At Pam’s suggestion, we spent our afternoon in Frankenmuth working on three digital genres: photo editing, video editing, and graphic design. You can view the slides and resources here and find event photos here.
This was a one-time event being offered only in Frankenmuth this summer, but we have lots of other great events going on around Michigan — check out the events list here!
Here are a few photos from the afternoon:
Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!
We premiered a new workshop in Frankenmuth today — a workshop on how to support patrons in turning their interests into online craft businesses. This was a lot of fun to put together and to run today!
We gave everyone embroidery floss and some Make charms so we could keep our hands busy while we talked. Here’s a work in progress …
We went exploring on Etsy to do some market research; then Alyssa showed us how to help patrons take better photos of their creations.
Armed with new strategies, we went throughout the library and garden to photograph our new creations:
We swooned over Spoonflower and other online stores and swapped ideas we had for how to use it in libraries:
And explored several Etsy- and craft business-related titles.
If you missed this event, check out our remaining events throughout the state this summer. We’ll be repeating this workshop!
You can also view our slides and resources here.
And check out Pixabay.com, Wikimedia Commons, or SnappyGoat.com, which Ben recommended for stock images for creating your store brand!
We just acquired a 360-degree video camera after learning about it to prep for our Google Cardboard workshop earlier this month.
Check out Ben’s efforts — saved to Flickr as auto-play panoramic videos but inserted here as still images — and check out the wonderful atmosphere of the Niles District Library! Put this library system on your must-visit list for its beautiful layout, inviting furnishings, and engaged staff.
Do you freeze up when it’s time to write a grant, scrambling to find the information and get it done on time? Do you know where you can get great demographic data to help build a case for why your community is in need of funds? Do you know what a program officer is and how he or she can be invaluable in your project planning?
Those were the kinds of questions we sought to answer in our last workshop at the Niles District Library on Friday, June 16, 2017.
We started by making a wish list so we’d have it at the ready when we found out about new grant opportunities.
We used BusinessDecision (free to Michiganders via the Michigan eLibrary!) to dig into demographic information and look for how we could weave data into compelling stories.
And among other things, we took some time to just think about how to organize our thoughts with some sample grant questions culled from a variety of common funding sources.
If you missed this workshop, check out our schedule of upcoming events and come and join us!
You can also download our planning packet here.
Kristin
On Friday, June 16, Ben and Alyssa led us in a half day of design challenges: short, one-session design sprints using various physical materials.
First off, Guinness World Record-style challenges. Who can build the longest or tallest or fastest or …? For an example of this, we used the classic marshmallow challenge with the largest marshmallows we had ever seen!
We continued our use of everyday materials by converting brown parcel paper into life-size marionettes, turning our attention to STEAM-related design challenges with bunraku-style puppets:
After challenges with paper and food, we turned to non-natural materials with a challenge involving Strawbees that demonstrated the challenge cards available from Strawbees:
And finally, we used our own in-house design cards to challenge people to solve problems with cardboard and plastic MakeDo screws:
We’ll be repeating versions of this workshop throughout the summer. If this looks like fun, we hope you’ll register for one of our free statewide workshops.
You can also find our folder of support materials here.
As always, these workshops are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-05-15-0021-15. We are grateful for their support and for their funding, via the Library of Michigan, of LSTA funds that bring us resources like the databases and electronic resources of MeL.org.
Kristin
Thursday, June 15, was our only daylong design thinking workshop of the summer! We met at Niles District Library to use the design thinking method to redesign dashboards, do customer research to make a better bag, and practice design thinking to solve problems.
You can view the slides and resources here.
Here are some photos from the day …
Our opening activity: the design thinking game. The prompt: make something for a dinosaur to wear on its feet. A solution: create these strap-on accessories that allow dinosaurs to disguise their footprints (aren’t they always just plodding through all that mud that gets fossilized? Talk about evidence!). Think they’re not smart enough to remember to strap them on? That’s why there’s a supplemental brain that can be implanted (bottom left).
Doesn’t every workshop send you out to the parking lot to gather data about your dashboard so you can design a better one? Here’s someone’s notes …
Here’s a design thinking solution: a LEGO prototype of a USB drive that you can insert into the car so it can recognize you and auto-adjust the wheel, seat, and other items.
Use junk box materials to design the perfect bag (with a few LEGO wheels thrown in for good measure). Check out the telescoping handle!
This prototype includes a padded pocket, a water bottle holder, and a flap that can lower to reveal specialized pockets.
Not everyone needs a perfect bag … some people need a travel jacket instead, with pockets in all the right places.
Design the perfect bag? How about this one that stores a jacket and a zip-on sleeping bag.
Tomorrow is out last Niles workshop of the day … design challenges in the morning and grantwriting* in the afternoon!
*Note: Our funding precludes us from assisting on any official grant application, but we can give general advice!
On Wednesday, June 14, we were excited to have a full-day workshop on the Big Ideas of the maker movement and maker culture for librarians and educators at the Niles District Library.
You can view the slides and our resource folder here.
Here are a few photos from the day …
Making a paper flashlight after working on a maker vision statement.
Hacking the flashlight!
Perusing books about the maker movement at the end of the day.
Robot Mouse for young children got taken for a spin.
Hope to see you at one of our upcoming workshops!
Kamya, Ben, and I were happy to be at the main Hoyt Library at Public Libraries of Saginaw this morning to talk about design thinking as a frame for creative thinking and hands-on making.
Here is the downloadable design thinking game (with word-based prompts).
Here is the downloadable design thinking game (with image-based prompts).
Need anything else? Email us at contactmichiganmakers [at] umich [dot] edu.
Thanks!
Kristin
Hello! Kamya and I are tickled to be back in Benzonia today, hosting a half-day workshop on design thinking for librarians and educators working with teens.
You can find the slides here.
If you’d like to try your hand at our prototyped design thinking game, click here for a word-based version and here for a pictorial version.
If you’d like to join us on Saturday, March 11, for another variation of this workshop in Saginaw, click here to register for free.
Thanks to funding from IMLS, I had the opportunity to travel all over Michigan over the course of the last summer. I was able to take advantage of great opportunities to meet new people doing interesting work in unexpected locales. The things that I learned the most about had to do with professional practice, particularly in libraries and similar community spaces, as well as the way people connect with creating things:
Going forward, I’m curious to explore how people turn a hobby or casual interest into a way to give themselves a little extra support, and how young people can rediscover something elemental about what it is make something with their own hands, from scratch. Look forward to some more reflection on our summer of co-learning next month!
National Research Council. Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2015. doi:10.17226/21740.