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.

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

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

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

Along side the usual maker sessions, where we get together to work on individual projects, we want to create some more opportunities for local makers to collaborate. So, we’re going to try making the last maker session of each month 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!

These monthly sessions will be a little different to the usual meeting, to encourage new members. Firstly, we’ll 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 pub or restaurant 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 26th October 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!

If you’ve been following all things fizzPOP you will have noticed that the TTV Photography event we had planned didn’t happen. In the end not enough people signed up to cover our costs, and since we are an unfunded, voluntary organisation we can’t afford to make too big a loss on anything we do. It’s a shame, but we figure that the event probably didn’t appeal to people and maybe we need to be a bit more organic about the way we grow our budding community of makers.

So in the spirit of starting something from the ground up and finding what appeals to the local photography community, Pete Ashton has proposed an experimental camera club. This could well encompass all sorts of events and activities, depending on what kind of photographic tinkering people want to get up to. If that appeals to you, please put your name down on this wiki page and we’ll make sure that we keep in touch with you and give you a big chance to steer the direction of our photography activities.

We haven’t had a social meet up since the early days of the new fizzPOP in Urban Coffee Co and Bennetts Bar, so we thought it would be nice to go out together. On the 21st Sept we plan to meet up at The Edge at 6 and go on to Viet An for dinner at 8.30. If you haven’t come along to a maker session before, this is a brilliant chance to meet up with fizzPOP regulars in a sociable, relaxing setting.

If you do want to join us for dinner, please let us know on the mailing list here so we can book a table for the right number of people.

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.

Dinner will be at Viet An on Corporation St, opposite the Law Courts [map ]

When:

Wednesday 21st Sept 6pm-10pm, aiming to get to the restaurant around 8.30. If you are joining us for dinner, please let us know on the mailing list here so we can book a table for the right number of people.

What:

Meet up and have a great night out with other makers.

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 31st August 6pm-10pm. Please add your name here if you’re coming. We ask for £5 per person (£3 concessions) as subs. Why are we asking for contributions? At the moment we are trying to get fizzPOP up and running after hack 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 hackerspace work for you.

What:

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.

Other details:

• Wifi Internet. Ask 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 from the venue 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!

You can read an interview with Garry here, on the Arm Embedded blog and see his talk to Birmingham LUG below, thanks to Mez who recorded it.

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 24th August 6pm-10pm. Please add your name here if you’re coming. We ask for £5 per person (£3 concessions) as subs. Why are we asking for contributions? At the moment we are trying to get fizzPOP up and running after hack 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 hackerspace work for you.

What:

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.

Other details:

• Wifi Internet. Ask 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 from the venue 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!