Never before have I considered myself an inventor. An inventor is someone who through the use of ingenuity and imagination has the ability and skill to produce, contrive, or fabricate something never before seen. Even though today I still do not believe I can consider myself an inventor, I had a little taste of how it feels like during the Makey-Makey workshop class. We were told to create a productive way to use the technology that came with the Makey-Makey during the time frame of one full class.
At first my team was brainstorming through ideas, but they all were centralized in the concept of creating a revolutionary Makey-Makey video game controller. First it started as a dance dance revolution floor and seat pad, but then turned to a taping drum like controller. In the end a unanimous decision was made by everyone in the group to craft it into a Mario game controller where each person was in charge of a button/action, and this would ultimately allow all of us to play at the same time in a team. We were successful in making the controller during the time period given, as well as ensuring it ran properly and reacted accordingly to the slightest touch. The class met my expectations entirely. I enjoyed working with my group, contributing ideas, working hands on with the Makey-Makey, and designing something through the use of trial and error.
This kind of work is identical to writing in its own way. For example, in both writing the essay and working with the Makey-Makey, we were given very little guidelines to go by and were just told to work. The brain storming process is the same as well. In both we list ideas and think of a way of how to start it off. Finally, in both trial and error is used in getting a result. For example, when making the Makey-Makey, we had to repeatedly try new ideas and see which ones worked and which ones didn’t. In the writing process we constantly think of how to start the intro or what the thesis should be, and through the use of trial and error we end up writing drafts until we find one that gives us the most writing range.
Therefore, working with the Makey-Makey was a surprising yet enjoyable first time experience for me. I however would’ve liked to work with a wider range of materials than what we were limited to. For example, more wires and more Makey-Makey’s able to handle a larger quantity of tasks. I learned a lot from this class, such as the importance of teamwork and that all it takes to invent is perseverance and a good idea. I am definitely supportive of the idea of having another similar class like it again. If given the opportunity of having another class like this I would look more into the Makey-Makey and see what else it can do or be programed to do in order to maximize its capability and productivity.
