Here’s the video from my talk where we build a low-fi map of the LA Tech Scene. The kid screaming in the background is my two-year old, Ripley. My husband Sean was trying to keep him occupied for 30 whole minutes while I did my talk. Sean did a 5 minute lightning talk so I got off easy. :D
Stay tuned for a digital version of the map where tech companies, accelerators, incubators, VCs and co-working spaces can add themselves.
Maker Faire 2012 was everything that I hoped it would be. The creativity and enthusiasm was infectious. I wanted to see and try everything but I would have needed weeks to do that.
I covered some of my favorite things during my interview with Super Awesome Sylvia and Joey Hudy, two of my favorite young makers.
The Take Apart tent was a ton of fun. Kids were everywhere taking computers and who knows what apart.
Some were making some new creations out of the chaos using soldering irons and hot glue guns.
I spent some time at the Exploratorium Tinkering Station making a Mobile Headband. I’m not sure I’m going to wear it outside of Maker Faire…
S~q~u~i~s~h~Y Circuits!! Weeeeee
Not just an apple II, an apple II signed by WOZ
Over at Lynne Bruning’s eTextiles Lounge we learned how to sew and light up an LED using conductive thread and a watch battery.
Here’s my pal Bunnie getting his pic taken of his head. I’m eagerly awaiting a 3D Model of my head from AutoDesk. Guess what you’re getting for Christmas!
There were SO MANY 3D printers. These colorful 3D printers are very attractive, but the $50 cartridges are kind of a turn-off.
GameDesk helped 13 year old Jasper fly like an Albatross (he said it has been his dream since he was very young :D ).
A Laser Cutter for $3k? Whoa.
Here’s the Little Bits tent. My son Ripley has recently been introduced to them and I’m excited to see him build stuff!
I’ve been eyeing the MaKey MaKey Kickstarter campaign. Out of nowhere Josh from the Rockwell Group gave me a free kit. WIN!
Thanks to old friends and new for such an awesome time!
On a lovely Sunday afternoon I rolled up to the front door of Crashspace in Culver City. I was feeling a bit nervous about the first Los Angeles Young Makers meetup and wondering if anyone would show up. When I walked inside the front door, people were already hanging out a full 30 minutes early, including Gabrielle with her two young kids. I met her virtually through my LA Moms Group; turns out she is a welder among other talents.
At 4:30pm the place was packed full of people I consider dear friends and a bunch of new faces (these pics were taken by the wonderful Kent Nichols).
Donna Mandosa welcomed everyone and kicked things off.
She turned it over to me so I could introduce myself and explain why I want a permanent kid friendly space.
From there we spent over an hour going around the room learning a bit about everyone.
There were a bunch of teachers including Sara Nichols who brought a student from her school in Koreatown where they are trying to start a robotics club.
Kent Nichols and Leena Pendharkar are both filmmakers. As excited as I was to have robot and rocketship experts from places like SpaceX and xcor, the arts are are very important to the balance of the space.
Some folks have started schools, know how to write grants and are statisticians. Others work at tech startups, run machine shops and work at radio stations. It was a mixed, enthusiastic crowd and I was so happy that they are game to create more opportunities for youth to make awesome stuff.
We are forming working groups depending on who wants what and I’m leading the permanent physical space working group aka Really Awesome Space. The plan is to meet frequently; both Sean Bonner who founded Crashspace and Michael Clive who founded Mojave Makers both said they got their spaces up and running within a few months of the first working group meeting and they attribute that to having weekly meetings to form the core founding group.
If you are interested in being apart of the Los Angeles Young Makers Group to share skills, find skills or help get the permanent physical space, here are the links to get you involved:
Working Group Meetup on May 14th
Los Angeles Youth Hack Jam on June 23rd
Note: This discussion turned into a real live working and thriving nonprofit called LA Makerspace.
Over the past several months I’ve been connecting with like-minded people who want a permanent, public, kid friendly hacker/diy space(s) in Los Angeles. These people have been working with kids and tech groups in some way or another through after-school programs, pop-up events and monthly meetups. A permanent space to house the equipment and schedule regular classes would help buildup a community of members, customers and volunteers.
A community space where people of all ages and backgrounds can work and learn together on fun projects using 3D printers, laser cutters, paint brushes, electronics, and anything their imaginations come up with. A place to hang out, mess around and geek out (Dr. Mimi Ito’s term).
Background
My inspiration comes from the ladies tech group that I run, the Mt Elliott Makerspace in Detroit, and a few different kids that I have had the pleasure to hangout with including Luna Ito-Fisher, Caine of Caine’s Arcade, and Super-Awesome Sylvia. I want a space that I can take my kid to and he can participate in an environment with other DIYers.
I was just introduced by the fantastic engineering educator Luz Rivas of Iridescent Learning to Donna Mandosa, a Technology Director at a private school, who created the meetup group Los Angeles Young Makers so we paired up as organizers.
The first public meeting to talk about the space is Sunday, May 6th, 2012, 4:30pm at Crashspace in Culver City. We’ll talk about ideas for the kid friendly space and good examples of existing ones. If you are interested as a potential member, sponsor or evangelist, volunteer, skill sharer, Please RSVP and Join Us!
There are a few documents that are excellent guides on creating hackerspaces:
Makerspace Playbook (for kids)
Peer Production Communities Survey 2011 (interesting stats from 87 hacker communities)
Vision (For Discussion)
Along with a host of people who have started kid friendly spaces, I chatted with Sean Bonner who founded Crashspace (about why they don’t allow kids) and Deb Sigel, a JPL engineer and founder of Kids Building Things. We discussed what we thought a kid friendly hackerspace might look like and ways in which we could get it started:
Our first public meeting is Sunday, May 6th, 2012, 4:30pm at Crashspace.
It has taken me a long time but I have finally come to the conclusion that the Tara Brown in Tennessee will never give up the domain tarabrown.com.
A few years back I purchased the domain tarathetiger.com because nothing else I wanted was available and have been using that but it never felt quite right. As I have been using my name “Tara Tiger Brown” everywhere, it donned on me that I should use that as my domain.
So here I am, all vanity branded up.
