Labyrinten in Austin

Natuurlijk legden we een labyrint tijdens het bezoek van Jeanne Lendfers aan Austin. Ze heeft een reizend labyrint in Nederland, dat helaas niet in het vliegtuig paste. Voor een wandeling over het levenspad bezochten we het labyrint in Butler park.

labyrint Butler park

Ook legden we zelf een oer-versie met stenen op de bedding van de ‘Barton creek’ in Austin’s greenbelt. Een labyrint verrijkt echt een plek. Het leggen en het lopen nodigt uit tot aandachtig de plek beleven. En iedere keer dat ik het inmiddels vertrouwde pad loop is het anders.

labyrint stenen deel 1

labyrint stenen deel 2labyrint stenen deel 4 labyrint stenen deel 4barton creek

Renegade craft fair at SXSW 2014

Keep Austin weird, buy local from independent stores. Thats the city slogan.

Renegade craft fair SXSW 2014 edition showcased not only Austin independent crafts people, but creators from all over America.

Renegade craft fair SXSW 2014 edition

Public Renegade craft fair SXSW 2014

The artisans showcased their latest work to the public. These are the interesting pieces that I found.

Nous savons SXSW craft

NousSavons.com

 

Totallyblown.us

Totallyblown.us

 

The Gold Bug

The Gold Bug

 

Field Day

Field Day

 

Raw Paw

Raw Paw creative platform

 

GOOD Magazine

GOOD Magazine

 

There is more in Austin than SXSW 2014

‘No need for stinkin’ badges!’ Restaurants advertise their free live music, free food and free beer during the biggest and well known program SXSW Music 2014 in Austin. And they should, since we are in the live music capital of the world, as the Austinites claim.

I wondered whether there would be some interesting and unusual side programs during SXSW. A fun project from a store to attract new customers or a temporary use of a site for example. Most sites turned themselves into music festivals and that’s what it’s all about right now.

6th Street has lots of bars and restaurants who create their own spin-off festivals with a live music lineup during every day of SXSW Music.

6th street during SXSW

Tunes played by Morgan O’Kane (left) attracted my attention. Especially the song Time (on the album Nine lives) on the banjo, suitcase and bells is very captivating.

An anonymous comic (right) plays air guitar on loud rock music.

off SXSW street artists

Waterloo records is famous for its multiple-day program of good live music during SXSW. They turn their parking lot into a small festival ground. Neighboring shops contribute to the festivities by selling their drinks, food and other products. You can also attend virtually by watching and listening via their live stream.

SXSW waterloo compilation

Hands-on-fun with electronics and 3D printing at SXSW Create 2014

Create-for-Web

It’s my favorite program of SXSW. Inspiring, do-it-yourself, open to the public, awesome and fun! Makers, Hackers and DIYers presented themselves in a big tent (a big thank you for all the people that stood in the cold all weekend!) and let the public play with their products at SXSW Create 2014.

This year presented 3D printing by Tinkerine, nanocopters by Flexbot, robotics by Texas Instruments, soldering lessons by ATX Hackerspace and more. As a media theorist I know how to apply technology, but I can’t build a circuit or program a command. Products and institutions that help me play with electronics and digital technology attracted my attention.

Get ready for some hands-on-fun!

SXSW create LittleBitsLittleBits makes is easy for me to learn and prototype with electronic modules such as motors, lights, sensors etc. The modules are put in beautiful colorful cases and can be snipped together by tiny magnets. This project where a 6 years old made a Dervish paper doll whirl on the speed of sound is a nice example of how to use the kit.

sxsw create Sparkfun

Sparkfun dressed the public in e-textiles made with LilyPad LED’s, conductive thread and sharpies on a nice piece of fabric. It was challenging for those who couldn’t sow and for those who never attached a LED to fabric. I love their webshop for buying components and kit’s and love their workshops even more for learning how to use it!LilyPad Sparkfun

inventables ShapeokoAnother great webshop for designers is Inventables. They presented their newest open source milling machine kit. Put it together yourself, attach a Dremel machine and cut out or carve your design! People lined up for their customized beer opener.

 

A fun project from Left Field Labs is MusicDrop. Participants can compose their tune online, a 3D printer prints a drop shaped music box that fits in the palm of your hand that can play this tune.

Music drop

In order to train outstanding designers they need to know about the basics. At Austin Tinkering school kids can work with real tools and real materials. Basics such as mass, aerodynamics and gravity can be experienced best by …. making your own wooden car! At SXSW Create kids build their own design and when finished building, these prototypes were tested on the best track ever. Parents were eager to ‘help’ their offspring 😉sxsw create Wood

 

 

 

Multi-media lesson tools at SXSW Edu Expo 2014

Multimedia education. Luckily I am in Austin when the big festival South by South West is in town. Besides the famous Music and Film program, it also has an Education program.

