Here at Artefacto we’re always inspired and delighted to talk about libraries to anyone, any day of the week. So it’s with additional delight, that one day of this week, one of our co-founders will be heading over to the British Library to take part in a panel discussion as part of the BL’s ‘Between […]
6 (and a half) tips for running awesome workshops and training events
A summary of some of the lessons learned the hard way while delivering workshops and training over the last 10 years. Make it welcoming for people of different skill levels Make all advertising and communication friendly and encouraging. Attending workshops and training, particularly technology-based ones, can be incredible intimidating for some people. Using friendly and […]
Announcing Making Library Makers – a new online course for library makers
Yesterday was a big day, first with a library makers event at Clapham Library where staff from a bunch of different libraries came to hear about makerspaces and participate in some speed making. It was attended by staff from Essex, Surrey, Bexley, Hackney, Kent, Oxfordshire and more. And of course our awesome hosts from Lambeth. […]
DIY digital signage for libraries, museums, galleries & archives
What is Digital signage? Digital signage, displaying content on a screen in public spaces, is a great way to promote library, gallery and museum services, list upcoming events and generally keep users up-to-date with what’s going on in your space. But beyond the information aspects of digital signage, it also has the potential to encourage […]
Alexa in the library – Exploring voice user interfaces
Intro – Alexa, what is Alexa? Alexa is the (relatively) new voice-controlled AI assistant developed by Amazon. It (she?) is the voice service that powers the Echo and Echo Dot devices. You can also roll your own Alexa device using a Raspberry Pi. The Echo and Echo Dot are Amazon’s 360 degree bluetooth speakers that […]
Making at Surrey Libraries Staff Day
On Wednesday, Carlos and I attended the Surrey Library Staff Conference 2016 at Dorking Hall. We arrived just in time to catch a truly inspiring talk by Erik Boekesteijn which he titled Extreme Library Makeover. Erik gave an overview of some of the awesome projects he’s been involved in at Doklab and he makes a […]
Artefacto Adventures in India
Earlier this year we were delighted to begin a new collaboration with the British Council in India, which saw us commissioned to produce a special Library Wall to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (one of 2016’s notable anniversary dates – alongside the Great Fire of London; Battle of the Somme; and the birthdays […]
Becoming a Library Data Wrangler to Reckon With
There are a lot of good, strong reasons for librarians to work with data. In fact, we already do work with data, both big and small on a daily basis. But you may have also noticed even more data-related tasks creeping into your workday and maybe even a subtle shift from information to data management […]
Beyond Scratch : Coding for kids
Scratch is the quintessential platform for teaching kids about coding. This is what they use in Code Clubs across the land and it’s used widely in schools as well. The drag and drop approach used by block programming languages is great for teaching coding concepts and computation thinking but at a certain point, some kids […]
Making library makers: A practical guide to developing digital making opportunities through openness and collaboration
This is the readable version of a talk that Carlos (Makercart) and I gave a talk at the recent CILIP 2016 conference in Brighton. First, a bit about us. Carlos is the creator of the Makercart project, a pop-up makerspace for libraries and other community organisations and Kate is co-founder of Artefacto, a creative technology […]