News
We held a general member meeting on January 12th. Members came in to learn and discuss some of the options and plans for MakeICT regarding location and equipment. We then held an official vote, and the people have spoken! They approved the MakeICT board to pursue a new location and purchase $41,500 worth of new equipment and tools! That list includes a laser cutter, a new 3D printer, a sewing machine, screen printing equipment, a pottery wheel, a kiln, several different machines to build out a wood shop and a metal shop, and various electronics. Are we missing something vital that you’ve just been waiting for? Well become a member today and join the conversation!
Past Events
Workshops
Chibitronics
With the help of our partners at Instructables and supplies from Chibitronics, Mike Doolittle led a workshop of crafting and creating with sticky-circuits and conductive tape. Here’s a project Kevin Falting made from what he learned at the workshop:
Advanced 3D Printing
As usual, James Lancaster impressed us all with his depth of knowledge in 3D printing and modeling. This month’s Advanced 3D Printing workshop focused primarily on OpenSCAD. OpenSCAD is software that works like a programming language for defining precise 3D models. Pretty cool stuff!
2015 Kickoff with devICT and Startup Wichita
My, my, how time flies! We kicked off another year with the fine folks at devICT and Startup Wichita. It was a great time for people to come out, share projects, meet new people, and celebrate all of the great things happening in Wichita in 2015! Thanks to The Labor Party for hosting!
devICT Events
Hackathon
A hackathon is an all-day event where developers gather under one roof and focus their attention on intense productivity. Hackathons often come with a theme, common goal, or competition, but this month’s hackathon was free-form. People were invited bring a project they’ve been working on or to try something entirely new. Looking forward to the next one!
Monthly Talk
This months talk was titled Intelligent GUI Automation with Sikuli or “There’s no API for that :(“ – presented by yours truly. This was the first monthly talk after breaking for the holidays, and attendance was impressive! These talks are always better in person, but if you happened to miss it, you can always watch it online.
Upcoming Events
February 7 – Let’s make moving Valentines with Valerie Lillich
Many ‘vintage’ valentines contain movement. Participants will be able to recreate three different mechanical cards in this workshop. They can also use the basic templates to make their own mechanical cards.
There are three different card types that will be covered:
- Slide card including a pull tab
- Moving wheel card
- Changing picture card
This is a beginner level workshop for all ages and costs $3.
February 10 – devICT Nerd Beers
Nerd Beers is an informal social gathering and open hack night. Bring some beer (if you’d like), bring your laptop (if you’d like) and come hang out and nerd out with fellow Wichita developers.
Feel free to bring a project to work on, or just show up and see what everyone else is up to. This is a completely open social gathering, the only rule is to get out of the house and show up.
February 19 – MakeICT at WCES (volunteer opportunity)
MakeICT will have a table set up at the Wichita Council of Engineering Societies Annual Banquet, and we need 2 volunteers from 5pm to about 6:45pm. We will be showcasing our 3D printer & foam cutter, and volunteers are needed to help with setup, tear-down, and sharing information about MakeICT. Interested in helping? Join the conversation!
February 21 – MakeICT at SWE Expo (volunteer opportunity)
Every year, the Wichita chapter of the Society of Women Engineers hosts this free event for kids in grades K-8. There are tons of hands-on, engineering activities and workshops showcasing different fields of engineering at different booths. MakeICT will have a booth, and we could use your help to make sure it runs smoothly. If you’re interested in helping out, please join the conversation!
February 26 – devICT Monthly talk: Real time media manipulation using Pure Data with John Harrison
Forget everything you know about procedural languages and object-oriented languages; Pure Data is none of those. Created for real-time manipulation of all media, Pure Data models the framework of old-school analog synthesizers. Code consists of diagrams describing data flowing between multiple objects.
With an emphasis on raw performance, Pure Data is popular with New Media artists and is the sound engine for some commercial games. Pure Data is open-source and cross-platform.
Here are some examples of projects powered by Pure Data.
March events
- Beginner’s crochet workshop
- Pi Day workshop
- Learn to solder workshop
Open Hack Nights
Don’t forget, every other Monday is Open Hack Night! We open our doors to the public and invite people to bring a project, bring a friend, or just bring themselves. There’s always something interesting going on!