Mon, 14 Sep 2009
DigitalNZ HackFest Christchurch 2009
On Saturday I took part in the DigitalNZ HackFest - Christchurch and was there for a couple of hours. "DigitalNZ is a publicly funded, not-for-profit initiative that aims to make NZ digital content easier to find, share and use."
The purpose of the HackFest was to introduce developers to the DigitalNZ API and encourage them to experiment with it.
I made some small changes to make the existing DigitalNZ API bindings for Python compatible with Python 2.5 and wrote a command line script to show how to do a basic search. (The patch has already been incorporated into the repository thanks to a quick response from the original author.) As I try to do these days, I made some notes on learning about the DigitalNZ API.
It was good to see a number of people made the effort to come along and contribute code and feedback. I'm pleased DigitalNZ made the decision to send Jo on the road to bring the event to Christchurch and I hope to see more HackFests in the future.
Posted at: 19:01 | category: / | | Comments ()
Tue, 01 Sep 2009
Christchurch Creative Space meet the people video
A while back we had some video footage shot at the Christchurch Creative Space so people could get an idea of who comes along and what they get up to while they're there. View the Christchurch Creative Space video here or in the embed below:
We also had a series of friendly chats with people who have been along (thanks to Jack) and you can read the Christchurch Creative Space people interviews.
Creative Space media coverage
The Space and its activities have also been featured in a couple of other media related items. A half-page article about the Creative Space and Hackerspaces in general appeared on page 14 of this month's Unlimited magazine (it seems not to be online). The MsBehaviour Files also made mention of us:
Posted at: 17:53 | category: / | | Comments ()
Wed, 25 Mar 2009
Christchurch Girl Geek Dinner on Ada Lovelace Day 2009
As I write this post it is no longer Ada Lovelace Day in New Zealand but it is still so in many parts of the world. Don't know about ALD? Read more at Finding Ada.
In a happy coincidence Christchurch's first Girl Geek Dinner occurred on ALD so I decided I'd mention the work put in by the two organisers Anchen le Roux and Lucinda McCullough for my ALD post. :-)
Thanks to being the special guest of Lucy from Board of Design and Felt ("your online outlet dedicated to all things handmade") I was able to attend the event within "the rules".
The evening had a great turnout of around thirty people—in fact, I'm tempted to make the next The Valley in Christchurch monthly tech dinner have the same admission rules in an attempt to match attendence numbers. :-)
To me what is great is that Luci and Anchen care enough about the New Zealand tech industry and their place in it that they chose to invest their time and energy in making something happen. Organising a venue, sponsors, invitations, ticketing and promotion all takes an investment and we all benefit from a stronger industry as a result.
Of significance to me was one of the organisers was heard to remark something along the lines of "I want to be the [insert name of prominent woman from another New Zealand city known for organising tech events] of Christchurch". Just like Ada Lovelace Day aims to promote, role models really do matter.
I hope more people in the tech industry—female and male—will follow Anchen and Luci's lead in becoming more involved in developing the New Zealand tech community.
Thanks to Luci, Anchen and those who attended.
Posted at: 00:40 | category: / | | Comments ()
Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Christchurch Creative / Project / Hacker / Maker Space
I would like to gauge the level of interest for a hacker / project / creative / maker space in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Update: Join us this Tuesday, 17 March 2009 at 7:30pm for a planning/doing gathering. See the announcement for details.
I've been interested in the concept for quite a while but after spending some time in similar setups in Europe I'm even more convinced it would be a great addition to the city. While I could spout on about it having social, community, technical, educational and creative benefits I'm really only suggesting it because I want to be able to work on projects and hang out with interesting people at the same time.
If you're not familiar with the concept here are a couple of starting points for learning more:
Already I've talked about the concept with a number of people and had a positive response. There is also a possibility of an at least temporary location in the central city. I suspect we would probably start off with having gatherings one or two nights a week.
Please participate in the discussion forum / mailing list if you are interested in helping this get started or interested in participating once it's started:
I welcome suggestions for venues, funding, participants, equipment and interminable discussions about a suitably local-flavoured name.
Know someone who creates, hacks, crafts, makes or who might otherwise benefit from such a space? Please pass this Christchurch creative project space link along to them.
Posted at: 01:11 | category: / | | Comments ()
Mon, 18 Feb 2008
Hardware Into Art: TVIC/Geekosystem Crossover
What will this become?
Come to The Valley in Christchurch this week (Tuesday!) and don't just find out, make IT/ART happen!
Here's some of the details, check out the event announcement for more details:
The Valley In Christchurch February dinner and hack events
When: 6:00pm Tuesday 19th February 2008
Where: The China Kitchen, on Hereford St, opposite the Flight Centre
And then join us post-dinner for a special TVIC-exclusive Geekosystem session:
When: ~7:00pm—10:00pm-ish
Where: The Physics Room, Second Floor, 209 Tuam Street, Christchurch
Rumour is that some pizza and beverages will be provided while you work on your hardware hacking masterpiece.
Thanks to Adam and the Physics Room for organising this special after-hours session for us!
The photo above (courtesy of Adam Hyde) shows some of the "raw materials" that will be on hand.
Tending Networks: The 5th Aotearoa Digital Arts Symposium
As it happens, the Geekosystem coincides with the The 5th Aotearoa Digital Arts Symposium produced by The ADA Digital Arts Network.
Self-described as "New Zealand/Aotearoa's only digital artists' network. ADA was born of the observation that although new media artists were often highly networked in terms of both their own practice and their professional relationships, there was no national organization drawing together those with a common interest in digital art."
The symposium is an opportunity for New Zealand's digital/new media artists to meet face to face. Check out the upcoming weekend's programme.
