Just as in the 80s, a whole bunch of kids are going to get their hands on new technology that will change the world in a few years. Awesome. This can’t be good, though. Look at what all those Apple IIe’s were used for. Word processing, Appleworks, and Oregon Trail. Yes, it’s fun, but using a computer only as a glorified typewriter does both the student and the computer a disservice. Are we to expect the Makerbots in every classroom will be used for novel and interesting applications? Will students around the country be printing out the stuff they created in art and shop class?

If you’re a chiptune fan or a circuit bender you might be familiar with my notendo work. In 2001, I helped pioneer the practice of preparing video game systems to intentionally short circuit, creating generative video and digital collage from game data. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to perform at some legendary events, work with amazing musicians like Anamanaguchi and help establish my practice as a new art form that now falls under the umbrella label of “glitch art.”

openFrameworks is an open source C++ toolkit for creative coding.

KIKK, Namur, Belgium / October 2013 in collaboration with Kati Hyyppä “A cyborg, short for ‘cybernetic organism’, is a being with both organic and artificial parts." KIKK invited Kati and me to give a workshop in Namur around the theme “Next Utopia”. We were free to make what we wanted, and decided that it would be cool to transform ourselves into cyborgs! The workshop space was also ideal for reaching the next level of human development: A Renaissance style, empty church full of divine iconography. Regarding the cyborg building materials, we decided to leave computers and electronics out.

The NYC Foundation For Computer Science Education (csnyc.org for short) is a non-profit (501c3) with a simple mission: Ensure that all children in the NYC public schools have access to computer science education that will put them on a pathway to academic success and a 21st century career