Year: 2011

Civics, Society and Activism

A Senator A Week Keeps the Outlook Less Bleak

| by steph | 1 Comment on A Senator A Week Keeps the Outlook Less Bleak

Hoo boy, we live in “interesting” times.  In thinking about what direction to point the laser beam of my shiny new education, I’ve started to compile mental lists of all the things that are totally, embarrassingly, inexcusably wrong with the city/state/nation/world we live in.  I’ve avoided committing it to paper partly because I don’t want to get overwhelmed.

But I have an idea.  What about building into one’s weekly routine contacting a legislator?  Every week.  There are plenty of issues to be passionate and active about, and this type of exercise could only help one become more literate about the political system.

Has anyone tried something like this?  Do you think being a frequent caller would dilute the efficacy of your message, like when your state senator gets another email from you they’d just put it in the spambucket with a sigh about that one person who writes in every … Read the rest

Continue reading "A Senator A Week Keeps the Outlook Less Bleak"
Geekery, Tech Ed

Keeping you busy this weekend

| by steph | Leave a Comment on Keeping you busy this weekend

If you didn’t have plans this Saturday, now you do. The Hacktory and the Prometheus Radio Project are offering a bilingual (English/Spanish) workshop to build your own radio transmitter, and Azavea is hosting an intro to Python for women and their friends.

At The Hacktory, staff and volunteers from the Prometheus Radio Project will be teaching a workshop on how to build a small radio transmitter that can reach across a room.  It’s an easy way to get music or speech across a short expanse wirelessly and it’s a great intro to basic electronics and soldering.  Here’s an interview that Tek Lado did with the instructors.

If that’s not your bag, you might like to try your hand at basic coding in Python, described as “incredibly intuitive.”  Python tends to be known as a simple but very accurate language that’s great for prototyping because you can build things quickly, … Read the rest

Continue reading "Keeping you busy this weekend"
Uncategorized

Time management, or murdering your darlings

| by steph | 1 Comment on Time management, or murdering your darlings

Since I finished my capstone I’ve been kind of relaxing, for some definition of relaxing. I’ve done some sewing, some reading, some travelling, some work on the house, and some light organizing. But I haven’t jumped into any big projects or aggressive job-hunting, so I’ve been feeling a little guilty. I’ve also felt guilty for ignoring this space.

But this isn’t a “I’m sorry I haven’t posted, I’ve been so busy” post. Well, not exclusively. This morning I was feeling ready to tackle one of the projects that is piling up a little and went to the directory on my laptop where I keep notes on projects. It’s super low-tech but it works. I keep a different directory for each year, and another directory for each project, then whatever files are relevant in there, like this:

projects
    2009
    2010
    2011
        UN
        techgirlz
        hacktory
        mastergardener
        ...

So I went to that … Read the rest

Continue reading "Time management, or murdering your darlings"
Tech Culture

Deepest appreciation for all the piscine comestibles

| by steph | Leave a Comment on Deepest appreciation for all the piscine comestibles

Just posted this at Hive76.

Dear Hive76 community,

With appreciation for the last year and a half with great people and projects, as of yesterday, I’ve resigned from Hive76’s Board of Directors. There are some amazing things in the works for the group, and I look forward to watching it grow and helping out from time to time. The organization has grown so much since I first heard about it, and there is a strong core of smart people making it run. I am confident that even more positive changes are on the way for Hive76 and the Philly science/tech community.

Recently, I’ve had a lot of demands placed on my time, and I feel that I can do more for DIY, science education, and technology for social change, from a different context. I’ve picked up some other tech/ed projects around the city (like Random Hacks of Kindness), … Read the rest

Continue reading "Deepest appreciation for all the piscine comestibles"
Uncategorized

Random Hacks of Kindness June 4-5

| by steph | Leave a Comment on Random Hacks of Kindness June 4-5


Do you like hacking? Do you fancy yourself a nice person overall? Are there things about this crazy world that just don’t sit well with you? If getting together with 50 people like you to split into teams and work on techy solutions to real world problems sounds like a blast, you should sign up for Random Hacks of Kindness.

My friend Mike Brennan is organizing Philly’s Random Hacks of Kindness, a one-day hackathon for social good and crisis response tools. Philly is one of only 15-20 cities participating. He’s lined up great facilities and food at Drexel. All you have to do is come and make stuff! Coders and non-coders are welcome. Here are some problem definitions that people have worked on in the past, to give an idea of basically what they’re going for. Participants can draw from a list of projects or come up with a new … Read the rest

Continue reading "Random Hacks of Kindness June 4-5"
Environmental Studies

Capstone done!

| by steph | Leave a Comment on Capstone done!

