Last tended on 1 June, 2014 (first created 23 February, 2014)

About the MidSummer Unconference and BBQ
Confirmed Unconference Participants
Program
Getting to Enschede
Find a place to stay
The Facebook Group

Make Stuff That Matters!

We have more opportunity than ever to act and make things ourselves, while connected to and embedded in globally connected networks and globally accessible knowledge. Our world is however a closed system with restraints in terms of resources, with only our creativity in true abundance. So we better learn how to act, prototype, design and make well. Whether it is a product, a system, a structure or a new routine. So we better make stuff that really solves something for you or others, that makes something important possible. So we better Make Stuff That Matters.

Join us at the MidSummer Unconference & BBQ!

On 20 June the MidSummer Unconference ‘Make Stuff That Matters!‘ will take place at our home in Enschede. The next day, 21 June, mid summer night, we will host the MidSummer BBQ, with not just the participants of the Unconference, but also a large number of other friends, colleagues, clients and family. We will be sending invitations soon, but the event is basically open to anyone. (We’ve always had a few guests we didn’t know beforehand, and it always works out well.) Want to be there? Let us know!

Be part of our Epic Sh*t Incubator

At the ‘Working on Stuff that Matters’ unconference in 2010 we talked about it being and creating an ‘epic sh*t multiplier’, a way to make the impact felt beyond just the event. This time we will aim for an ‘epic sh*t incubator’, a way to kickstart and bootstrap yourself and make things. It will be outside our own comfort zone, and outside yours.

Why are we doing this?

Because it is fun and inspiring! The energy we get from these events sustains us in our work for years afterwards. We are privileged to know many interesting and inspiring people, including you, and enjoy bringing you together. Friends, peers, colleagues, family and clients, they make for a wonderful mix. We have organized these type of unconferences before. In 2008 for Elmine’s birthday, there was an unconference on ‘work-life balance’, a fitting theme for a conference on your birthday. In 2010 for Ton’s birthday the theme was ‘Working on Stuff that Matters‘.  In 2011 we created an e-book ‘How to Unconference Your Birthday‘ as a gift for all participants. In 2012 we organized the ‘BBQ At the End of the Universe‘, without an unconference.

Key facts

20 June 2014 Friday, MidSummer Unconference “Make Stuff That Matters”. 10:00-17:30, door open 09:00, drinks and Chinese / Indonesian buffet dinner 17:30-21:00. Location: Ton and Elmine’s home (or another venue depending on number of participants), in Enschede.

21 June 2014 Saturday, MidSummer BBQ, from 15:00. Location: Ton and Elmine’s home, in Enschede.

Places to stay: List of hotels/B&B’s. Limited space is also available at our home, preferably for those traveling on a tight budget. Ask us if you’d like to stay at our place. Sorry, our home is fully booked!

How to get to Enschede: planes, trains, automobiles

Also see the growing confirmed participants list, and the Facebook Group.

Tags: #MSTM14

 

(photo credit: Elmine Wijnia)

18 reactions on “MidSummer Unconference & BBQ: Make Stuff That Matters”

  2. With 17 confirmed participants from 7 countries, we are now just under three months away from the ‘Make Stuff that Matters UnConference‘ that Elmine and I are hosting on 20/21 June.
    This weekend we announced one of the key ingredients: FryskLab is coming!
    Image: Frysklab.nl
    This 12 meter long truck, is a converted mobile library, and now houses maker machines. It is operated by the provincial library for Fryslan in the north of the Netherlands. Equipment for 3d-printing, laser cutting and milling is all on board and will be parked on our doorstep. A facilitator will be there to teach participants and neighbours to use the machines.
    As the FabLab bus is taking up quite a bit of space, we do still need to talk to the neighbours about using some of the parking spaces. But as they will have the opportunity to play with the machines as well, I am sure the neighbours won’t mind much to park their car a bit further away for 2 days.

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  4. We had two beautiful sunny days in Ireland this week. One spent touring the country side and the coast with our kind hosts Gabriela and Ray, and Adrian McEwan (one of the other speakers, active in IoT and running a makerspace in Liverpool). And one spent at the event we were here for: 3D Camp.
    It was the 7th edition, and it’s not a full barcamp, in the sense that the program is set beforehand, although all sessions are still volunteered by participants.
    As I was speaking right after the opening key-note, I had the rest of the day to listen, learn and have conversations. Some random take-aways from the day:
    CoderDojo
    A great concept where children get to play by coding up stuff is CoderDojo. A room full of kids with one or both parents working together: the CoderDojo Limerick was in session. Groups are active in over 20 countries. These types of things can be life changing. I still remember getting my hands on my first computer when I was 12, and learning to code BASIC on it. I was immediately fascinated by the technology. Still am. What if my teacher hadn’t gone through the trouble of arranging a few machines for us to experiment with? I would probably have encountered my first computer only upon entering university. A very different stage in life to have your eyes opened to a range of new possibilities.
    CoderDojo Limerick at work, image by Gabriela Avram, license CC BY
    Cortechs
    Aine Behan of Cortechs shared with us some of the current things going on in measuring brainwaves and using it to control things, like games. Very interesting to hear about games that reward and give feedback on the amount of focus and calmness your brainwaves convey. It is being used to e.g. condition ADHD children towards better focus skills. Reminded me of the brain wave controlled helicopter I encountered at TEDxTallinn last year.

