Textile Messages

This book introduces a collection of tools that enable novices – including educators, hobbyists, and youth designers – to create and learn with e-textiles. It then examines how these tools are reshaping technology education – and DIY practices – across the K-16 spectrum.

Leah Buechley is an Associate Professor at the MIT Media Lab where she directs the High-Low Tech research group, exploring the integration of high and low technology from cultural, material, and practical perspectives. She is a well-known expert in the field of electronic textiles (e-textiles), and her work in this area includes developing the LilyPad Arduino toolkit. Her research was the recipient of a 2011 NSF CAREER award and has been featured in numerous articles in publications including the , and the . She received PhD and MS degrees in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BA in physics from Skidmore College. Kylie Peppler is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. An artist by training, Peppler engages in research that focuses on interest-driven arts learning at the intersection of the arts, computation, and new media. Peppler completed her PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), studying the media arts practices of urban youth at a Computer Clubhouse in South Los Angeles. During this time, Peppler was involved in the early study and development of Scratch (scratch.mit.edu), a media-rich programming environment, which resulted in numerous journal articles as well as a co-edited book titled, (Teachers College Press, 2009). The National Science Foundation, the Wallace Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative have supported Peppler’s research. Most recently, Peppler has been developing and studying educational applications of e-textiles across formal and informal learning environments. Michael Eisenberg and his wife Ann Eisenberg co-direct the Craft Technology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). The focus of the lab’s research is in blending novel technologies with educational craft activities for children. Mike Eisenberg is a President’s Teaching Scholar at CU, and in 2010 received the University’s prestigious Thomas Jefferson Award. He holds MS and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Find out more at http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~ctg/Craft_Tech.html. Yasmin Kafai is Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the design and study of new learning and gaming technologies in schools, community centers, and virtual worlds. Book publications include (MIT Press) and (Teachers College Press). Recent collaborations with MIT researchers have resulted in the development of Scratch, a media-rich programming environment for designers of all ages, to create and share games, art, and stories. Current projects examine creativity in the design of computational textiles with urban youth. Kafai earned a doctorate from Harvard University while working at the MIT Media Lab.

«This book will delight and inspire you with stories of wonderfully-inventive e-textile fashions and crafts. But don’t focus too much on the creations themselves, charming as they might be. What’s most exciting is not what people are creating, but how the act of creating is changing the ways people think about themselves. With e-textiles, a broader and more diverse range of people are starting to see themselves as designers and creators of new technologies, with growing confidence that they, too, can be active contributors to today’s digital culture.» (Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab) « is such an extraordinary book, especially for anyone who marvels in the juxtaposition of unsuspecting elements (fashion and technology) and ways of being in the world (traditional crafts and modern innovation). If you are someone who loves the arts, is fascinated with the current technology and all it can do, this book will thrill you. If you are someone who is concerned about breaking the gender gap in computing, and making computer science accessible to all people, this book will inspire you, give you lots of ideas, and give you hope.» (Jane Margolis, Senior Researcher, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, author of ) «Re-connecting craft with technology, e-textiles is a growing field that inspires new forms of personal expression and interaction design. This book elevates the practice of learning to use e-textiles by mapping the busy intersection of physical materials, electronics, and computation.» (Dale Dougherty, President and CEO of Maker Media, ake magazine, and Maker Faire) « chronicles the creative integration of textiles, electronics, and computation in the service of education, innovation, and a more inclusive engineering culture. Bringing together the voices of engineers, artists, and educators, the book weaves together concrete examples of creative work and educational practice with thoughtful discussions of learning theory, feminist agendas, and historical perspective. It will appeal to educators, parents, makers, and researchers – anyone with an interest in women and technology, DIY culture, and educational innovation.» (Mizuko Ito, Professor, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, author of )