I've actually been invited to present a brief overview of some of my Arduino hacking to the group during their "lightning talk" session on Saturday afternoon. A pleasant parallel to the symposium topic is my most recent project has been an ethernet expansion shield for the Arduino. I must write some more on that.
Foo Fruition
Speaking of needing to write more... My presentation at the ADA Symposium and the TVIC/Geekosystem crossover are a direct result of my attendence earlier this month at Kiwi Foo Camp 2008 (a.k.a. Baa Camp) and some people I met there. I must write some more on that. :-)
Posted at: 06:12 | category: / | | Comments ()
Thu, 10 Jan 2008
Summer hacking
Last week I caught up with Marek and the elusive Phillip (finally!) and showed off my Arduino connecting to IRC:
It turned out jandals and shorts weren't actually the best wear for the weather on the day but still good to catch up.
Posted at: 11:10 | category: / | | Comments ()
Tue, 27 Nov 2007
Swapping, Meeting and Buying
I've read for ages that Ham Radio Swap Meets are great places to get good deals on various electronics bits and pieces (and, admittedly, junk too). A while back I discovered the website of the local Christchurch, New Zealand Ham radio branch. Unfortunately their most recent events page mentioned a swap meet in March but with no indication of which year!
Until a couple of weeks ago I hadn't followed up on the idea any further but on a whim I decided to email them. In a happy coincidence it turned out that their next annual swap meet was to be in two weeks time (this past weekend).
The shopping list
Although I got to the event later than intended I still picked up a few interesting items. Indeed, it was probably easier on the wallet having less temptation in purchase choice. :-)
Among a few other bits and pieces I managed to pick up three oscilloscope probes and related items for $NZ1, a partially used wirewrap set for another $NZ1 and some small project boxes. It will be interesting to see if having proper probes makes any difference when using xoscope—the Linux sound-card oscilloscope.
Also purchased a box of assorted ICs for $NZ5 which may turn out to be both a convenient and reasonable deal. I'm around halfway through cataloging the contents of the box and about two-thirds of the 70+ ICs seem to be useful with a good assortment of 7400 series, 4000 series and op-amps amongst others. It's taken ages to do the cataloging (Octopart and similar sites have been very helpful) but hopefully it'll pay off in the long run—if nothing else I'm learning things along the way. Looks like there's a few "historical" items dating back to around the late 70's/early 80's too.
Acquiring vices
My largest purchase (something approaching "real money" :-) ) was a PCB Soldering Vise which I later found advertised here at a price that made my purchase price seem reasonable.
Described as a "Mark III Circuit Card Fixture" seemingly made by Technical Devices Company of Torrance, California it's like a PanaVise circuit board holder but presumably cheaper and less well made...
The device looks like this, but less shiny:
It's likely to be larger than what I need but should hopefully be a useful addition to the tool chest. I even found a scan of Mark III Circuit Card Fixture assembly instructions (original image source) in case I unassemble it accidently...
All up it was an interesting time—I ended up stopping in at the SuperShed and a few garage sales on the way home but only added an ethernet cable to the purchase pile. :-)
Posted at: 01:30 | category: / | | Comments ()
Mon, 19 Nov 2007
TVIC : Six geeks, Seven CD-ROM drives, One Pub—The Movie
Seth's blogged and uploaded the video from this month's The Valley in Christchurch tech dinner and CD-ROM hackfest.
Here's the finale, just in time for the Christmas lights season:
Links to all the videos on YouTube:
- Deconstruction getting started
- Morris risking his cell battery on the tray eject (Not shown: Successful drink delivery mechanism. :-) )
- Tim trying out the cell battery on a handy motor
- Another "bright" idea
- The result! CD-ROM Christmas Lights!
Thanks Seth!
Posted at: 13:50 | category: / | | Comments ()
Thu, 08 Nov 2007
TVIC : Six geeks, Seven CD-ROM drives, One Pub
I've just got back home from this month's The Valley in Christchurch (TVIC) tech dinner. It was goood... Real fun.
After dinner at our now usual haunt we ended up at our (fast becoming usual) follow-up haunt.
Last month—after visiting the recycling oasis Supershed—I had brought along an old CD-ROM drive and dismantled it during the post-dinner conversation. (Hey, why not? ) Apparently inspired by the fun I had had, this month Marek had organised to bring along seven old cd-rom drives supplied by Morris. By this stage we had six people at the table, various beverages and enough screwdrivers that we could all attack the task of drive dissasembly with gusto. And we did.
The highlight of the evening (warning: non-geeks may not understand) was when—following a comment I made—Morris managed to hook up a tray-eject motor to a pair of green and red LEDs (salvaged from a drive), making them flash alternately when he pulled the tray in and out. Seth took some photos and video so hopefully it'll be online soon.
In spite of all this frenzied electrical activity the bar staff never asked us to leave or stop, so I apparently mass cd-rom drive disassembly counts as an acceptable activity at the Bohemian.
Next month: printers!
Update: Check out the CD-ROM hackfest videos.
Posted at: 23:20 | category: / | | Comments ()
Fri, 07 Sep 2007
BarCamp Christchurch links
While I think of it, here are some links to items I mentioned during my hardware/gadgets spiel:
- Planet NZTech
- The Valley in Christchurch monthly tech dinner
- KiCad electronic design software--schematic, pcb etc (My KiCad notes, Mac OS X etc)
- Arduino "a [mostly] open-source electronics prototyping platform" (My Arduino notes)
- Skannerz Racerz (My Skannerz Racerz notes)
- My personal wiki/lab notebook (Uses modified pwyky)
Posted at: 23:30 | category: / | | Comments ()