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Come_IN: Expanding Computer Clubs
Towards Tinkering and Making
Abstract
Come_IN computer clubs are well established and long-
running constructionist facilities in Germany and
Palestine in which children and adults can learn, play
and collaborate on projects using ICT. We are currently
expanding the clubs into the realms of making,
tinkering and digital fabrication. This paper outlines the
clubs, their educational background and our previous
and ongoing projects relating to making in the clubs
which relate to Arduino and 3d-printing. We then
expand on our aims for the future which comprise laser
cutting / engraving. At the Teaching to Tinker
workshop, we plan to assemble a DIY laser cutter and
to discuss its application in educational settings on the
living object, so to speak.
Author Keywords
Making; computer clubs; CSCL; constructionism; laser
cutting; education; digital fabrication
ACM Classification Keywords
K.3.1. Computer Uses in Education
Introduction
Over the last 10 years and within the research project
come_IN, we have built a network of computer clubs
for children and adults with different cultural and ethnic
backgrounds in which they can meet, work, play, learn
and collaborate as well as express themselves through
different projects based on Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) [7]. The network
consists of multiple clubs in Germany as well as two
clubs in Palestine, located in refugee camps in the West
Bank. All come_IN clubs are based on a constructionist
understanding [2] of learning which emphasizes
exploration and tinkering. They focus on education,
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Oliver Stickel
University of Siegen
Hoelderlinstr. 3.
57076 Siegen, Germany
oliver.stickel@uni-siegen.de
Dominik Hornung
University of Siegen, Germany
dominik.hornung@uni-siegen.de
Volkmar Pipek
University of Siegen, Germany
volkmar.pipek@uni-siegen.de
Volker Wulf
University of Siegen, Germany
volker.wulf@uni-siegen.de
bridging the digital divide as well as on integration.
Participants gather at the come_IN clubs voluntarily,
usually once a week, for joint sessions and projects
which are usually related in a meaningful way to their
individual situation, values or experiences. Up until
mid-2014, the ICT used in the come_IN clubhouses has
focused mainly on completely digital aspects, e.g. basic
programming skills or multimedia projects. We are,
however, working towards expanding our clubs into the
physical domain and its combination with virtual
aspects, embracing making and are currently planning
to broaden this line of work. In this paper, we will give
a brief overview about come_IN, our pilot projects in
making and tinkering in our clubs as well as expand on
our aims and discussion points for the next steps on
bringing come_IN towards more comprehensive social-
physical-digital maker environments.
About come_IN
Come_IN is based on the computer clubhouse project
in the United States [3] which has sparked a global
network of such clubs which are all centered around
collaborative learning via ICT. This is framed by
constructionism as a learning theory which describes
learning as the construction of individual cognitive
structures (mental models) embedded in a situated
context which is best facilitated by the construction of
actual digital and physical artifacts [2]. Come_IN
follows this basic idea but expands on it in that it also
includes aspects of integration [7]: Our clubs mainly
target areas with a significant migrant population where
socio-cultural integration is a problem. In Germany,
this e.g. relates to the German-Turkish community,
which still is confronted with disparate opportunities
and education. In our Palestinian clubs, issues are even
more manifold, ranging from the regional socio-political
problems, conflicts and instabilities over gender issues
and inequalities up to the marginalized state of the
Palestinian refugees in their own society – a more in-
depth look at this complexity can be found in [1].
Furthermore, the come_IN approach can be described
as grassroots-oriented: Each club is established in a
bottom-up fashion together with local actors. Over the
years, a successful model emerged which consists of
coupling the clubs with institutions like elementary
schools in Germany or social centers in refugee camps
in Palestine which help provide continuity, space and
situatedness. Collaboration with a local university has
also proved to be very valuable – it can provide
(student) volunteers to tutor the usually weekly club
sessions, bring in innovation in the form of new ICT or
project ideas, outside perspective as well as build up
meaningful collaboration between children, adults,
parents and students / researchers.
Making in come_IN
Until recently, come_IN focused its use of ICT mainly
towards primarily digital technologies, e.g. Scratch [6],
an educational visual programming environment
utilized to create digital artifacts like games or
animations which is deeply rooted in constructionist and
computer supported collaborative learning tradition.
