Black Country Atelier has just launched a new programme of workshops on 3D printing, Laser Cutting, Arduinos and other cool stuff from its base in the Jewellery Quarter. fizzPOP is planning to hang out at BCA’s workshop from this summer so it’ll be a great opportunity for members to access things like 3D printers. To find out more about BCA’s classes or to book, visit their website.

When:

10:30 onwards, 26th May 2012. Please sign up here.

Where:

Thyme Software, Coventry University Technology Park, Puma Way, Coventry, CV1 2TT [map]

9th May: Lock picking. Hosted by Nigel Tolley of Discrete Security Solutions – learn how to pick locks like MacGyver.

16th May: Maker session. Sarah and Andrew will show us the maze solving mouse program in proce55ing, in preparation for the Micro Mouse competition in Birmingham on June 16th. Details at http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/techfest/micromouse/home

23rd May: Maker session. Come take stuff to bits, rebuild it, share ideas, join conversations about crazy off the wall ideas and/or hack away at code.

30th May: Show and Tell. See what everyone else is working on and share your own projects. Show and Tells don’t have to be “finished” or complete, just something you’re interested in. See the website for an introduction. These sessions are free and happen at the end of every month, followed by dinner somewhere in central Brum, this month we are trying out the Bay Leaf restaurant, in the Custard Factory.

Where:

The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Deritend, Birmingham, B12 0QH. If you get really lost give the fizzPHONE (07754 634993) a call on the night of the maker session.

When:

Wednesdays 6pm-10pm. Please add your name to the wiki if you’re coming. The second Wednesday of each month is Lockpicking Wednesday, the last is Show and Tell. We ask for £5 per person (£3 concessions) as subs for all sessions EXCEPT the Show and Tells at the end of each month, which are free.

Why are we asking for contributions? At the moment we are trying to get fizzPOP up and running after maker sessions were suspended last year. We have two main aims, firstly to have a major recruitment drive for new members, and you’ll see us out and about at different events meeting people and spreading the fizzPOP word. Secondly, we aim to find a permanent space for fizzPOP that we use to store equipment and make available to members 24/7. All these things need money and, much more importantly, your involvement, so please do what you can to make your makerspace work for you.

Other details:

• Wifi Internet. Ask any regular fizzPOPer for the key.
• There’s no food available at the venue, though it’s near to the city centre and Digbeth. There’s also a chippy just around the corner (ask any regular for menu recommendations!) and there’s a basic kitchen if you want to bring your own food (no microwave).
• There is also the option to club together and order pizza – let us know if you can recommend any good nearby pizza places.

See you there!

Along side our regular fizzPOP maker sessions and Lockpicking Wednesdays,  we want to create some more opportunities for local makers to collaborate. So, the last maker session of each month is a “Show and Tell” where you can find out what other makers have been working on and talk about your own tinkering. We want these sessions to be relaxed and informal and to encourage members on the mailing list who maybe haven’t been to a fizzPOP event before to come along and get involved. In that spirit, we have a few basic guidelines that will shape these sessions:

• We will provide a laptop and projector but show and tells don’t have to have slides or any other formal structure, if you’ve got something you want to talk about just go for it.
• Projects don’t have to be “finished” or “good” to talk about, half-started projects or failed attempts at making a difficult idea work are just as interesting as a finished project.
• Feedback is mandatory and should always be constructive and encouraging. Not everyone feels comfortable with public speaking, so be nice!

Show and Tell sessions are a little different to the usual meeting, to encourage new members. Firstly, we start at 7.30 rather than 6 as several people can’t get out of work that early. Also, we’ll try to keep these sessions free to attend. We do have rent and other costs to cover, so we can only keep up free meetings if the other sessions are well enough attended to cover costs. So, we’re hoping to keep these show and tells free, but we won’t necessarily be able to guarantee that forever. Lastly, when presentations are over, we’ll decamp to a local restaurant (usually Cafe Soya) and finish the evening there.

If you want to give a show and tell, please sign up on the wiki here and if you need anything other than a laptop and a projector please let us know and we’ll sort that out for you.

Where:

The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Deritend, Birmingham, B12 0QH [map] [Street View]. Look for the red signs on the gate, and if you get really lost give the fizzPHONE (07754 634993) a call on the night of the hack session.

When:

Wednesday 29th February 7.30pm-10pm. Please add your name here if you would like to give a show and tell. Regulars should note that we’re starting a little later than usual, to give folks a chance to get in from work.

What:

Come and find out what other makers have been working on, or give a short talk about your own project and have a drink or meal with us afterwards. Check out the wiki page for the current list of talks.

Other details:

Wifi Internet is available, ask any fizzPOP regular for the key.

We look forward to seeing you!

From the events that fizzPOP members may be interested in department…

Launch48 is coming to Birmingham for the second time from 16^th – 18^th March 2012, with the aim of encouraging the city’s entrepreneurial minds to start new web or mobile ventures over an intense and unique weekend.

