Prototyping Environmental Devices
Yesterday we ran a workshop at Barcelona Maker Faire to explore how people could capture and communicate environmental data. These types of workshops are a great learning experience for us as we work with different groups (the Maker Faire attracts a lot of families) and help us to share methods that anyone can use to act on the things that matter to them.
We framed the workshop in terms of how we might tell stories about the things we cared about in our environment. What would we need to discover to tell those stories? What might help us? How can those stories make things happen?
This kind of workshop is an interesting challenge: if the best solution isn’t data or technology then we’re keen to support whatever approach is most suitable; but we also want to be ready to handle data or technology directions that the workshop might go in. We’re currently working on better ways to achieve this and today’s workshop really helped us to develop this further.
Technology can be a great enabler and it often makes sense to approach things with the technology first so that people can see some possibilities they may not have considered. But at the same time those possibilities can narrow people’s focus early on. Getting the balance right is essential.
When technology solutions do make sense the next issue is always how to get from simple paper prototypes and models into prototypes that include some sort of technology. Again this is something we’re working on but some interesting lessons from yesterday included seeing real benefit in including inactive electronic components such as cables, or even adding in some basic, switched off, devices such as micro:bits to get people thinking about the real thing.
Finally, it’s pretty clear that what happens after a workshop is important. It was great to be at the Maker Faire with lots of people who had the skills to take simple prototypes to the next stage, but finding collaborative routes to implementation seems to be both tricky and necessary if people’s ideas and interests can really make a positive impact.