However, with the growing proliferation of new forms of
rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies
which increasingly blur the lines between physical and
digital, new opportunities for come_IN arise: Those
technologies as well as the related maker culture can
spark playful engagement, disrupt the traditional role of
the end user as consumer, help form new communities
of practice and generate meaningful socio-technical
artifacts spanning the digital-physical divide [8]. Up
until now, within come_in, we have started to explore
the opportunities afforded by tinkering and making in
two main projects:
Tangible e-textiles
This research was focused on exploring Arduino-based
programming and children’s motivations to make and
use e-textiles within the come_IN clubs. As our
colleagues put it: “[our] contribution is to present a
study […] which demonstrates that e-textiles promote
children’s computational literacy, while at the same
time allowing them to construct flexible gender
identities as makers.” [9]. One of the key findings here
is that while at the start, project and making decisions
of the children were informed by traditional gender
roles, this changed over the course of their projects
when the lines between “feminine” craft and aesthetics
and “masculine” technical building blurred more and
more. We value and encourage meaningful discussions
about such issues and insights regarding making and
tinkering in educational settings. For us, those insights
will also inform our future work in Palestine where
traditional gender roles are fixed and lived quite
rigorously with negative impacts on expression and
integration.
Playful 3d-printing and -modeling
We are conducting ongoing work regarding digital
fabrication in our HCI research group, e.g. regarding
the appropriation of 3d-printing and how to make it
more sociable [4] which cumulates in the currently
ongoing founding of Fab Lab Siegen1, an open,
interdisciplinary Makerspace tied into our university as
well as the surrounding city. These interests in digital
1 http://www.fablab-siegen.de
fabrication are also reflected in come_IN: In one of our
German clubs, we started to explore the video game
Minecraft as a playful and engaging way to introduce
children to digital fabrication and to explore the role
and implications of additive manufacturing in education
as well as to work towards designing appropriate tools
to support this goal. Recently, we also expanded this
line of work into our Palestinian clubs (see Fig. 1): Two
researchers spent five weeks in the field in the area
around Ramallah, brought a small 3d-printer and
started introducing the technology to children aged 8-
14 in two of the come_IN clubs. Here, CubeTeam2 was
used instead of Minecraft – it employs a similar modus
operandi (simple, collaborative and cube-based, Lego-
like building of 3d-models) but does not require local
installations and servers which would not have been
possible with the locally available infrastructure. Some
first findings have been briefly described in [5] and we
are currently working on the more detailed analysis as
well as related publications. A few notable preliminary
aspects are:
The amount of motivation and engagement facilitated
through 3d-printing for children is substantial and
valuable – seeing your own virtual creation taking
physical form, being able to take it home, show it to
friends and parents and directly spark discussions
seems like a huge benefit of digital fabrication –
especially in areas where most homes do not possess
computers, let alone internet access. Collaborative
modeling via the computer also seems to be valuable,
providing venues for sharing, modifying and expanding
on designs – in the come_IN case prospectively across
thousands of kilometers between Germany and
2 http://www.cubeteam.io
Fig. 1: Making in Palestine
Palestine, where those designs can then not only be
worked on collaboratively but actually printed out in
situ, helping intercultural understanding and integration
along. We furthermore gathered insights into relevant
design implications for playful, engaging 3d modeling
tools, e.g. regarding the difficulty of children in virtual
spatial orientation and mapping of navigation to
modeling task. We also gathered first results regarding
the situatedness of the models the children chose to
design and print – they often related to personal and
meaningful aspects like names, fantasy creatures with
meaning to the child or buildings like mosque-inspired
structures in Palestine or the children’s school in
Germany. We believe it will be more than interesting to
see how this project develops more long-term. For the
duration of the researcher’s stay in Palestine, most of
the projects covered mainly very basic “learning the
ropes”-aspects – we will continue to inquire into future
appropriation of the technology, the resulting projects
as well as collaboration, locally as well as globally.
Future Making in come_IN
As stated before, we are intending to expand the
aspects of tinkering and making in the come_IN clubs.
One part of this agenda will be the continuous work
with / observation of the 3d-printing technology in
Palestine. Furthermore, we are also considering
deploying a 3d-printer on a more long-term basis in
one of our German clubs (the previous 3d-printing
projects there were short-term) to better be able to
compare results from both clubs.
3d-printing is on everyone’s lips right now and we are
convinced of its importance and future prospects.
However, it is important to remember that making is so
much more than that – it is a huge continuum ranging
from CNC-milling up to computer controlled knitting.