SXSW Edu expo 2014SXSW Education Expo 2014 features local and national educational institutes, public school districts, smart student start-ups, with special attention for STEM educational tools. It attracts a diverse group of teachers, businesses, advocates and students. It runs from March 4 till 6.

Today I searched for a tool that would empower teachers to create multimedia, interactive, compelling lessons and share these with their students. A friend of mine teaches at the University of Leiden (Holland) and has a hard time finding an easy to use, yet sufficient lecturing tool for his department. He and his colleagues are in need of an environment where they can easily design their lessons, share them with their students and test the knowledge the students were able to gain from the material offered. I am excited about the following tools for diverse reasons.

Simple tool. Buncee is a simple online creation and presentation tool with a chat feature added as well. The look and feel is more suitable for high school students than for university teachers, but its simplicity is striking. The multimedia multi-slide lessons can be shared with students by sending them a link to the presentation. No account needed.

Buncee

Buncee attracts crowd

Buncee motto

Motto

E-learning environment. Memarden aims to create a safe social network for teachers, students and parents. Multimedia lessons can be created and even sold to its community. Reports about students achievements can be made and shared. The look and feel is less simple and more traditional than Buncee. Memarden offers a rich e-learning environment to its participants.

Memarden

Memarden demo

Another social platform? I wonder if students need another social platform as offered by these services. Both tools offer a social platform to engage students, teachers and even parents. I wonder if these target groups will make the effort to get to know these platforms and use it instead of the platforms already used by schools for their intranet communication, grading and design tools such as Powerpoint and presentation tools such as Youtube. Their simplified editing and presentation feature is interesting though.

Content from experts. Another interesting service I encountered was MIT K12 video’s. Students of this top university come up with topics and together with a film crew turn them into understandable 5 minute video‘s. It’s reliable content and services 1st till 12th grade students. These video’s are a good start of a lesson or an answer to a question.

Question their knowledge. Sapling Learning has made it their business to design questions complementary to almost every standard textbook used in college. I think it is important to question students in order to know if they have implemented the material. Sapling Learning makes it easy for teachers to design (science and economics) homework and analyze the efficiency of their lessons by standardized questions and answers.

Take home? I am not stunned by the tools and services I found. They are not that new or smart. But teachers can’t handle too smart, they need to teach their lessons and be supported by technology. Technology can make education more simple and more efficient like these tools do.

 

Zin in de SXSW experience

In minder dan een maand zal South by Southwest (SXSW), een van de grootste Muziek-, Interactie- en Filmfestival van start gaan in Austin – Texas.

Ik zal de programma’s Interactive en Education bezoeken op zoek naar nieuwe technieken en best practices die ik mee terug naar Nederland kan nemen voor toekomstig gebruik. Bovendien zal ik locaties in Austin opsporen die zich hebben getransformeerd ter ere van het festival. Welke locatie biedt een tijdelijk programma/ dienst/ kunstervaring die daadwerkelijk iets toevoegt voor het publiek?

Ben je geïnteresseerd in nieuws vanaf SXSW? Houd deze blog dan in de gaten.

Cheers!

SXSW 2014 Launch

’s ochtends wakker wordend, …

mijn klarinet bespelend

dronken

door mijn familie getext

in de problemen

muziek luisterend

bij jou

naar de lucht kijkend

Zomaar een greep uit de hoeveelheid bijdragen aan het sociaal kunstproject Me siento vivo in samenwerking met Adriana Tapia. Deze tweede editie van het project When do you feel alive bleek op 23 februari 2013 een groot succes op muziekfestival FVCM in Panama stad. We hebben het krijtbord herhaaldelijk moeten uitvegen om ruimte te maken voor nieuwe bijdragen. Het publiek wist zich blijkbaar wel raad met de uitdagende zin “Cuando … me siento vivo”. Zie de projectsite voor een fotoverslag.

Zelf een bijdrage doen kan ook! In het Engels in het Spaans.

bijdragen op bord

When do you feel alive?

Een nieuw social art project dat mensen uitnodigt te delen wanneer en hoe ze zich levend voelen. Geïnspireerd door de donkere gedachten oer het einde van de wereld in december 2012 en het project Before I die I want to… van Candy Chang.

Het projectboard hangt nu al bijna een maand in Gamboa/ Santa Cruz en de websites zijn sinds dien ook online. De oogst bestaat uit uiteenlopende bijdragen, in zowel Spaans als Engels. We zijn nu in gesprek met Festival Verde en andere geïnteresseerden om vervolgevenementen op te zetten.

bewoner schrijft op bord