By encouraging entrepreneurs with no or little experience to attend the event with diverse skills such as business, finance, management, software development, and design, Launch48 creates a unique environment for starting new businesses.

Coupled with mentors who have run successful companies or have relevant skills to the web and mobile industries, such as PayPal, and a mature agenda, Launch48 has experienced great success over the past year with at least 2 businesses going on to generate revenue.

Mentors at this year’s Birmingham event include angel investor Mark Hales, Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (Entrepreneur) Nick Holzherr, and Sell My Mobile founder Keir McConomy.

The event empowers attendees with entrepreneurial skills, shatters preconceptions about what is achievable in a short period of time, introduces like-minded people to one another, and offers people the ability to learn skills. Participants leave the event having formed strong relationships having participated in creating a new business idea.

Unlike hack days or developer orientated events that have become popular over the past few years, Launch48 fosters a strong mentality to build something sustainable and desirable. A follow-up event held 6 weeks after the weekend event helps to keep teams working on their ideas after the event as well as on-going support from the mentors.

Cecilia, Director of Fashiny.com (a business that was founded at a Launch 48 event and then went on to participate in Birmingham’s Oxygen Accelerator programme), has said of the event:

“Go to Launch48, speak to as many people as possible, work like crazy, speak to mentors, get their feedback, we still keep in touch with some of our mentors, it was a great way to learn. Make the most of it and you can sleep when you are dead”

Launch 48 Birmingham will be held at Birmingham Science Park Aston, whose tech startup incubator Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) has supported the launch of over 50 businesses over the past two years.

Simon Jenner, Head of Incubation at Birmingham Science Park Aston, said: “Birmingham has a wealth of digital talent and creativity and we’re delighted to welcome Launch 48 again to be part of this. The event will offer the opportunity for people with an interest in the digital arena to engage, learn and meet new people”.

Tickets are available from £29.95 and more information is available at http://birmingham.launch48.com.

About Launch48

Set up by Ian Broom and Adil Mohammed in 2009, Launch48 is a web development event that gives attendees the opportunity to develop cutting edge business ideas in a supportive and educational environment.

Since 2009 Launch48 held events in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and internationally in Romania, Moldova, and Australia. Launch48 has other UK events planned for the UK including London in February, Birmingham in March, and Newcastle in April 2012.

For more information, please contact Ian Broom on 07979 871416 or ian@launch48.com

If you’ve been hibernating through the winter you won’t have heard that our good friends Kate and Dom over at the Nottinghack makerspace have started an excellent podcast called Hack All the Spaces! which, among many other wonderful things, will keep you in touch with goings on at the various maker spaces around the UK. You can follow Kate and Dom over on the Hack All the Spaces website, sign up to their RSS feed, subscribe to them on iTunes, Like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter.

1st, 15th, 22nd February Maker sessions. Get hacking on whatever you want or work with others. Check out the wiki pages or disscussion group to see what people have been working on.

8th February: Lockpicking Wednesday. Hosted by Nigel and Kate Tolley of Discrete Security Solutions (assuming they don’t get snowed in!) learn how to pick locks like MacGyver.

29th February: Show and Tell. See what everyone else is working on and share your own projects. Show and Tells don’t have to be “finished” or complete, just something you’re interested in. See the website for an introduction. These sessions are free and happen at the end of every month, followed by dinner somewhere in central Brum, usually Cafe Soya.

Where:

The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Deritend, Birmingham, B12 0QH. If you get really lost give the fizzPHONE (07754 634993) a call on the night of the maker session.

When:

Wednesdays 6pm-10pm. Please add your name to the wiki if you’re coming. The second Wednesday of each month is Lockpicking Wednesday, the last is Show and Tell. We ask for £5 per person (£3 concessions) as subs for all sessions EXCEPT the Show and Tells at the end of each month, which are free.

Why are we asking for contributions? At the moment we are trying to get fizzPOP up and running after maker sessions were suspended last year. We have two main aims, firstly to have a major recruitment drive for new members, and you’ll see us out and about at different events meeting people and spreading the fizzPOP word. Secondly, we aim to find a permanent space for fizzPOP that we use to store equipment and make available to members 24/7. All these things need money and, much more importantly, your involvement, so please do what you can to make your makerspace work for you.

Other details:

• Wifi Internet. Ask any regular fizzPOPer for the key.
• There’s no food available at the venue, though it’s near to the city centre and Digbeth. There’s also a chippy just around the corner (ask any regular for menu recommendations!) and there’s a basic kitchen if you want to bring your own food (no microwave).
• There is also the option to club together and order pizza – let us know if you can recommend any good nearby pizza places.

See you there!

