So my local library's makerspace offered a free event...

So my local library's makerspace offered a free event where they brought in a bunch of old tower computers, printers, game consoles, etc., - laid out a bunch of iFixit toolkits - and let everyone (kids and adults alike) take everything apart!!!

One kid was hesitant because they didn't want to break anything and the library staff were like, none of it works. We're recycling and throwing everything out afterwards! Go hog wild, you won't get in trouble! You're meant to break it and take it apart!

The kid was absolutely enthusiastic and went to town!

I got to be a kid again and go into detail about all the computer parts and what each of the hardware did. It was awesome watching my children and other kids and adults interact, share tools, show off what they found.

I spoke with the organizer afterwards and asked if this was a regular thing and he said that he didn't have enough old equipment to make it regular. I laughed and said all of my friends have CLOSETS FULL OF THIS STUFF and the idea of giving it to a bunch of kids and adults to play with would bring joy and meaning to their life, lol!

I gave him the time to meet up with @fxbghackers and told him to make a community announcement about needing old electronics for donation to take apart and he'd get truck loads.

Just another way community helps each other out. This is post scarcity education.

#solarPunk #mutualAid #community #library #makerSpace

A group of people sitting around a table with electronics in various states of disrepair.

A shot later on where the table is completely covered with PCBs and various electronics all taken a part in a wonderful joyous mess.

Like 9 July at 15:33 | Open on infosec.exchange

56 comments

toddmedema

@tinker @fxbghackers you have the coolest library! I'm totally suggesting this idea to mine 🤩

9 July at 15:37 | Open on techhub.social

Tinker ☀️

@toddmedema - And we're just a small town! Absolutely suggest the idea to yours and run with it! Libraries should be the center of every community.

9 July at 15:38 | Open on infosec.exchange

DELETED

@tinker @fxbghackers this is such a cool idea. I work in tech and just reached out to my local library suggesting this idea, since I too have an absolute butt-load of old tech!

9 July at 15:39 | Open on glammr.us

Tank

@tinker @fxbghackers TINKER! Another ABSOLUTE win of a project. This is AWESOME. I am totally going to do this.

9 July at 15:44 | Open on mastodon.social

XenoPhage :verified:

@tinker @fxbghackers Ah. Destruction Alley. We do this at BSides Delaware for the kids. It's a prime attraction in the Spawn Camp area.

9 July at 16:00 | Open on infosec.exchange

indrora, boot of journalism

@XenoPhage @tinker @fxbghackers my late friend Hugh ran these as Dr. Destructo at science fiction conventions.

My old makerspace did these all the time for maker Faire.

9 July at 16:05 | Open on furry.engineer

XenoPhage :verified:

@tinker @fxbghackers Amazing what the kids come up with too.. Some of them ended up fixing random PCs and Laptops, so they got to keep them. Others pulled parts out and made jewelry. Never a dull moment. :)

9 July at 16:06 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tinker ☀️

Note for those wanting to do similar at their local libaries... it requires very little overhead. You need a large table or set of tables. You need old junk electronics. And you need a bunch of tools (expect the tools to be abused!).

There was no teaching or slideshows or any prep. Just let people take things apart, explore, and talk to each other.

Thats it!

#solarPunk
#mutualAid
#community
#library
#makerSpace

There was no teaching or slideshows or any prep. Just let people take things apart, explore, and talk to each other.

Expand text...

9 July at 16:00 | Open on infosec.exchange

rateexportpilot

@tinker that's awesome. My wife just accepted a job as a library director at a library that has been closed since 2018, and is tasked with rebuilding from scratch! I'll pass this on to her (as well as the Seed Bank stuff!)

9 July at 16:40 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tinker ☀️

@rateexportpilot - Awesome! I wish her luck and happiness!

9 July at 17:00 | Open on infosec.exchange

Dorothea Salo

@rateexportpilot @tinker I hope she's connected with the library fedi?

we're a bit niche here at digipres.club (not that she wouldn't be welcome, she totally would), but glammr.us has lots of cool and helpful people

9 July at 17:11 | Open on digipres.club

Bodling

@tinker figuring out how to take apart a lot of that stuff is an education in itself. Not to mention kids getting to see what an internal drive and so on look like.

9 July at 19:34 | Open on deacon.social

GrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸

@tinker @fxbghackers Did the same thing at my kids daycare about 14 yrs ago. Kids had a blast taking apart old electronics. Plus they had tons of questions about what all the things were. Lots of fun for everyone!

9 July at 16:03 | Open on infosec.exchange

mav :happy_blob:

@tinker
This is awesome as hell
@fxbghackers

9 July at 16:09 | Open on hackers.town

Spencer

I remember doing this as a kid! I don't have the closets of stuff to put an event like this on, but I bet someone in my community does... 🤔

9 July at 16:28 | Open on motley.club

Steve Zakulec

@tinker @fxbghackers This is amazing- thanks for sharing this!

9 July at 16:32 | Open on infosec.exchange

David Croyle

@tinker @fxbghackers That's fantastic. When my kid was growing up and got old enough to do it, whenever I had an old computer, laptop or hard drive to recycle I handed the to him with a selection of tools and let him go to town stripping everything down as much as possible. He always enjoyed it and looked forward to it!

