(I posting my last few diary entries a few days after returning home – I do keep very detailed notes of what I get up to, I just tend to be very analogue about it and use a pen and my notebook!)
Day 3 ended with an intense discussion in the bar, everyone seemed brimming with ideas – maybe the bracing trip over the water got everyones brains working!
Much of my discussion with Gemma was about how to record various aspects of the making process and, somewhere between the 2nd pint and the 4th, the idea of making some sort of “glove†camera got scrawled into my notes.
Arriving to the house the next day (admittedly a little fuzzy headed) I decide to launch myself into the creation of this new tool. One of the main things I wanted to get out of DMLabs was to expand my skills. I’ve been toying with the idea of experimenting with electronics and digital technology for a while, but I learn best when I have a problem to solve so I was pretty pleased to finally have a project.
A bit of online research along with some advice from the more technically experienced members of the group (Jaaaames?!) saw me sat with a shiny new raspberry pi. By tea time I’d got it set up, hooked up to a camera module and running Python scripts to operate it. I was delighted with my new toy, I really felt like a kid again! I think part of this thrill was working it out myself – when I arrived I was more than a little nervous around this sort of DIY technology, by the end of day 4 my confidence had skyrocketed. I think this had a lot to do with being around people that were more comfortable with this type of making – it wasn’t so much that their experience was greater than mine, it was the opportunity to witness their attitude towards technology, pulling stuff apart out of curiosity, tinkering and hacking stuff together.