Someone on Twitter said “is fizzPOP still going, the website hasn’t been updated for /ages/”. So, this is just a quick update to say two things — firstly fizzPOP will be no holiday from now until the first week in Feb, when we’ll be starting regular maker sessions again. Hopefully by Feb the worst of the Winter weather will be over (ha ha) and you’ll all have recovered from turkey overload.

Secondly, and far more importantly, thank you to everyone who has worked hard to make 2011 a fantastic year for fizzPOP. Thanks to all of you who have turned up on cold, wet evenings to attend maker sessions, to everyone who came along to the Godiva Festival, MicroMouse and other events to spread the word about Birmingham’s own maker space. Thanks to Friction Arts for hosting us, to Nigel and Kate Tolley for teaching us how to pick locks and Antonio for involving us in the first Birmingham GLI.TC/H and Nikki’s excellent Circuit Bending workshop.

…and thanks to everyone I’ve completely forgotten to thank!

Getting your Maker fix between now and Feb…

Between now and Feb you can catch us at the Network Music Festival which will be on 27-29th January. fizzPOP will be there on the Saturday running a workshop hosted by our very own Andrew Thomas.

If that’s not enough for you, Kate and Dom from our sister space Nottinghack have started a weekly podcast called Hack all the spaces. fizzPOP gets a pretty regular mention, so make sure you subscribe :-)

Nikki Pugh presents a workshop exploring the basics of circuit bending. Add a light sensor to a desk toy in order to distort the sounds it makes by waving your hand over it. A bit like this:

This workshop will guide you through the basics of soldering and the sometimes-a-bit-tricky steps needed to modify the toy’s circuit. At the end of the workshop you’ll have an ‘improved’ button to take home with you. Prior experience of soldering isn’t necessary, but a high tolerance of beepy noises is essential. All workshop materials will be provided. Helpers from fizzPOP will be around to assist.

Where:

VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham, B9 4AR. [map] [street view]

When:

Saturday 19th November 12-2pm. Please sign up here here. Please note that this workshop will be running alongside the Glitch Codec Tutorial workshop. Please only sign up to one of them!

Other details:

All workshop materials will be provided. Helpers from fizzPOP will be around to assist.

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GLI.TC/H 20111

Thinkers and artists; Makers and breakers converge to celebrate
technological catastrophe. A glitch is a moment known to everyone, yet rarely celebrated. GLI.TC/H brings together those inspired, curious, and provoked by glitches and provides a platform to break things, share thoughts, and develop ideas.

*** REALTIME PERFORMANCES, GALLERY EXHIBITION, VIDEO SCREENINGS, WORKSHOPS, LECTURES PANELS, ONLINE, & OFFLINE***

GLI.TC/H 20111 will include works from over 100 participants from more than a dozen countries and will be taking place in virtual-space at http://gli.tc/h and in real-space:

[Chicago, US] NOV 3 – 6
[Amsterdam, NL] NOV 11 – 12
[Birmingham, UK] NOV 19

visit http://gli.tc/h for schedule + details + more!
or dir.URL:http://gli.tc/h/schedule.html [ for full schedule + maps ]

GLI.TC/H BIRM is part of The Garage presents… programme and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City University

//***********//***********//

Nick Briz presents a tutorial in creating glitch art by hacking video codecs.

This workshop/lecture is titled the Glitch Codec Tutorial. Here I demonstrate how to create the “glitch codec” a hacked piece of software I use to make intentional glitches. The Glitch Codec Tutorial is one way to experience glitch art. The Glitch Codec Tutorial can be used to make glitch art, but it is not a tool in and of itself. Rather, it is a means to a tool or, more appropriately, a means to a method[ology] of production.

Where:

VIVID, 140 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham, B9 4AR. [map] [street view]

When:

Saturday 19th November 12-2pm. Please sign up here here. Please note that this workshop will be running alongside the Easy Circuit Bending workshop. Please only sign up to one of them!

Other details:

You’ll need to bring your own laptop to work on. Be sure it has a DVD drive!

//***********//***********//

GLI.TC/H 20111

Thinkers and artists; Makers and breakers converge to celebrate
technological catastrophe. A glitch is a moment known to everyone, yet rarely celebrated. GLI.TC/H brings together those inspired, curious, and provoked by glitches and provides a platform to break things, share thoughts, and develop ideas.

*** REALTIME PERFORMANCES, GALLERY EXHIBITION, VIDEO SCREENINGS, WORKSHOPS, LECTURES PANELS, ONLINE, & OFFLINE***

GLI.TC/H 20111 will include works from over 100 participants from more than a dozen countries and will be taking place in virtual-space at http://gli.tc/h and in real-space:

[Chicago, US] NOV 3 – 6
[Amsterdam, NL] NOV 11 – 12
[Birmingham, UK] NOV 19

visit http://gli.tc/h for schedule + details + more!
or dir.URL:http://gli.tc/h/schedule.html [ for full schedule + maps ]

GLI.TC/H BIRM is part of The Garage presents… programme and is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Birmingham City University

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