Tag Archives: The Great Big Skills Share Jamboree

Jamboree feedback

Just gathering a few bits of feedback from the day…

It all went swimmingly. Or at least as swimmingly as things can go without anything getting wet. Which was in itself an achievement, given the amount of indoor cycling.

I can now correctly identify the absence of birds from a field; various people now appreciate whole new linguistic dimensions to beer-spilling; my Macgyver-spec swiss army knife no longer bears the blunt (see what I did there) of two decades of impromptu wire stripping, while Macgyver himself saved the world from sulphuric acid and terible 80s shoes. I smoothed dead vegetables without the aid of abrasives; got improvisational with XLR cables; wished I’d brought an oscilloscope; introduced various people to the Dark Side; successfully picked some locks (one of which was a fiddly bastard); ate the correct number of poppadoms[1]; received a hands-on practical demonstration of harmonic oscillation from a two-year-old; got oil on my head; somehow managed to acquire a Rasperry Pi and at no point fell out of a hammock.

Really, what’s not to like?

[1] Too many

Lots of interesting stuff going on, and a great space to invade for the day.

[…]we went to the Big Skills Share Jamboree, on Saturday, and it was great fun. Morgan was kept busy playing with the other two kids who were there, plus beanbags and squishy balls and giant lego, so Mom & Dad got to do some interesting things. Was nice to not just be teaching locks all day! I did an hour session and taught 7(?) women how to open a basic lock, and one lady opened all the way up to a 6 pin lock in short order!

9/10 – Would definitely recommend. Could have been easier to find the place, and the car parking, but that’s not Nikki’s fault – who puts up the road signs from the dual carriageway, then doesn’t put one up at either of the last 2 roundabouts?!

I really enjoyed it as well! I was too engrossed in my circuit bending to get involved with other stuff, but even then I had lots of fun and help from some great people!

and possibly my favourite from someone who missed out:

Holy shit thats amazing! …there’s loads of stuff I need to know in there, shame I’m busy all day tomorrow. Never even knew stuff like this existed

The Great Big Skills Share Jamboree

<-- This way to the skills

We did it!

I’m not going to attempt to list all the things that happened, all the skills that were shared and all the new things that were discovered, as I would inevitably leave too much out – there was a lot!

The Great Big Skills Share Jamboree

The photos are probably worth the several thousand words that would be required…

Many, many thanks to all the people who came and contributed in their own unique ways. (Also those who supported the event from afar.)

We’ll be doing this again at some point!

Preparing for the Skills Jamboree

knots

We’re very excited about The Great Big Skills Share Jamboree; here’s how it’s shaping up in terms of the menu of skills offered and requested so far…

Skills on the share list:

  • Basic electronics
  • computer programming
  • bicycle maintenance
  • British Sign Language
  • aperture, shutter speed and ISO numbers for the photographically challenged
  • greenwood carving / knife skills
  • chemistry
  • making clay animals and figures out of self hardening clay
  • WordPress
  • editing Wikipedia
  • identification of garden birds
  • using Linux and unconventional methods to create generative art
  • soldering
  • microcontroller programming
  • hardware reuse
  • lockpicking

Skills on the requested list so far:

  • Juggling
  • knitting
  • magic / card tricks
  • Arduino
  • Raspberry Pi
  • becoming a billionaire
  • making music using either hardware or software
  • sewing
  • playing guitar
  • learning another (human) language
  • interfacing electronics to the real world, radio (xBee) remote control
  • British Sign Language
  • soldering electronic components

How cool is that?!

So if anything on either of those lists takes your fancy, or if you’d like to contribute something completely different, OR if you’d just like to come and soak it all up, you’d be very welcome to join us!

The day will evolve around who comes along and what direction our interests and curiosity take us, so don’t feel you can’t contribute, because being there and getting involved is really the only requirement…

It’s a free event, this Saturday, 10:30 for an 11am start, finishing at 6:30 followed by an optional curry and MacGyver session afterwards.