This is why we intend to also expand the come_IN
clubs into other realms of making: One such venture
which we would like to address at the Teaching to
Tinker workshop is laser cutting / engraving. We
believe that this technology fits very well with our
previous work: Similarly to 3d-printing, a computer
generated model / drawing is translated into
instructions for a moving toolhead, this time
subtracting material instead of adding it layer by layer,
illustrating both digital fabrication paradigms in a hands
on fashion for young tinkerers and makers. Laser
cutting and engraving also ties into the gender aspects
discussed in Tangible e-textiles in that lasers as a
“male” engineering tool are often used to artistically
customize artifacts in a “female” fashion – even
clothing like Jeans can be engraved this way, blurring
traditional gender identities and associations and
hopefully expanding horizons.
Laser cutting is not as far along on the way to
consumer availability and affordability as 3d printing,
but there are developments in this directions. At the
re:publica conference in Berlin, we got to know the
team behind the project Resha Laser3 (see Fig. 2), an
open source, affordable DIY laser cutter/engraver
based on off-the-shelf as well as 3d-printed parts and
some custom, but open source, electronic parts. It is
also intended to be well suited for beginners (e.g. by
interfacing with a mobile phone and not utilizing
complicated software) and not to be improperly
dangerous – it can engrave fabric and cut paper or
cardboard which also helps to keep the price down. Put
simply, the Resha is very well suited for constructionist
3 http://www.reshalaser.org
Fig. 2: Resha Laser (parts,
assembled, engraving fabric).
Source: www.reshalaser.org
learning environments, ranging from the building of the
machine itself up to its prospective uses which is why
we are planning to deploy it in some of the come_IN
clubs. The Resha is also what we would like to work on
during the Teaching to Tinker workshop as outlined in
the following section.
Workshop challenge and questions
For the Teaching to Tinker workshop, we would like to
bring a Resha lasercutter kit. Due to time constraints,
we will not be able to build one completely from
scratch, so we will partly pre-assemble the machine
and then do the final assembly and test runs at the
workshop. This is intended to give all interested parties
a hands-on tinkering experience about and a feel for
the machine as well as to utilize it as an object for
discussion. Some discussion points (we are sure more
will arise in situ) are:
• How to tie in the Resha into the existing
come_IN infrastructure and approach?
• Brainstorming for projects or concepts.
• Safety issues – playful and open exploration
vs. the dangers of lasers (and other fabrication
machines).
• Opportunities for sharing designs and
collaborating with the Resha.
• And, of course: Finding like-minded makers
and educators to learn from each other, our
respective projects and educational positions.
We will bring the Resha parts as well as the necessary
tools to assemble the machine – we will also document
the project with photographs and field notes. A working
paper about the project might be a possible outcome
from the workshop, depending on the interests of the
other participants.
References
1. Aal, K., Yerousis, G., Schubert, K., Hornung, D.,
Stickel, O., and Wulf, V. Come_IN@Palestine:
Adapting a German Computer Club Concept to a
Palestinian Refugee Camp. Proc. of the 5th ACM
CABS conference, ACM New York (2014).
2. Harel, I. and Papert, S. Constructionism. In
Constructionism. 1991, xi, 518.
3. Kafai, Y.B., Peppler, K.A., and Chapman, R.N. The
Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and
Creativity in Youth Communities. Technology,
Education--Connections. Teachers College Press;
192pp.Dec 2009., (2009), 192.
4. Ludwig, T., Stickel, O., Boden, A., and Pipek, V.
Towards Sociable Technologies: An Empirical Study
on Designing Appropriation Infrastructures for 3D
Printing. Proc. ACM DIS 2014, 835-844.
5. Rekowski, T. Von, Boden, A., Stickel, O., Hornung,
D., and Stevens, G. Playful, collaborative
approaches to 3D modeling and 3D printing.
Mensch und Computer 2014.
6. Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernandez, A., et
al. Scratch: Programming for All. Communications
of the ACM 52, (2009), 60–67.
7. Stevens, G., Veith, M., and Wulf, V. Bridging
among ethnic communities by cross-cultural
communities of practice. Proceedings of the 2nd
Communities and Technologies Conference,
(2005), 377–396.
8. Tanenbaum, J.G., Williams, A.M., Desjardins, A.,
and Tanenbaum, K. Democratizing technology:
pleasure, utility and expressiveness in DIY and
maker practice. Proc. CHI 2013, 2603–2612.
9. Weibert, A., Marshall, A., Aal, K., Schubert, K., and
Rode, J. Sewing Interest in E-textiles: Analyzing
Making from a Gendered Perspective. Proc. ACM
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