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what a difference 119,600 hours makes...

"unencumbered by the thought process"

I have to admit that I like to develop obscure titles for my blog. I arrived at this month's title because I love to refer back to Malcolm Gladwell’s idea of the 10,000 rule from his 2011 book Outliers, which has been rightfully dissected/dispelled in many ways.

For me the 119,600 hours represent the 20 years since graduating from MIT on Friday, at the June 4th ceremony in Killian Court. The Commencement Address was given by Tom Magliozzi '58 and Ray Magliozzi '73. Tom passed away on 170314 from Alzheimer's disease complications. The transcript of their 1999 commencement address can be found at the MIT News link. Their quote, Tom's favorite quote, "Non Impediti Ratione Cogitationis / unencumbered by the though process" was used on their show Car Talk.

I'll continue this story below as a reminisce about my life in the making 20 years ago and how it relates to the daily process of community capacity building.

 

STEAM Making @ John Harris Campus High School

In summarizing my year long placement at John Harris, I helped to oversee 5 active projects at various states (Project Launch, Deepening Quality, Sustaining into the Future.) Working with some amazing teachers, it has been a great developing capacity through the linking Design & Systems Thinking between the two high school campuses as well as helping conversations bridge between the Middle Schools and High Schools. This is extremely important, as a holistic process is strengthened.

Here is a list of the list of five projects:

A. Project Name: STEAM: Library Makerspace (Mrs. Deborah Brown) BLOG LINK: 190201 - afternoons measured with coffeespoons.

C. Project Name: Arts: A/V Broadcasting Studio Cougar’s Got Talent Show on 9/14/18 (Mr. Johntrae Williams & Mr. Durrell Burns) BLOG LINK: 191005 - the essence of humanity

D. Project Name: Arts / Mathematics: Winter Carnival Scratch & MakeyMakey (Mr. Johntrae Williams & Mr. Durrell Burns) BLOG LINK: 190104 - the elasticity of time... good-bye 2018.

E. Project Name: Arts: Film Production Company - "Don't Quit" film (Mr. Johntrae Williams & Mr. Durrell Burns) BLOGK LINK: 1 BLOG LINK: 181102 - make the day all that it is to be.

 

STEAM Making @ SciTech Campus High School

My yearlong placement at SciTech is summarized by the support of 4 projects. Two of them were repeat projects in transition and the other two were completely new. Within Robotics, we've approached it as a transition year to look at what might be possible post-Bob Steps, who retired in June of 2018 (see 190629 blog article titled, the nuance of life.) It was exciting to see the new Edventures Drone class emerge and allow students to build and program a quadcopter. Lastly, the Podcast Project that George Elo started, has the potential to build journalism skills between both SciTech and John Harris. There is so much potential to connect with middle school students and develop the possibility for student run community news within the District. This will take a Strategic Plan representing all the schools to provide goals and objectives for 21st Century 4Cs skills.

Here is a list of the list of four projects:

A. Project Name: Technology: FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics (SciBots Club) (Mr.s Holly Worful, Mr. Eric Group, Mr. Ken Green) BLOG LINK: 191005 - the essence of humanity

B. Project Name: Technology: Robotics Class (RobotC) (Mr.s Holly Worful) BLOG LINK: 191005 - the essence of humanity

C. Project Name: Engineering: Edventures Drone Class (Mr. Eric Group) BLOG LINK: 190503 - the fixer effect.

D. Project Name: Arts: Student Community Podcast Project (Mr. George Elo) BLOG LINK: 181102 - make the day all that it is to be.

 

STEAM Making in the School Community

CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS (190511S):

This was the third year that I participated in the HSD Celebration of the Arts. As in other years, the robotics and 3D printers were asked to join in the celebration again this year. Every since I met Bob Steps in 2016, SciTech’s SciBots have been participating in this event because as Bob conveyed to me “the robots draw a crowd and cause excitement.” I would agree and so does 3D printing. Within the District, I am sure there are folks who would say, why do you have robots and printing? How do they connect with Art? We’ll that connects to the previous discussion above, where all of us need to adjust our “inclusion zone” of thinking of how things fit together.

I was grateful to George Elo and Hoang Le, that they were able to pull together a demonstration with A/V Broadcasting Setup with greenscreen and the Podcasting Rig. Hoang also helped to demonstrate the SciBots Robotics. Visitors we able to take control of the robot and try to drive it around a course.

