Back to school

Big changes afoot in 2018 – I’m going back to school.

Massively multiplayer online lectures

I’m taking part in this year’s Fab Academy programme at the new Fablab at the University of Brighton. Fab Academy is a 5 month course that teaches students ‘how to make (almost) anything’ using the tools in a fablab.

It’s very intensive, with each lesson lasting one week, before moving onto the next topic. That means we have one week to learn how to design a circuitboard; one week to learn 3D modelling; one week to learn how to use a Shopbot, etc.

I’m pretty excited to be spending a lot more time in a workshop, and also to be back in full-on learning mode. I think it will be good for my brain, if not my stress levels, and I hope it will open up some new territory for me professionally, and as a maker.

If you want to find out more, you can follow my progress on my project site on the Fab Academy archive. And I’m also using this as an excuse to start another podcast. For a while, I’ve been wanting to try a short, spontaneous weekly show: low overhead, lightly edited, with more of a live feel. So I’m planning to record a short show each week, tracking the course, but mostly talking about the softer side of Fab Academy – what it feels like, and what I think it might all mean. I hope that will be slightly more interesting than waffling on about laser kerfs and version control…

It’s called Unreliable Devices. If you’re interested, you can subscribe in Apple podcasts, or just grab the RSS feed.