Cyberdeck Workshop
Description
___.*._.+_ UPDATED 9 OCT _.+___.*._.+___.
SECOND WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED SAT 24 OCT, 2-4:30PM
We heard your cries 🤣 there will now be TWO workshops:
WORKSHOP 1 (11AM - 1:30PM) - Sold out
WORKSHOP 2 (2PM - 4:30PM) - Sold out
JOIN THE WAITLIST for your preferred times if any cancellations occur
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In celebration of Processing Community Day, let's get our hands dirty with some electronics. Come build your own personalised cyberdeck (fairy) garden 🧚🧚🧚
In the workshop, we'll be learning about permacomputing and making our very own cyberdeck. It will have a button, brain, make sounds and a mini screen to grant wishes. We will also learn how to send input data to our digital garden in Processing (a programming language made for artists).
We will leave maximum time to personalise and decorate and no presumed knowledge is required. If the sound of electronics and/or coding sounds daunting to you, don't worry - we'll walk it through together as a group (max. 20 participants).
This will be a hands on workshop so you will need to purchase a kit in order to take your creation home. Cyberdecks can be an expensive investment (you're building your own computer afterall) so we have kept this workshop kit to a minimum so you can tinker and gain confidence before investing in a full setup.
Lo-fi cyberdeck kit (A$50) includes:
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller and expansion board (brain)
Button, mini screen and piezo buzzer (input and output)
USB cable (power)
Mini breadboard and wires (to connect them all together)
Fairy garden supplies (to customise)
Please note all the components are reusable so you can keep reprogramming and using these into the future. We are not putting any fee on top of this kit and covering shipping and labour to put them together with the workshop fee.
FAQs
- What do I need for the workshop?
Ticket to the workshop
Access to a Lo-fi cyberdeck kit (either purchased or shared - see next question)
Your own laptop and charger (if needed to get through a 3 hour workshop)
Accessories, trinkets, case (allow for W x H x D - 160 x 50 x 90mm) (optional)
- The kit and/or workshop is too expensive for me :(
We have tried to keep costs as low as possible but if the cost of the kit is out of your reach, we suggest you find a friend to share a kit and go halfsies.
If this isn't possible, DM us to see if there are any available to borrow for the workshop (the only sad thing is that you will have to return your creation at the end of the workshop and won't be able to glue anything down but you can still have a go). DM us regardless and we'll see what we can wrangle.
- What is a cyberdeck?
The concept of a cyberdeck first appeared in the 1984 sci-fi novel Neuromancer describing a computer that can connect your brain to cyberspace. However, today cyberdecks are simply DIY custom-built, portable personal computers and represent "a growing cohort of queers and femmes" who are "building tech on their own terms." (If you haven't read this article. put it on the reading list - The Cut 'Tech Without Bros' by Cat Zhang)
- Do I need to know how to code or have electronics?
Not at all, no presumed knowledge required and the workshop will be flexible for you to invest time in the parts you want to explore - whether that's the graphics, the garden, the electronics or the coding.
No technical mumbo jumbo, just practical help to get you leaving confident and proud with what you've created.
- Where is the workshop hosted?
We will send you the address once you have purchased your ticket. The venue is in Melbourne CBD and is in a secured building. Please arrive at 10:45am so we can walk everyone upstairs together. There will be a lockout at 11am, please let us know if you intend to arrive later than that before purchasing tickets. Feel free to BYO snacks, there will be a kettle and complimentary tea and coffee.
- Who's teaching this madness?
👋 My name is Mel Huang Buntine and I'm a designer, technologist and educator. I didn't come from a software or electronics background but I've always loved tinkering and making weird things as an extension of my design practice. So don't worry, I will not be teaching you about electricity or how to read complex diagrams or advanced mathematics. Think of it like electric origami :)
I'm currently the Senior Product Designer at Rome2Rio and collaborate with artists and institutions such as Powerhouse Museum, NGV, Art Gallery NSW, Science Gallery, Dark Mofo and The Australian Ballet. I formerly lectured at RMIT and The University of Melbourne.Spanning works across data visualisation, interactive design and live performance, I'm passionate about the creative applications of technology in the arts and an advocate for multidisciplinary projects and practices. I'm one of the co-organisers of Creative Technology Melbourne and proud board member of Chamber Made.
https://www.melaniehuang.com/
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