I helped to show people how to run a 3D printer. Several parents inquired about how STEAM/STEM fits into the school curriculum. I also talked a lot about Project Based Learning and had some interest in bringing the SciBots down to Strawberry Square next year.

Overall the day seemed less attended than last year. I know that this was partly due to the nice May weather. The previous years, this was held in mid-March when people needed something to do outside their home.

As with previous years, it is recommended that this event be connected into the daily life of students so they can film and audio record to report back to each school. The District has the resources to pull together A/V Broadcasting, encouraging a club to build this knowledge. This can then connect with the Afro Academic Cultural Technological Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) “Olympics of the Mind.” A Strategic Plan is recommended to draw together all of these celebrations and narratives so they become self produced within the classroom.

 

STEAM Making in the Community

MAKERSHIFT (190504S)

Rob explaining FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics.

This year marked the third year of MakerShift. We had about 30 people flow through the Historic Harrisburg Association building at 3rd and Verbeke Streets. I was grateful to the teachers (Mrs. Worful, Mr. Group and Mr. Elo) and students at SciTech for providing a SciBot Robot. Two students stopped by to help out with demonstrating the SciBots and quad copters. I was also grateful to the teachers (Mrs. Cureton) at John Harris for allowing us to borrow the tri-fold presentation boards that provided an overview of the modules at the CLS SmartLab. All of these elements, combined with the other Elementary and Middle School projects helped to provide a background discussion with people who visited. We met parents, students, and STEM/STEAM Teachers from around Central PA.

One highlight this year was

a connection that I made with the Harrisburg University HUStorm http://www.hustorm.net/ eSports initiative. The Overwatch https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/ Team dropped by at 1P that afternoon and provided insight into eSports. The Overwatch coach, Giuseppe “Joemeister” Gramano, and 3 other players answered some questions in an impromptu interview. They were also gracious to be interview by Basir Vincent, who is a Fellow at Rowland Middle School and runs the STEM Bros Podcast. If you don’t know what Overwatch is or eSports, feel free to check out this 190214 AP article by Jake Seiner, Overwatch esports league expanded and ready for the road. Also feel free to check out the Philly Magazine's 190325 article about the Philadelphia Fusion’s new $50 million eSports stadium, provided by Comcast.

Looking back on this year’s MakerShift, it was a real change. This year was different because it was supported by a new initiative called the Greater Capital Area STEAM Ecosystem. The concept started way back during the first MakerShift, when everyone involved noticed a disconnected network of makers. During the last 3 years of working with the Foundry, I often am asked the question, “what is a maker?” My working definition, as you will have picked up in reading any past blog posts, is that anyone who creates something in digital or in analog form is a maker. From my MIT background, I have to tip my hat to the Media Lab’s Center for Bits & Atoms (CBA.) https://www.media.mit.edu/graduate-program/center-for-bits-and-atoms/ The CBA didn’t exist when I attended MIT, but I saw the inner workings of it through Dean William J. Mitchell (who was Dean of the School of Architecture & Planning from 1992 to 2003, and lived from 441215-120611) At the time that our paths crossed, he was at the forefront of digital and analog thinking of living in a holistic perspective of sustainability and equity.

“ ‘Bill's highly unorthodox approach

to re-thinking and re-framing

daunting societal problems

was the essence of his brilliance,’

director of the Media Lab.

‘It has significantly impacted

my thinking about

how one changes the world

for the better.’ “

- 100612 MIT NEWS, Greg Frost

So the “litmus test” for being a maker… anyone producing something digitally or physically as a good or service, is a maker.

  • Do you create cross-stitch? Well, you’re a maker.

  • Do you work on cars? Well, you’re a maker.

  • Do you play Sims creating houses? Well you are a maker

  • Do you create beats? Well, you’re a maker.

  • Even cleaning, do you clean something? Well, you’re a maker because you are taking something that became dirty or was neglected and remade it new. In that process, value was added.

I think you can get my point. This should be liberating in our human pursue to classify things and experiences in order to understand them. To reiterate, the process of creating something new out of any resources is making, whether it is a good or service.