«This book will delight and inspire you with stories of wonderfully-inventive e-textile fashions and crafts. But don’t focus too much on the creations themselves, charming as they might be. What’s most exciting is not what people are creating, but how the act of creating is changing the ways people think about themselves. With e-textiles, a broader and more diverse range of people are starting to see themselves as designers and creators of new technologies, with growing confidence that they, too, can be active contributors to today’s digital culture.» (Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media Lab) « is such an extraordinary book, especially for anyone who marvels in the juxtaposition of unsuspecting elements (fashion and technology) and ways of being in the world (traditional crafts and modern innovation). If you are someone who loves the arts, is fascinated with the current technology and all it can do, this book will thrill you. If you are someone who is concerned about breaking the gender gap in computing, and making computer science accessible to all people, this book will inspire you, give you lots of ideas, and give you hope.» (Jane Margolis, Senior Researcher, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, author of ) «Re-connecting craft with technology, e-textiles is a growing field that inspires new forms of personal expression and interaction design. This book elevates the practice of learning to use e-textiles by mapping the busy intersection of physical materials, electronics, and computation.» (Dale Dougherty, President and CEO of Maker Media, ake magazine, and Maker Faire) « chronicles the creative integration of textiles, electronics, and computation in the service of education, innovation, and a more inclusive engineering culture. Bringing together the voices of engineers, artists, and educators, the book weaves together concrete examples of creative work and educational practice with thoughtful discussions of learning theory, feminist agendas, and historical perspective. It will appeal to educators, parents, makers, and researchers – anyone with an interest in women and technology, DIY culture, and educational innovation.» (Mizuko Ito, Professor, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, author of )

Contents: Becky Stern: Vignette: LilyPad Arduino Embroidery – Michel Guglielmi/Hanne-Louise Johannesen: Vignette: The Climate Dress – Kalani Craig: Vignette: Know-It-All Knitting Bag – Leah Buechley: LilyPad Arduino: E-Textiles for Everyone – Despina Papadopoulos/Zach Eveland: Vignette: FabricKit & Masai Dress – Grace Ngai/Stephen C.F. Chan/Vincent T.Y. Ng: i*CATch: A Plug-n-Play Kit for Wearable Computing – Nwanua Elumeze: Traveling Light: Making Textiles Programmable «Through the Air» – Lynne Bruning: Vignette: Mrs. Mary Atkins-Holl – Hannah Perner-Wilson/Leah Buechley: Handcrafting Textile Sensors – Kylie Peppler/Diane Glosson: Learning about Circuitry with E-textiles in After-school Settings – Yasmin Kafai/Deborah Fields/Kristin Searle: Making Connections Across Disciplines in High School E-Textile Workshops – Heidi Schelhowe/Eva-Sophie Katterfeldt/Nadine Dittert/Milena Reichel: EduWear: E-Textiles in Youth Sports and Theater – Eric Lindsay: Vignette: The Space Between Us: Electronic Music + Modern Dance + E-Textiles – Kylie Peppler/ Leslie Sharpe/Diane Glosson: E-Textiles and the New Fundamentals of Fine Arts – Diana Eng: Vignette: FairyTale Fashion – Mike Eisenberg/Ann Eisenberg/Yingdan Huang: Bringing E-Textiles into Engineering Education – Osamu Iwasaki: Vignette: Amirobo: Crocheted Robot – Kylie Peppler /Joshua Danish: E-Textiles for Educators: Participatory Simulations with e-Puppetry – Leah Buechley/Jennifer Jacobs/Benjamin Mako Hill: LilyPad in the Wild: Technology DIY, E-Textiles, and Gender – Thecla Schiphorst/Jinsil Seo: Vignette: Tendrils: Sensing & Sharing Touch – Daniela K. Rosner: Mediated Craft: Digital Practices around Creative Handwork – Joanna Berzowska: E-Textile Technologies in Design, Research and Pedagogy – Kate Hartman: Vignette: Muttering Hat – Shaowen Bardzell: E-Textiles and the Body: Feminist Technologies and Design Research – Maggie Orth: Adventures in Electronic Textiles.