Month: November 2015

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Design Education Innovation Maker Milwaukee Reading Technology

Latest Read: Makers

Makers by Cory Doctorow is the fiction book about the Maker movement. Doctorow writes about two makers Perry and Lester who invent seashell robots that make toast or modified Elmo dolls that can drive a cars.
Makers by Cory DoctorowThe companies of Kodak and Duracell closed and their product inventories are absorbed by venture capitalists with a noted blogger along side writing the story of their new company.

The story goes kinda weird when Perry and Lester begin building interactive rides in abandoned Walmarts in the New World world.

But as they find success they suddenly find themselves on the defensive as a Disney executive plans an aggressive attack on the interactive rides by convincing police that Perry and Lester are actually using 3D printers manufacture AK-47s assault rifles. Kinda went off the deep end for me.

As much as I generally dislike fiction this is a title that is focusing on the Maker movement and I really wanted to see a creative story about the promise and implementation of makers shifting the economy in small steps from their home garage or workshop. My interest regarding digital fabrication machines including CNC milling.

If you are looking for a better understanding of the Maker movement in general I would strongly suggest Chris Anderson’s book Maker The New Industrial Revolution as the best and most inspirational text to see how Makers are shaping the world around you.

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Design Education Innovation Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest Read: Making Makers

Making Makers is a wonderful book for parents and educators who are interested about how to guide their children to become “makers” to improve their live and chase their dreams and childhood curiosity.

Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of InnovationBy reading stories of noted inventors and creators you learn how important it is for children to become makers as the world is changing rapidly with advanced, personal, affordable technologies and why it is crucial to encourage today’s youth to be makers.

Lifelong creativity is a learned skill. The role of online learning communities today including eduX and Coursera have helped develop and establish tools to foster interests in topics explored in childhood. I believe this is a book every parent of a child should be reading today regardless of their age.

The role Makers will play in the immediate future are already being established. Again this is an opportunity for parents and educators to give their children a step up in developing new skills not only for school but also for their interests and developing new talents with friends or groups.

Maybe the most important aspect of the book is really all about how a parent can identify and foster the Maker inside their child. For many parents who have also become part of the content mindset and may have lost their way to reviving their own Maker experiences from childhood this serves as a guide to help further their own personal growth and redevelopment of their interests.

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Design Education Innovation Reading

Latest read: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman summarizes research that covers three phases of his career: cognitive biases, prospect theory and happiness. This is certainly a deep dive touching research subjects including regression to the mean. Yes, it is a very rewarding statistical dive. I find this to be one of the more important books that I have read since college.
Thinking, Fast and SlowIn addition, I find this book so applicable to not only professional fields but more importantly to our personal lives.

Very impressed how Kahneman even places the benefits of of this research into PowerPoint presentations. This was a very revealing look at how we present by carefully placing words onto a given slide and how you tell your story.

I also greatly enjoyed his references to several books that I have also read, realizing I am somewhat on track to deeper understanding his teaching how our brains are acting as the book title suggests within our daily lives. This applies at home, at work and at school. We humans are a strange beast. Kahneman is certainly revealing how we are wired to think. More often however, we fail to apply seemingly common logic to easy questions.

This book is certainly filled with examples of how easy we all can misinterpret personal scenarios of logic simply based upon human emotion and conditioning.

While short in review this is simply a book everyone should be reading to gain a fuller understanding of approaching critical thinking.

Talks at Google | Thinking, Fast and Slow | Daniel Kahneman
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Design Education Globalization Innovation Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Maker Faire Saturday

littleBitsOur Saturday in Milwaukee included trips across town to maker faire events in both Brookfield and Mayfair. My son enjoyed making littleBits at Brookfield. However no Milwaukee area store held a Raspberry Pi meetup.

I was pleased to see much more products were in place at Brookfield across four spaces on both their first and second floor. Mayfair’s workspaces were on their second floor. Greenfield is a ground floor facility.

Categories
Design Education Globalization Innovation Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Maker Faire Friday night

Tonight was the Barnes and Noble Maker Faire kickoff. Three Milwaukee area stores are participating and we visited Greenfield. We are looking forward to Saturday’s Raspberry Pi meetup. My son did not hold back explaining littleBits to three adults.A maker in the making