Ever since my wife and I moved out of Central PA back in 1993 and she took a job in Long Island to be an Office Administrator / Bookkeeper, I saw her as a maker. I didn’t have that terminology at the time, but the way she organized tasks, procedures and looked at finances, were handled with passion and creativity. The 4Cs were at work in her daily life (Communication, Collaboration, Critical-Thinking and Creativity.) As she transitioned into another job she saw that she enjoyed doing accounting and picked up how to handle all things financial and tax related. This was when I was studying architecture and I would joke that our fields were related because, while I focused on counting space and relationships (size / volume of rooms) she handled counting transactions and their relationships. Looking back, I know that both of our minds are handling algorithms to approach solutions.

Sadly, in Central PA, the shift to a diverse “maker culture” is slow. What I mean by that is the origins of the word maker, still continues to trigger visions of “rich white dudes” playing around with microcontrollers (MCU), laser cutters, 3D printers, etc. I am upfront in public talking about how I fit into that "inclusion zone," however, I am not rich. I look for value in technology and purchase when I have the means, saving up to get there. I've written about this topic from my personal experience in attending 3 World Maker Faires in Queens (2016, 2017, 2018.) I know where I have come from and know what I have seen develop in the privilege of where I have traveled. I cannot deny those things. I have to own that.

To any haters out there, I say, let me see your life/work connections and how you are paying it forward for the next generation. I take responsibility in all my work and I've sought to reside in the intersection of technology and society. That goes back to my initial middle/high school interests in music, video games, the Commodore 64, and design. I am extremely grateful for those who took the time to explain, overlooked any hubris, or inability to get it right. These are human traits to recognize in our compassion for others. This reminds me of an important discussion about "us/them" that happens a lot in Harrisburg neighborhoods. This appeared out of nowhere when I watched the 2018 Daniel J. Clark directed documentary, Behind the Curve, which focuses on Flat Earth Theorists on Netflix. I didn't want to watch this film, because I knew that it would really tick me off listening to the interviews. I was wrong. I was drawn in, because the Director provided an editing process that helped people walk through the discussion. It developed compassion because from the perspective of education, I saw how the lack of education and/or the push to “get something” (as in Algebra I or II discussed in this post) isolates people and is detrimental to our society. I’ve talked about how social media doesn't help. It is easy to lambast someone or email something in writing, it is entirely something else to have the soft skills to communicate face to face.

SIDE TRACK:

(Dr. Spiros Michalakis, Physicist, Caltech @ 1:09)

>>"My friend said, 'sometimes the only way to change somebody's mind is to shame them.' And I say, I don't think that is the last resort, ever. This is the same as saying that if a kid doesn't get a particular subject, it's not your fault as their teacher, it is their fault. I do not believe that. It's just that you haven't developed your empathy to see from their point of view where they're getting stuck."

(Lamar Glover, Physicist, Cal State LA @ 1:09) >> "Truthers, flat-Earthers, anti-vaxxers... when we leave people behind, we leave bright minds to MUTATE and STAGNATE. These folks are POTENTIAL SCIENTISTS gone completely wrong. Their natural inquisitiveness and rejection of norms could be beneficial to science if they were more scientifically-literate."

There is a great 15105, BRIGHTmagazine article by Jessica Carew Kraft, which discusses these very issues. She makes a great historical point about the 1980s and computer science, which I remember being pretty gender neutral in the classes that I was taking in middle and high school. Maybe because the technology at the time was so low end and new that an application to any one field had not been codified.

“Unless there are significant interventions,

one could see this world of

tinkerers, hackers, and high-tech artists

remaining in a bubble of privilege

for generations to come.

It’s what happened to the

field of computer science,

which in the 1980s had

relative gender parity,

but has since become

an enclave for upwardly

mobile white males.”

As educators, in any discussions, we must challenge the notion of working in a bubble of privilege, and help students diversify in all of the 4Cs. This is in both hard and soft skills. Having a large “inclusion zone,” a term I borrow from computer networking, is the start. This goes back to my working definition of being a make Kraft spoke with Leah Buechley, who is a designer and former MIT Professor.

“Her scholarship has explored

the rich STEM content

inherent in textile crafts.

‘Knitting, crochet, or yarn

textile crafts are very

algorithmic activities,” she said.

‘There is a pattern that you

follow that involves repetitions

and looping and if-then.

