hello friends!
thanks so much for signing up for this journey! I hope to make this newsletter a calming, safe space where we can share resources and projects among friends, especially for those of us who don’t need more time on Facebook.
resource roundup!
here’s some of my favorite links from the past week!
have any of y’all played with Adafruit AR yet? there’s a new release (1.5) out now. you can even watch Circuit Playground videos! I still haven’t tinkered with any of the Circuit Playground boards myself, but I think I’m going to cave and splurge before I leave the US in November, if only to get myself back in the hardware groove. (fun fact: Radioshack is still alive and well in Mexico, but sadly, shipping in hardware from abroad is a bit of a gamble.)
like everything from Adafruit, the CircuitPython 101 guides have been pretty thorough, friendly approaches to their subject matter. they recently released a new guide focused on lists, iterators and generators. this is one of their more advanced guides, but if you want to start with the basics they have you covered with their Welcome to CircuitPython! introduction. so, basically, it’s even more incentive for me to buy that Circuit Playground Express that I have my eye on….
I’ve been messing with HTML5 canvas for a new project and it can be amazing, but it can also tank your performance if you’ere doing anything cool. this guide to improving speed focuses on FabricJS, but some of it can also be applied to canvas in general. and also makes me want to play with FabricJS lolol.
css borders have been the bane of many a frontend task for me. different browsers render partial pixels differently, which can make a 1px border on a responsive div a glitchy cross-browser nightmare if you have 2 bordered divs that happen to be touching. u don’t even no how many times I’ve gotten a screenshot from someone who wants to know wtf is wrong with a layout and the answer is: partial pixels + border overlap. but here’s a really nice run down of all the different ways to do a 3-sided border, which is a great way to nip that in the bud.
and, engigogo popped onto my radar this week as yet another resource aggregate, but the thing that sets it apart is that breaks its resources up by who and what you need it for. if you’re trying to do something new and don’t know where to start, this feels like a really friendly way to find what you need without having to know exactly what to google. are you a dev who needs a bug tracker? there’s a category for that, and it won’t make you feel like a dummo for it being your first time at the rodeo.
? upcoming events!
thursday October 25! Seeing Through the Lens of 4D Design! NYC USA: Carla Diana is a designer, author, and educator who explores the impact of future technologies through hands-on experiments in product design and tangible interaction (aka she designs cute and intelligent robot friends). she’ll discuss the impact of 4D Design, from interactive objects and clothing to mixed reality and robotics, looking at the critical work that today’s design students will do to shape the world of tomorrow. this event is free with RSVP so you should go!
saturday October 27! Algorave! Birmingham UK: Algorave returns to Vivid Projects for a night of live, algorithmic techno and algorithmic visuals. Featuring: Shelly Knotts, co34pt, Heavy Lifting, Coral, hellocatfood, Sian Macfarlane, jack_mugglestone, Carol, Mike Dring, Echo Juliet. tix are under £10 and available on Eventbrite.
sunday October 28! TEXTFILES.COM 20th Anniversary Event! NYC USA: In October 1998, Jason Scott collected up his floppy disks from his Bulletin Board System days and put the many textfiles up on a site, TEXTFILES.COM. Over the years, tens of thousands of additional files were added to the site, and it was visited by millions. readings & storytelling + a cash bar at this event at CAVEAT bar in Manhattan. looks super cute! tix are $8 and available on Eventbrite.
opportunities:
applications are due by October 25 for the DataMade mentorship, a 6-week, one-on-one mentorship program for beginning technologists and the technologically curious working to develop a specific skill or address a specific problem. this opportunity is based in Chicago, and you need to be able to commit 9-12 hours per week to the program. Jasmine Mithani is a developer at DataMade and also a member of the AGtC Facebook group who shared this opportunity and suggested that anyone with questions should reach out.
this year’s Hacktoberfest has a social impact theme, and you’re invited to contribute for the whole month of October to a number of great projects that cover a range of abilities and skills.
the 2019 Game Developers Conference has an open call for Alt.Ctrl.GDC, the on-site showcase highlighting unique control methods for playing games. the deadline is November 30, and you’re invited to submit any and all one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties to share how they enhance game experiences and challenge expectations. more info, including some inspiration from standouts from Alt.Ctrl.GDC’s past, is available on Gamasutra.
just for lulz:
h/t to Naomi Wu for sharing this master of chindogu, Marina Fujiwara. does anyone need a machine that will dump potato chips into their mouth while lying down in bed? hell no. but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it.
*~housekeeping~*
thanks so much for being amongst my first subscribers! y’all are in some kinda beta! and thanks for being patient while I slowly figure out the next level of this community. as such, please please please reply to this email or email me directly (artistsguidetocomputation@gmail.com) with thoughts, concerns, ideas. I’ve been kicking around my own ideas for themed open calls, weekly features, etc., but I want this to feel exciting for everyone who has already made our little Facebook group a lovely space.
and as always, submit to the open artist call if you have anything in the works that you are excited about! and if you have an event or opportunity to promote (anywhere), please send me all the details. the next newsletter will cover the week of October 29 to November 4, but I’m happy to promote events farther in the future as well and keep them on the calendar.
I think with IRL responsibilities, I won’t have time for a super-issue for subscribers until December, but I aspire to get the ball rolling ASAP with all the special, exciting things that I hope this community can be.
also, I 1000% don’t want the Substack price tag to be a barrier for the upcoming super-issues. if you can swing it, please do bc it definitely makes a difference. but if you really want the content and can’t afford it rn, lmk and I can hook you up.
also also, if you’re in the general NYC area and want to meet up, I’ll be in the US until November 11. should we try and coordinate an AGtC hang? lmk! maybe we can just do a LAN party, I would be so down.
?- martha