9 July at 16:33 | Open on wandering.shop

@tinker @fxbghackers This is a phenomenal idea.

9 July at 16:35 | Open on mas.to

Internet Rando

@tinker @fxbghackers this is only reinforcing my nascent intention of throwing an installfest at *my* local library. Thank you for this inspiration showing up in my feed.

9 July at 16:40 | Open on mastodon.seattlematrix.org

faraiwe

@tinker @fxbghackers such initiatives are seriously underrated as fostering of curiosity and confidence.

Kudos to them.

9 July at 16:43 | Open on beige.party

JT Leskinen

@tinker 🥳👏

9 July at 17:00 | Open on mementomori.social

Les Orchard

@tinker @fxbghackers Oh, dang, this is how I started learning about electronics and how things worked back when I was a kid. Taking everything apart and getting jazzed up about learning what all the things inside did. Broke a bunch of things but eventually started learning how to fix and then build

9 July at 17:08 | Open on hackers.town

Matt :idic: 🌌

@lmorchard @tinker @fxbghackers I have fond memories of making pink smoke trying to fix the speaker on my 386 :blobfoxlaughsweat:

9 July at 17:26 | Open on oceanplayground.social

a libi rose

@tinker i did workshops like this called "take it apartys" for my dissertation. they are the most fun

9 July at 17:08 | Open on post.lurk.org

Holiday Bill

@rose_alibi @tinker I'm planning a very similar set of workshops/events for the makerspace I'm launching later this year!

9 July at 17:54 | Open on vis.social

a libi rose

@wcbdata @tinker if you want to use the zine that i made let me know and i can send you a pdf to print

9 July at 17:58 | Open on post.lurk.org

Jayne :wales_flag:🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈

@tinker @fxbghackers

How cool is this?

https://toot.wales/deck/@RepairCafe_Barry

9 July at 17:10 | Open on toot.wales

mk30

@tinker @fxbghackers @oldskirt this is awesome! taking apart computers is an A+ way to create enthusiastic hackers.

9 July at 17:19 | Open on tilde.zone

prasket

@tinker @fxbghackers what a great idea! I should ping my local library about something similar.

9 July at 17:55 | Open on mastodon.seattlematrix.org

tht 🇧🇬

@tinker @fxbghackers more libraries should do stuff like that

9 July at 17:59 | Open on mstdn.social

Daniel M Karlsson

@tinker Amazing! I love it! This made me so happy to read.

9 July at 18:06 | Open on social.ordinal.garden

sidereal

@tinker @fxbghackers Hey, that's pretty cool, and might get people to recycle e-waste they wouldn't've otherwise.

I had a computer class in high school where we did something similar one day. Teacher got a bunch of desktops that were about to be recycled and we were put in pairs to dissassemble and then reassemble them while identifying the parts and writing down what they did. Amazing lesson plan, really. I think it was much clearer to many of us than looking at hardware schematics.

9 July at 18:34 | Open on kolektiva.social

FurryBeta

@tinker @fxbghackers Gotta ask, did any of the kids make a working computer from the pieces parts?

9 July at 18:41 | Open on shark.community

Tinker ☀️

@FurryBeta @fxbghackers - Nope! But several took parts home to remember the experience by!

9 July at 19:02 | Open on infosec.exchange

SpaceLifeForm

@tinker @fxbghackers

Odds are good that there was enough working parts to construct a working computer.

Well, if you use Linux for the OS.

#Linux

9 July at 18:54 | Open on infosec.exchange

Tinker ☀️

@SpaceLifeForm @fxbghackers - different goal

9 July at 19:02 | Open on infosec.exchange

New phone, who dis?

@tinker what a great idea!

9 July at 18:57 | Open on mastodon.social

Orion Ussner kidder

@tinker @fxbghackers I love this! You're demystifying computers for them. I opened up a laptop with my kid a few days ago, and he was into it! The fact that it has parts and isn't just magic is really important to learn.

9 July at 18:58 | Open on mas.to

DELETED

@tinker @fxbghackers can confirm. i have boxes and draws full of broken old shit, but glad to see more exposure to hardware. hopefully these events go over the safety and what not to do that we all did at one point.

9 July at 19:21 | Open on mastodon.social

rye

@tinker That is awesome!

9 July at 19:22 | Open on infosec.exchange

Philip C James

@tinker @fxbghackers

Great idea!

But I have to ask - you've given most of those pictured sunglasses to hide their identities?

#NerdsAnon

9 July at 19:42 | Open on mas.to

Tinker ☀️

@PhilipCJames @fxbghackers - I don't understand your question. Could you rephrase it?

9 July at 19:49 | Open on infosec.exchange

Philip C James

@tinker @fxbghackers

No problem... When I noted that most of the smiley faces you'd used on your images were wearing sun-glasses I was reminded of that exchange between a National Guard officer and his subordinate in the satirical novel THE MUELLER-FOKKER EFFECT by John Sladek (RIP, sadly).

The one that goes:

NG1: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"

NG2: "But sir! They're all wearing sunglasses!"

9 July at 20:11 | Open on mas.to

Tinker ☀️

@PhilipCJames @fxbghackers - hahaha, lol 😂 Yeah I just got a couple different emojis and used them to cover faces. No particular rhyme or reason. But I like your idea 😄