23-07-04
Fablab Week 2
Report from Amy Sun


An update... slow connection, lass please forward to phm / fablab / 
setc family as appropriate?

End of second week... enthusiasm as seen in first week has not waned 
but increased.  In part I think this is because students are 
taking/just completed their exams and are coming to the lab begging 
to take a class or get trained on the equipment.  Begging.  No, 
really, actually, begging.

Received & installed new compressor valve thingy for laser cutter air 
assist.  Also received three plastic dust bins all the way from 
Boston (they are available in the market, too, its just that they 
don't use them when they can just sweep stuff out the door).  The lab 
is now extremely well stocked in electronics components, missing only 
display type devices (don't send, just a note).  

We now have two IMP3's stuffed and will move on to cable making and 
programming tonight.  Collection of students and a teacher made first 
one, Emmanuel from Mayor's office made the second one with guidance 
from teacher from first board.  The teacher's name sounds like Mr. 
Fenn, he is one of the computer lab teachers.

Having exhausted our supply of cards in the first week, we have cut 
all sorts of pieces out of card stock and sometimes but not always 
glued it to something else.  The students seem reasonable comfortable 
and competent at using the camm but some continue to be perplexed 
about the relationship between speed, force, and material.  We've 
depleted about half of the cardstock I brought, but don't send more, 
the stuff is just mush here.  

We are producing keychains by the pocketful.  At first blush this 
might not sound profound, however, most students at TTI take only one 
computer course and many take none so they show up in our lab with 
zero to very little computer skills.  They so desperately want 
florescent pink keychains that they eagerly spend hours in the 
process.  I wish there was some way to measure or quantify mouse-eye 
coordination because the effect in just under 2 weeks is 
transformational.  This is particularly true with some of the rising 
14-and-under children.

The fun foam (aka foamies) were extremely popular and we're all out.  
The creativity of the children is jaw dropping astounding.  Some of 
them caught on to how cam.py outlines their solid strokes and made 
some really neat closed-form designs.  I found glue sticks in the 
market (we were using paste which was quite messy) and a frenzy of 
foam glued to foam or cardstock went on until we ran out of foam.

I have purchased some nice veneer wood from the local market and of 
course it cuts and etchs quite nicely.  Plywood abounds too, but I 
was afraid it would be too thick and heavy to carry back from the 
market (I was driverless that day) but can try later.  There is a 
bark too that they peel off the coconut trees I'd like to try, and 
I've found a tree that has beans nearly 2 feet long that are wood in 
texture once it is dried.  Big, broad leaves were nice but the 
thicker veins didn't cut through with a low power that made the rest 
of the cut not burn.  With the veneer, we've been making airplanes 
and yesterday began experimenting on making and heating then bending 
acrylic propellors for the airplanes.  It's both inexpensive and 
expensive at the same time, meaning, it's on par with foam and paper 
and the relative cost that is to an American parent in America but 
not exactly highly affordable for the average child that comes in.  

Not all but most students are very perplexed about object positioning 
on the laser cutter.  At the same time, some students nestle cuts in 
such a way to make even Saul happy.  The relationship between power, 
speed, rate, and material is hit or miss among students too.  I think 
they are very used to rote learning and keep trying to use the same 
number regardless of material, sometimes putting in correct numbers 
in the wrong places (ie, swapping rate and power).

I have announced to the students that at the end of the class they 
will be given an examination and if they pass they will become 
authorized "superusers" of the equipment.  We'll put up the 
list/photos of superusers and they will be added as more people 
pass.  Which means I need to come up with a basic and advanced camm, 
rml, and epi competency exam and ensuing certificates.  No 
certificate, no cut (without certified supervision).  The students 
themselves ask for this kind of structure.  I'm guessing the 
workforce is like this.

Hold off on naming summer lab assistant students.  As we move onto 
more difficult topics, skills and capabilities are emerging (or not 
emerging) that are slightly different than from our first 
observations.

We will test the wireless connection to the Windows PC lab next door 
this Saturday using a NetGear USB 802.11 adapter I brought.  The 
router is just on the other side of a cement wall so in theory it 
might come up.  Computer time is extremely difficult to come by, even 
for me.

Today was the brightest day since I've been here, just over 100 kLx 
around 11am.  (All previous days were somewhere around 15kLx).  With 
my fresnel lens I could burn my name in cardboard.  As of this 
writing, neither lab, school, nor lawn are on fire.  

I have old version of para.py here, not the one that does slices.  

I came with the impression that many things could be found in Accra 
and less things could be found in Takoradi.  I don't think this 
statement is quite fair, in addition to the daily living type items 
I've found phone cards, bearings, brass fittings/tubing, UPSes, etc.  
There's even canned Starkist canned tuna fish, and the expiration 
date hasn't passed.  There seems to be more of an "unable to afford" 
gap than a "doesn't exist" gap.  For the benefit of any future 
visitors, especially female visitors, I have identified for sale in 
the markets and stores all the things you would think you must bring 
from the states in terms of toiletries and basic pharmaceuticals.  
The exception to this statement is contact lense solution and DEET.  
I'm glad I bought that extra bottle of contact solution in London!

Argh, time up at cafe, more if I manage to buy a card.
--amy.