As part of the Kunst VHS (Community Collage of Art) in Vienna, I have been giving Courses on Electronic Creativity, for both kids and adults.
Especially with the increasing availabilty of various kinds of electronic and technology educational kits, the normally not so reachable topics of electricity, conductivity, LEDs, sensors, microprocessors and many other electronic components are becoming more available and usable to the general public. Considering the pervasiveness of such media, I find it very important that the next generations acquire the knowledge on how to understand, repair and build their own electronic devices. Therefore is the electronic creativity workshops, where these technical concepts are presented in a playful and artful manner.
The tools used in these workshops vary from Makey Makey touch conductivity board to electronic textiles, from LittleBits snap-on electronics to Arduino boards with sensors and lights. Arduino is a hobby electronics board that enables you to easily build your own ideas for daily electronics. With these courses, the participants are introduced to the basics of working with components like processors, sensors, motors or light. After the introduction, the participants are guided to develop their own projects using Arduino and other components.
