Bending
Makezine/Craftzine etc
Persistence of Vision

Banzi, Massimo. Getting Started with Arduino. 2nd Edition. Sebastapol: Make:Books, an imprint of Maker Media, 2011.