June Workshops in Wearable Tech

Next month –just a few days away, I know– I’ll be teaching some workshops on Wearable Tech alongside my colleague Ken Leung, at Interaccess Electronic Media Arts Centre. The first workshop will cover the fundamentals of building soft circuits for wearing on the body, while the second will be an introduction to the Lilypad Arduino and an intro to coding the Arduino environment. You can check out the full workshop descriptions here, as well as read more about the InterAccess workshop series.

Intro to Wearables

When: Tuesday, June 21st, 7-10pm
Instructors: Ken Leung & Erin Lewis
Price: $45 ($35 InterAccess members)

Intro to Lilypad Arduino

When: Tuesday, June 28th, 7-10pm
Instructors: Ken Leung & Erin Lewis
Price: $45 ($35 InterAccess members)

Arduino Pachube Library

Recently I did a talk at the mini Maker Faire Toronto, touting the creative use of data feeds.  In it I covered the Government of Canada’s Open Data project, as well as Pachube.  I’ve been a fan of Pachube since the beginning, loving the potential it has to connect our real-time spaces, places, and bodies in the online world.  The site still has a way to go in moving beyond ambient data feeds, and could use some artistic intervention, in my opinion.  However, it may be building the momentum it needs to shift it more into the awareness of electronics artists, hobbiests, and lovers of the Internet of Things, with the new release of the Pachube library for Arduino.  Now getting and posting data through the site is made easier by calling a couple simple functions.  If I have a chance today, I’ll post a dirty little test sketch if anyone wants a quick ctrl-c/ctrl-v.

GET DATA:

 ERxPachubeDataIn datain("PACHUBE_API_KEY", PACHUBE_FEED_ID);
        datain.syncPachube(); 

PUT DATA:
ERxPachubeDataOut dataout("PACHUBE_API_KEY", PACHUBE_FEED_ID);
        dataout.addData(0);
        dataout.addData(1);
        dataout.addData(2);

        dataout.updateData(0, analogRead(0));
        dataout.updateData(1, analogRead(1));
        dataout.updateData(2, "Arduino Data");
        dataout.updatePachube();

I'll be testing this library later today and posting a dirty sketch for you to grab and try yourself.

Makers: Mini Maker Faire Toronto from Ryan Varga on Vimeo.