Monthly Archives: July 2013

Meet the Makers: IU Creativity Labs

E-textiles, which combine wearable items and electronics, are gaining prominence for the interesting way in which they merge high- and low-tech, and for their educational potential in teaching circuitry and programming. Come learn about this emerging maker field, and sew your own simple circuit with conductive thread, a sewable LED, a switch, and a battery! We’ll also have several e-textile projects on display, including some made with a sewable, programmable microcontroller (http://lilypadarduino.org/), and information will be available on how you can get started with your own projects!

Meet the Makers: Places & Spaces – Mapping Science

Do you like maps? Do you want to learn how to make maps? “Places & Spaces: Mapping Science” is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. Come see the exhibit and then learn how to make your own maps! The exhibit has two components: the physical part supports the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers; the online counterpart provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. This year’s theme, “Science Maps for Kids” has several interactive components that young makers can use to build their own maps (see http://scimaps.org/kids/). For older makers, the Science of Science (Sci2) Tool is a modular toolset specifically designed for the study of science. It supports the temporal, geospatial, topical, and network analysis and visualization of scholarly datasets at the micro (individual), meso (local), and macro (global) levels (see https://sci2.cns.iu.edu/user/index.php). A laptop running (Sci2) will be available at the booth.

Meet the Makers: Bloomington Battle Games

Can I squee just a little about this group? Bloomington Battle Games is a medieval/fantasy-inspired combat organization. BBG members dress in medieval garb, in some cases with full armor, and spar each other in individual or team skirmishes. Our “weapons” and shields are padded to reduce the risk of injury. The game/sport they play is called Belegarth. They will have weapons, garb, and armor on display and will hold sparring demonstrations throughout the day.

Meet the Makers: The Bloomington B’s

Knit and crochet with the Bloomington B’s! They are an informal meta-group-of-groups of fiber artists from Monroe and surrounding counties who organize on Ravelry and meet at various places and times throughout town. They enjoy working with fibre – whether it’s knitting, crochet, spinning, or felting, and look forward to sharing it with you.