It’s really an engineering

discipline to turn a 1-D thing,

a string, into a 3D thing

which has volume.’ “

Author Kraft concludes her article in saying…

“But our world is still one

of culturally determined

gender and racial divisions,

and those educators who are

working for inclusivity

have to use every available

entry point to get kids interested

and captivated by making.

Like Buechley’s call to

recognize craft as

women’s engineering,

we also need to acknowledge

the maker mindset inherent

in customizing low-rider cars,

fabricating floats for Carnaval,

or mashing up hip-hop audio tracks. [sic]”

So there is a lot to do, and it takes EVERYONE to be involved in the process.

I think that is the problem in today’s era, where we still pit “us vs them” when we speak of jobs. Categorizing certain jobs as better than others or more meaningful as others. I was recently discussing this in a local social media post that passed along a meme that appeared back in March (original Twitter post 19022)

It started a very long discussion about how right the meme was for Harrisburg. I cautioned about the notion of “either/or.” One being better than another. It is another “us/them” scenario. If we only focus on applied (Finance Fundamentals) and have no room for Algebra 2, then what happens with theory and forecasting and planning? Really, what happens when we no longer have an ability to study the unknown. Even complex financial operations look to higher mathematics for solutions.

Even as I write this post, I found out that Sir Ken Robinson tweeted about the topic from a 160925 Medium article, written by Anastasia Basil, “How Algebra Ruins Lives.” It is a great article connecting back to the false idea of Left Brain / Right Brain processing.

“We are not a dysfunctional society

because we lack algebra skills,

we are dysfunctional

because we’ve never been

systematically taught

how to respond to problems

without anger.”

“Here’s an idea:

Since teaching impractical math

takes up a lot of time,

make it elective rather

than mandatory.

You math brains can go for it!

Dive head first into those proofs,

then go to college and

build us a rocket to the moon.”

found that 80 percent of

high school dropouts cited

their inability to pass Algebra I

as the primary reason

for leaving school.”

Let those quotes set in. We need spaces to walk through to unpack, what I believe is trauma from educational experiences. Connecting with the disconnected / disengaged students has been on my mind since I noticed this gap working with Architecture and Education in Philadelphia from 2003-2005. Sadly, the classrooms that I experienced in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Harrisburg, all have similarities, being that not one had a process for connectivity and engagement when those breakdowns occurred. I understand now that this was related to Trauma Informed Classrooms / Communities and Adverse Childhood Experiences..

So to summarize, the more public dialog in these issues the better. Helping students see the relationships between the daily exchange of goods and services can develop their holistic perspective.

Information about the Greater Capital Region STEAM Ecosystem - https://www.makershift.io/ An intro video of the STEAM Ecosystem can be found at Youtube - Greater Capital Region STEAM Ecosystem.

Two Main Goals:

  • Educating the public about STEAM initiatives that champion 21 st Century skills for life and work in local communities throughout the Greater Capital Region through a supportive ecosystem that builds the capacity of nonprofits and; related causes.

  • Establishing a local STEAM infrastructure that improves the regional understanding of STEAM initiatives and programs and how they can be leveraged for the common good of individuals and communities.

 

my life halfway in the making...

So I have been rather sentimental the past month because of this milestone. I was reminded of the time I spend working on my graduate thesis, where I was working at 150%. I couldn't have completed it without my wife's support. The long evenings consisting of falling asleep at the computer drawing 2D and 3D diagrams or scanning/editing hand draw graphics. I also remember the push to print the 175 page document, duplexed on a low-end laser printer that I purchased. Desktop publishing was still in its infancy and so was the internet. You couldn't just send the 40Mb file across the Interwebs to have printed at Staples/OfficeMax/Kinko's. There were no USB ThumbDrives. I would have had to transport the file on an Iomega Zip Drive, which could store up to 100Mb on disk, which might have cost $15. In my mind is was cheaper and provided more control if I purchased a laser printer to run in the middle of the night. That is how I used technology to work for me. It all worked out. I submitted 3 copies of an archival paper printed Thesis Booklet to the school in June as a final requirement for the June 4th graduation.