    Moved to track 2 at #3Dcamp to hear about how our ‘Brain knows best’ from Ainè Behan @darkhorse_ab @3Dcamp pic.twitter.com/rfHeR59nOE
    — Ger Loughrey (@gerloughrey) 17 mei 2014

    Makey Makey
    Definitely the most funky stuff present at the event. Build upon Arduino you use Makey Makey to turn everything into a key. Like bananas to play music on. Intended for kids, but fun for anyone really.
    PiPhone
    Heaps of Rapsberry Pi goodness was the demo of the PiPhone by David Hunt. A phone built from Raspberry Pi and other components. A bit clunky, but it works. And while the question whether this is something that will take on the major mobile phone companies isn’t of much relevance, it does mean you can build your own without them, without needing an engineering degree. Another case in point of disruptive tech creating new affordances for individuals.

    Oculus Rift
    James Corbett, with Gabriela the organizer of 3D Camp, demoed the Oculus Rift. It’s a somewhat disorienting experience to wear it. As what your eyes perceive is different from what all other senses, including your entire body, are telling you. Although the visual quality isn’t all that good (pixelated), the sense of being in a 3d environment is complete and convincing. When I was standing on a balcony, I automatically tried to grab the railing to better look over the edge. My hands were surprised to not find anything where my eyes were telling me the railing was. Luckily there was a table edge I could grab, which then reinforced the reality of being in an experience with just one of my senses, but otherwise still in the event venue, as it was thinner than the railing. Looking down you are surprised to not see your feet (I didn’t have an avatar in the demo). Because of that disconnect between your various senses, it is a very different experience from e.g. being in a VR cave. In a cave you are more fully immersed, with both sound and sight, and you have your body with you. On the other hand, in a VR cave I never forgot that I was in a room with projections around me. With a VR headset like Oculus Rift I was more convinced to be someplace else, as my eyes were telling me only that, but you’re not completely there at the same time. Adding a ‚cochlear rift’ with surround sound will likely make the experience even stronger/stranger.
    FabLab Cloughjordan
    Anthony Kelly of the Cloughjordan sustainable village project talked about the FabLab called WeCreate they have started there. He talked a little bit about how to make it financially feasible to operate a lab. The FabLab is part of the village co-working space and business center, which makes a lot of sense. Adrian McEwan of the Liverpool Maker Space told me they’re doing the same thing. The co-working space is a main source of income, and at the same time it is a good pool of people from which new makers emerge. A stand alone makerspace will more easily end up with a fixed group of users, where the point of course is to expose more people to the possibilities of digital making. WeCreate has an interesting event lined up for September, OpenEverything (no link yet)

    I had pleasant conversations throughout the day, on open data, internet of things, fablabs,
    talking to the Coder Dojo dads, etc. Elmine rounded off the day with sharing the ‘How to Unconference Your Birthday’ story, and the upcoming ‘Make Stuff that Matters‘ event (Facebook group). She called upon all to actively spread making literacy, and that an event like ours may help. At least two people seemed to have caught the bug.
    Thanks to Gabriela for inviting us over, and to her and Ray for being such great hosts to us. We’ve seen quite a lot in just two days in Limerick!

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  6. In just 4 weeks our MidSummer Unconference and BBQ “Make Stuff that Matters” will take place in our home. We’re hugely looking forward to it!

    This third unconference in our home will bring some 40 people together on Friday 20 June, and double that on Saturday 21 June for the BBQ. Haven’t rsvp’d yet for either or both days? Please do so by 6 June!
    What will we be up to at the unconference?
    We’ll make things together!
    We have more opportunity than ever to act and make things ourselves, while connected to and embedded in globally connected networks and globally accessible knowledge. Our world is however a closed system with restraints in terms of resources, with only our creativity in true abundance. So we better learn how to act, prototype, design and make well. Whether it is a product, a system, a structure or a new routine. So we better make stuff that really solves something for you or others, that makes something important possible. So we better Make Stuff That Matters.
    With all participants we will explore making. To do that we are not just bringing great people together from many countries and backgrounds, but also a number of cool machines:
    I am working to get my open source laser cutter working in time for the event
    We have arranged to have the very cool mobile FabLab Frysklab, operated by the Provincial Library of Fryslan, parked in front of our home for 2 days.
    Ultimaker, the great 3D printer company from right here in the Netherlands, is lending us a number of their 3D printers. (Together with our own printer, and the mobile FabLab, we will have 7 3D printers for the two days)

