Sunday 17 August 2014

SciFest 2014


"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."




We have been thinking a lot and time is passing by quickly. 
Then one day, without thinking much we decided to build our Swan for SciFest. A research goal was to hear the understanding of newer generations about climate change. To link the research topic with the vision of F4E we requested our workshop participants to answer a questionnaire after they had built a swam, which had a LED as crown in its head. 



 


We should confess that our workshop was very successful ;) we even ran out of material!



PRO
- It was fun to do the origami
- Happiness was expressed when the swam had its LED, e.g. "it is alive"

CONS
- We ran out of batteries! :(

COULD IMPROVE:
We could not use the conductive ink, there was not time. So we "handicraft" how to connect the battery with the LEDs even creating a switch.  Additionally, we explained briefly how to connect the + & - of the battery and the LEDs, however we could improve this explanation by creating proper learning material. Easy to use and understand but clear! 





F4E

LEDs and Cards

It is time to start to refresh our basics in electronics, so the first step was to play with LEDs.

In our exploration we found the company Bare Conductive and we bought some material to make cards with LEDs. 

Here an example of a card:

 Cutting material and letting the ink dry

 Once the ink is dried, decorate the card and ready to send :)


PROS:
- Very easy to use

CONS:
- It takes a time to the ink to dry
- Follow only the predefine drawings can be boring

COULD IMPROVE:
It would be ideal to have an explanation of what is a diode.
Start to build a concept and understanding of what we are doing.


However, as a first experiment it was a good experience and we got that existed that we bought a bunch of LEDs



Until the next time 

F4E

The beginning



Once upon a time  in 2012 Liisa and Carolina were in the Pikkujoulu of the Science Society. Then we started to disuss about why not do more things with technology which include more women.

In Joensuu, where we live, we can find different types of technology clubs and education, but how involve the how old and new crafts together? this is one of the our wishing list. For example learning to do clothing and involve e-textiles, or building the electricity of a dolls's house (actually that is how I , Carolina, started with technology)....

After bouncing ideas for a long time we decided to build our own club, our hobby. Each one of us have different reason to pursuit this activity, however we have the same goal: merge different type of crafts, work with different type of people (ages and backgrounds) to learn together and deliver innovation.

Next was to create the name. We decided for the name fear4electronics, because it is actually a playful sentence. Be ready of what we are able to do with electronics! 

Thus let the journey beginning,

F4E