Radical/Networks

October 24-25, 2015
Integrated Digital Media
MAGNET NYU Poly, Brooklyn, NY

Carrie Kengle

Carrie Kengle is a New York based developer and designer. She is an active open-source contributor and can be found using the Raspberry Pi to create installations, web and data driven LED works


Presenting with Bruno Kruse

Workshop: How Was Your Day, an Ambient Network

"How Was Your Day" is an experimental social network that enables you to communicate via color and light.

Light patterns and color as forms communication has been explored throughout history. Examples include signal lamps, morse code, smoke signals and smartphone notifications. Can we develop our own ambient language using only patterns, light and color?

Together in this workshop we are looking to push the these concepts further with our favorite modern-day web technologies. We will be designing a peer-to-peer communication network using software and hardware tools including Raspberry Pi, MeteorJS, MQTT, LED Strips and breakout boards.

In the first half of the workshop we will learn about basic setup, networking and communication with Raspberry Pi. In the second half we'll build out the hardware component of the project to display our network data via light. Our breakout board kit is designed to be a simple way to connect LED strips to the RaspberryPi GPIO.

Workshop Agenda

  • Setting up the RPi
  • Installing our social network templates. NodeJS + MQTT
  • Break
  • Hardware jam and building

Prerequisites

Basic programming knowledge recommended. (JavaScript)

Materials

Bring $60 cash to purchase at the workshop, or bring your own:

  • Raspberry Pi Model B+
  • USB WiFi dongle (802.11b/g/n)
  • 8GB Card w/ Raspbian Wheezy
  • 5V 2A MicroUSB power cable

We will also provide each attendee with these additional items:

  • Custom hardware
  • LED Strip
  • 5V power supply for the LEDs

Each participant should have a laptop with a text editor and an SSH client installed.