    The Frysklab truck will be at our event
    Next to that we have brought together a wide range of cool guides, and electronics (Sparkcore, Arduino, Rapsberry Pi) to add to the mix. Our visits to ThingsCon in Berlin and 3D Camp in Limerick have added quite a few things to our arsenal of material.
    Ultimaker is lending us some of their great 3D printers
    I am busy getting my open source laser cutter to work
    Elmine and I have designed a process, with the help of others such as Peter Troxler, and we have a program set out for the day.
    During the Unconference we will work in teams on making things that are meaningful to us. In between we will have up to 6 speakers giving presentations on stories they want to share.
    Two sessions we already have planned:
    Keith Andrews, a professor at Graz University of Technology, will speak about data visualization (and we’ll have various great books by Edward Tufte to get inspired by as well).
    Oliver Rukavina (13), the son of Canadian friends of ours, will do a session about 3D printing straight from Minecraft. (Minecraft is a kind of virtual Lego world, and e.g. the whole of Denmark has been recreated in it using open data)
    I may want to do a session myself as well, but need to think about it. If you are participating on Friday and have a story you really want to share, do let us know and we will aim to fit you in the program.
    Saturday, the day after the conference, all machines and all output of the conference will still be available to work with. We will open up the mobile FabLab to the neighbourhood as well that day. And of course all other BBQ guests will get to play with the 3D printers as well!
    Join the MSTM Facebook group to already meet the rest of the guests, or blog / tweet / share things yourself by using the #mstm14 tag! Do get in touch if you have questions, or like to rsvp.

    Reply

  9. We look back on a great event, our ‘Make Stuff that Matters’ unconference and bbq. Bringing together some 45 people from around our various networks to our home for a day of making. Most never had done anything like it before, most had never met each other before. So how do you guide a group like that through the day, in a way that they actually have made something together by the end? How do you make makers out of all of us? Here’s a quick run-down of the process we designed.
    Turning introductions into an overview of skills and experience
    We started with a quick intro-game. Each participant was given a blank card with the instructions to:

    write their name on the card
    find a stranger in the room
    introduce yourself, your skills and experiences
    let the other person draw on your card what she thinks stands out
    then have the other take their turn for the same
    stick the resulting cards on the wall to serve as reference for the day

    Introductions and making the cards / Inspecting the skill cards on the wall
    Examples of cards
    Printing new humans as a way to decide what to make
    After these introductions it was time to start the real process. We created groups of 5 or 6. Then the group members created a series of drawings of humans. The first, invisible to their neighbour, drew a head, the second a body, the third legs. Doing that in a circle created 5 or 6 drawings per round. After a first round to warm up, the second round we asked to add more character, expression or indications of background or profession.
    From the resulting drawings, the group then discussed and selected their favourite one and constructed a story around them. The story would explain character, backgrounds, origins, and things like age and their name. Stories were mailed to Elmine who printed them out.
    The resulting figures and their stories were put on a big flipover sheet and then stuck to the walls.
    Drawing humans in groups, and a resulting drawing
    Individually all participants then added post-its to the ‘new humans’ with items these people might use, want, need or care about. Then individually people picked one or more of these items to make during the rest of the day, and helped eachother to do that.
    Drawn humans on the wall with their story, adding post-its with ideas for things to make for them
    Rationale behind the process
    We wanted to make sure that all had the same starting point. Otherwise someone who had more experience or an idea up front might dominate a group simply because others had less well formed ideas, even though the others might not really be interested in realizing that idea. We wanted to make sure that everyone could pick something that was of interest to themselves, which triggered enough intrinsic motivation to see it through. By putting all through creating a ‘new human’ and specify their material needs, we created both a specific and neutral context in which an object was to be used, as well as enough diversity in ideas for all to choose from.
    Origins of the process
    Given our rationale of wanting to pick people up where they were, and offer enough ideas neutrally, we needed to come up with a process. Originally the ‘drawing people’ idea was suggested by Peter Troxler as an introduction game, but discussing it we realized it could be the starting point of the making process. We then thought some more about how to introduce people and repurposed a similar intro-game from last time (there one person wrote on a card how the other person was connected to us, which we turned into a network map), refocusing it on skills and experiences. Drawing was added to get people’s creative juices flowing. Elmine then put it all together in a instruction manual for all to use, embedding the process in a story that made the steps follow each other logically.

    Reply

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