ITP Camp 2023

Junk Shelf Engineering

Date: June 24, 2023 2-4pm


Format: In-person only


Tags: #recycle #junkshelf #stooping #handmaking


The junk shelf (a place where people put their unused projects or materials for others to use) is a personal favorite of mine because it never fails to surprise me in unexpected ways. While it is typically a place for finding materials and resources, it also serves as a source of inspiration for me. Looking at broken electrical parts or abandoned projects often sparks ideas for giving these "junk" items a second life, particularly in a place like New York where resourcefulness is essential. Stooping and repairing items are significant practices here.

In this session, I will share my experience on how to reuse resources in unexpected ways. We will create a toy using the materials we found on the junk shelf or embark on a project utilizing common techniques such as light, sound, and physical computing.

Prerequisites, materials, and notes: - Feel free to bring anything you want to repair/remake, a broken lamp, a stuffed animal, a wood piece, or anything you think others may give a second life. - We will not cover too much about the tools, the key is to make things with the knowledge we have. But it will be great to know how to use the tools if necessary, for example knowing how to use Arduino or other microcontrollers if you want to control your project programmatically.