Update 5/13: Print-ready! Updated the links below.

Update, Fri 5/6:  The beast, she is slain.  Needs tweaks and I’m still fixing references, but it’s a paper.  A very long paper.  My eyes are sore.

(Previously:  Part 1) is as done as it’s going to get tonight, and ready for critique. Have at it, folks! Note that technically it’s not a thesis, it’s a capstone. But when I say that, 85% of the time I get a blank stare.

Part one the whole shebang of “Making A Vicious Cycle Virtuous: Rare Earths as an E-Waste Case Study” in pdf.  Here’s the accompanying poster.… Read the rest

Continue reading "Capstone done!"
Gender and tech

Gender, Technology, and the Desk Job

| by steph | 2 Comments on Gender, Technology, and the Desk Job

I’m inspired by the speakers at Textile Messages earlier tonight, an event about e-textiles organized by Yasmin Kafai at UPenn.  One of the speakers, Leah Buechley, developer of the Lilypad Arduino, is also speaking tomorrow at a UArts/Hive76 event that I wish I could make it to.  The Lilypad took the Arduino idea and put it in a sewable form that gave e-textiles a big kick in the pants.  E-textiles or soft circuits are exciting for a lot a reasons that deserve their own exploration, but suffice it to say that what gets me gesticulating excitedly is the idea of mashing up different audiences with fluency in different technologies.  Putting electronics in crafts/clothing/sewing gives it a new accessibility, and gives it access to new creative thinkers.  By clearing a path for crafters and sewers to start thinking about conductivity and sensors, soft circuits make space for electronics (especially … Read the rest

Continue reading "Gender, Technology, and the Desk Job"
Thesis

Crowdsourcing my thesis: Wanna be a reader?

| by steph | 1 Comment on Crowdsourcing my thesis: Wanna be a reader?

Dear friends, colleagues, strangers and spammers,

Around Monday-ish, I’ll have a 2nd draft of my Capstone project for a Master of Environmental Studies ready for reading. I (mostly) have the readers I need to get a grade, but I’d love to have input from more folks. You are qualified if you can read and if you have any interest at all in technology and/or the earth. One friend has already commented that my writing style is kind of journalistic and that it’s almost an enjoyable read. If you have the time and inkling to read about 45 pages of double-spaced content about e-waste, rare earths, and environmental justice and policy, please comment or email me! My final revisions are due May 3, though I might be able to make minor tweaks up until May 10 or so.

Thanks!… Read the rest

Continue reading "Crowdsourcing my thesis: Wanna be a reader?"
Tech Ed

“Soldering is Easy!” Comic Book

| by steph | 2 Comments on “Soldering is Easy!” Comic Book


There’s a great new comic about how to solder by Mitch Altman, Andie Nordgren and Jeff “Mightyohm” Keyzer . It’s based on a one-pager that Andie and Mitch made last year, and it’s totally cute and informative. It’s a fantastic example of friendly tech ed, and it’s shareable under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license.* Apparently the comic will be part of a book on microcontrollers for beginners that Mitch and Jeff are publishing through No Starch Press later this year.

Here’s the pdf, and check out Jeff’s site for copies in other formats and languages, and even a no-text version if you want to make your own translation.

* Thanks to Asheesh for his characteristically astute request for clarity on the type of CC licence.  Jeff says that folks “are free to teach with it, color it, modify it, share it with your friends, translate it, and … Read the rest

Continue reading "“Soldering is Easy!” Comic Book"
Making stuff

New word: Make-cation

| by steph | Leave a Comment on New word: Make-cation

With compliments to–and on the urging of–new friend and awesome electrical engineer/artist Sophi Kravitz, I give you my new word:

Make-cation – 1.  Time off to make stuff.  2.  The stuff you do when you’re procrastinating to avoid the other stuff you’re doing.

Usage: 1.  “Argh, I’m working so much lately that I don’t have time to do anything creative.  I need a make-cation!”  2.  “I’m taking a quick make-cation from writing my thesis to whip up a batch of milk paint.”

Example: When you take a week off for carpentry, cabinetry, or welding classes at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont, that’s a make-cation.… Read the rest

Continue reading "New word: Make-cation"