I must admit that, while the Thesis Booklet was an important component for graduation, the work of any architecture student (Masters or Bachelors) also involved a design component. While I don't recall the exact moment when I defended my Design Thesis, it occurred in the later part of May, when I would be celebrating my 26th birthday. It was tense. I had 15 30"x42" printed posters that represented my design ideas as well as models to show what I had learned in 2 years of study at MIT. My Thesis Advisor was Michael Dennis of MDA, and I have fond memories of the two trips to Dresden Germany to do research on the city for urban infill housing. Which, coincidentally is something I still continue to talk about when discussing the Harrisburg Comprehensive Plan around the neighborhoods. During that hour long presentation, there were multiple students listening in, while Stanford Anderson (1934-2016), Roy Strickland (SMArchS Architecture & Urbanism Advisor and he has a great TEDxEmbryRiddle Talk in 140124), and David Friedman (Professor Emeritus of the History & Theory of Architecture) were observing and ready to challenge my approach. Professor Anderson passed away on 160105, and I cherish the trip that I took on160225 - 160228 for his memorial at MIT. Back in undergrad at NYIT, I remember the profound impact of his book On Streets was in my thinking. I remember Professor Edvin Stromstem talking about Stanford when they were in architecture school at Berkley, CA. I wished I had recorded those discussions. Edvin was an influence on me just like my Building Construction Professor, Michael Berthold (father of Kate McKinnon), was at NYIT. Both of them shared their knowledge of sustainability from a place of the 1960s. Edvin created ProjectGreenhouse in 2007. Michael created his own sustainability project when he built is garage / studio back in 1995. That studio was an impressive change for Mike as it could be a meeting and working place to design additions to Long Island homes. Prior to that I remember the summer days spent drafting in the basement, while his daughters Kate and Emily ran all around the first floor. I miss those summers from '94-'97.

So where does this leave us and why I am sharing? As you are probably already aware of the cliche, life is an incredible journey. Each year I ponder where things will take me. I have done that each year with the Foundry Makerspace. I've watched things evolve from simple projects, to connecting teachers with each other, building Project Based Learning in classrooms, and helping students develop 4Cs skills. I've also met some incredibly gifted students and teachers, who continue to "pay it forward" as our paths cross in community life outside of the classroom. This is what I have enjoyed about the work. The connectivity in the small details. Everyone seems to overlook these things because they seem too small, move too slow, or don't fit into an "inclusion zone."

Here's to a summer where you spend time increasing your own personal "inclusion zone" about some interest, topic, or perspective.

Where have 20 years taken me?

As with all of these leaps in technology, our social organizations are sometimes left behind in the wake, without connections or meanin transcribed to technology. We're given no manual. We're to "figure it out through failure." Actually I love that and don't fear that approach.

Either connections of how to use technologies, or how these technologies affect society in either a positive or negative impact. This involves all of us working together and being in conversation at the local, state, federal and global levels.

I leave you the reader with a good quote from William J. Mitchell's 1995 book, City of Bits. I would have read this 24 or 25 years ago during the summer and the book and Mitchell influenced my interest in MIT. I think in reading this passage, and if you know me, I have probably arrived at a mesh of life/work in this "gig life." It isn't perfect and needs constant attention, but I honestly don't see gaps between what I do for work and what I do outside of work. They are one in the same.

I think Corey Cook and Justin Williams summed it up best when they developed their nonprofit LIFEinPA.org - Living In Fulfilled Excellence in being in LIFE PURPOSE. I would at... "unencumbered by the thought process."

"This sort of analysis reveals only part of the story, though. Efficient delivery of bits to domestic space will, in addition, collapse many of the spatial and temporal separations of activities that we have long taken for granted. many of our everyday tasks and pastimes will cease to attach themselves to particular spots and slots set aside for their performance - workplaces and working hours, theaters and performance times, home and your own time - and will henceforth be multiplexed and overlaid; we will find ourselves able to switch rapidly from one activity to the other while remaining in the same place, so we will end up using the same place in many different ways. It will no longer be straightforward to distinguish between WORK TIME and "FREE TIME" or between the SPACE OF PRODUCTION and the SPACE OF CONSUMPTION. Ambiguous and contested zones will surely emerge." - William J. Mitchell (Chapter 4: Recombinant Architecture, Decomposition / Recombination, p. 100-101)

here's to the 24/7 mashup that is life...

 

The sweetness of summer reading/listening...

Summer Reading List Books:

So this is the last blog entry of my 2018-2019 Senior Fellow experience. It has been an amazing year and I know my posts have traveled through all sorts of subjects. Here are a few that recently appeared on my radar that you might enjoy.

Summer Listening List Podcasts:


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