With the Digital Making Seminar starting this week, I thought right now would be an excellent time to share my initial thoughts.
The first two classes have been unbelievable being able to cultivate a deeper understanding of digital making as a whole. From learning about the 200+ fab lab network that spans globally to the different digital making communities that exist in the Champaign-Urbana area (i.e. Unit One Allen Hall, Innovation LLC, Makerspace Urbana, NCSA, Rapid Prototyping Lab, etc), it just becomes remarkable to see the immense number of individuals with such creative, innovative, and unique ideas and thinking patterns that contrast to traditional classroom idea formation. Additionally, learning the foundation and processes in successful digital making idea formation complemented by technical skills in the program Cura, I genuinely begin to see as Dale Dougherty explains in “The Maker Mindset” as the “biggest opportunity for the Maker Movement is to transform education.”
As I concluded my second week here in the Illinois Maker Lab inside BIF, I can whole-heartedly agree with Dale Dougherty that many traditional “rigid” education systems today is truly limiting the development of creativity and innovation skills that are necessary not only in the Maker movements and world but in the business world as well. Just spending a short 6 hours (through 2 classes) inside the Maker Lab, I can feel the fervent flow of creative and innovative ideas as the Ultimaker 2, 2+, 3, and Go unrelenting print out fascinating ideas, prototypes, and products of students within and outside of my Business Administration 395 class. This atmosphere in the Digital Making Lab fosters creative idea generation like no other in the Business Instructional Facility and I experienced it first hand as well.
Being from the east coast, I wanted my first print to resemble something close to my heart from home. As I began to scroll through Thingsiverse, numerous ideas immediately started flowing through my head on how I could express myself with this first print. I saw prints ranging from the skyline of NYC to the Brooklyn Nets to the Jersey Shore to key chains of the state of NJ to many more. I ultimately decided on the Freedom Tower (which is the tallest building in New York City which in my opinion is the greatest city in the world). And here are my results:
This was an incredible experience being able to effectively express myself through a print while also getting in touch with my creative side. And with that being said here are my 4 things from Thingsiverse:
- The Freedom Tower, New York City holds a special place in my heart. It is where I grew up, my favorite city, and where I will be working after graduation. My only improvement here is the rod at the roof of the Freedom Tower printed incorrectly wonder if there is a way to fix that.
- Wildwood Crest Logo, People might make fun of my for it BUT Wildwood Crest is the very southern portion of the Jersey Shore AND it represents some of my greatest life memories as I spent numerous summer weekend and week trips there from childhood to the end of high school! If only they had prints that resembled the actual beach.
- Skiing Cookie Cutter, because I’ve skied since I was 5 and who doesn’t love cookies??!
- Coffee Mug, because I love coffee and I don’t think my college career would have been the same without it.
Hi! I also chose a coffee mug for one of my four things from Thingiverse. I chose the coffee mug because I have tea everyday. One problem I have is if I forget to hold onto the tea bag while I pour the hot water into the mug. I thought of modifying it by adding a hook on the outside of the mug I could wrap my tea bag string around it so it will not fall into my mug. Just another way to modify an everyday thing!