How to research stuff by making

by Selby Gildemacher

Learning by doing: look inside the box.

Technology is omnipresent in our physical and digital lives. It is something we heavily depend and rely on. And often it's a mystery how this technology is functioning and working like it does; a black box with magic inside. To get a starting point and deeper understanding of the qualities and disadvantages, we are opening the box, look inside, rummage through it and/or make our own box.

Making and learning by doing challenges us to:

• experiment
• do research
• demystify
• critically observe it
• play
• form an opinion about it
• share knowledge
• transforms a user in a maker
• use its qualities in other ways than it is intended for
• understand the magic

DIY

• Do it yourself, also known as DIY, is the method of building, modifying, or repairing something without the aid of experts or professionals. Academic research describes DIY as behaviors where "individuals engage raw and semi-raw materials and component parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions.

DIT

• Do it together, also known as DIT, to collaborate and challenging traditional methods of creative productions, embracing collaborative working and promoting non-monetized and open-source values.

! Work It

! Make It

! Do It