Register at: http://skillssharejamboree.eventbrite.co.uk/

See you there!

A smörgåsbord of skills

This post lists the skills for people coming to The Great Big Skills Share Jamboree. We’ll update it as new people sign up – in the meantime, use it for inspiration and for spotting interesting sessions you’d like to see happen. Let us know what you think in the comments…

Name:
Nikki
Skills I might like to share (if I wasn’t going to be busy hosting this event!):
intro to soldering ~ WordPress wrangling ~ happy to say encouraging and periodically useful things whilst people learn to juggle ~ contribute to a collective sharing of basic Japanese
Skills I’d quite like to learn:
how to say the Welsh alphabet ~ unicycling ~ sign language ~ how to whistle LOUD (that way where you put your fingers in your mouth) ~ bike maintenance and route planning

Name:
Kim
Skills I might like to share:
Basic electronics, computer programming, bicycle maintenance, British Sign Language, sanding wood, etc.

Name:
Natalya
Skills I might like to share:
British Sign Language, Print & Web accessibility

Name:
Charlotte Barnes
Skills I might like to share:
Cabin Doors to Manual: How and why you should operate your camera on modes other than “P” and “Auto” – a hands-on introduction to Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO numbers for the photographically challenged.
Greenwood carving, based around knife skills. It’s beyond the scope of a 60 minute long session to teach anyone to carve a spoon, but I’m confident I can teach the basics of how to use a knife in this time. Types of blade, the main grips and how not to cut yourself.
Knife sharpening: The Scary Sharp System – using abrasive paper and flat boards to sharpen and then strop simple blades.
Campfire building and lighting 101. Although if we’re indoors, probably best to leave this for some other time…
Skills I might like to learn:
Juggling Knitting Magic / card tricks

Name:
Kevin
Skills I might like to share:
Chemistry
Skills I might like to learn:
Arduino, Raspberry Pi

Name:
Glenda
Skills I might like to share:
Making clay animals and figures out of self hardening clay.

Name:
Mark
Skills I might like to share:
WordPress
Skills I might like to learn:
Arduino/Raspberry Pi

Name:
Andy Mabbett (@pigsonthewing)
Skills I might like to share:
Editing Wikipedia (Sign up for a Wikipedia account in advance); identify garden birds
Skills I might like to learn:
Become a billionaire

Name:
Antonio Roberts
Skills I might like to share:
Using Linux and unconventional methods to create generative art – mostly utilising Pure Data, Processing, command-line utilities and broken and/or obsolete hardware (Please bring anything that can make noises!)
Skills I might like to learn:
Making music using either hardware or software

Name:
Rob A
Skills I might like to share:
Electronics, Soldering, Microcontroller Programming, Hardware reuse.
Skills I might like to learn:
Sewing, Guitar, Learn another (Human) language.

Name:
Matt
Skills I might like to share:
Cycle maintenance

Name:
Nigel
Skills I might like to share:
Locksport, mostly [lockpicking -Bring a lock if you’d like us to (try and) open it!]. Tonnes of other stuff if need be – invention, prototyping, CAD, making, how to determine if your idea is worth going ahead with.
Skills I might like to learn:
Interfacing electronics to the real world, radio (xBee) remote control

Name:
John Naughton
Skills I might like to share:
Competitive lockpicking.

Name:
Crinklylion
Skills I might like to learn:
British Sign Language

Name:
Steve Green
Skills I might like to share:
Bicycle Maintenance
Skills I might like to learn:
Soldering electronic components, Raspberry Pi and Arduino

Name:
Stuart
Skills I might like to share:
Computering, making electronic music, photography, photoshop
Skills I might like to learn:
Drumming

Name:
Oscar Byrne
Skills I might like to share:
C++, general physics, game of go, basic knowledge of ableton (music production)
Skills I might like to learn:
basic german, generative art

Name:
Richard Fitzgerald
Skills I might like to share:
Programming, general physics