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Appearance
Black
Blue
Brown
Colorful
Dark tone
Exposed circuit board
Glowing
Green
Grey
Light tone
Medium tone
Minimal color
Monochrome
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
Shiny
White
Wood color
Yellow
Care and Feeding
Battery-powered Uses batteries for power.
Installation Creates an environment, taking over an area.
Online Exists on the interwebs.
Public art Outside, in a public space.
Tabletop Rests on a tabletop or pedestal surface.
Unpowered Doesn't require any electricity.
Wall-mounted Attaches to the wall, typically with screws.
Wall-powered Requires an electrical outlet.
Communication
Amazon Alexa
APIs Application programming interfaces help software and companies communicate with each other. They drive the modern Internet.
Audio
Book layout
DoubleClick for Publishers This ad management tool from Google can be used in simple ways, but also scales up to enterprises that need to satisfy many sponsors.
Google autocompletes
I2C This protocol is used in many embedded electronics designs to communicate with sensors.
Infrared communication Used in TV remotes, infrared LEDs are a fairly robust line-of-sight way of communicating.
JSON Many APIs use the JSON data interchange format to communicate. It is designed for software to read and write, while remaining human-understandable.
Laser rangefinder
NRF24 Wireless A Nordic Semiconductor wireless chipset that works well with simple, embedded processors.
Ultrasonic rangefinder Sending a high-pitched ping much like a bat, this sensor finds hard-edged surfaces nearby--and measures their distance.
User testing
Weather Underground The Weather Underground API was a good source of local weather data until the company unexpectedly terminated it.
XML
Your Shot This was National Geographic's user-generated photo community, discontinued in 2019, which let its users connect with Nat Geo photographers and editors.
Employers
Exhibitions
100 Years in the Present May 7–May 30, 2021, at Glen Echo's Popcorn Gallery. 10th Annual Juried Exhibition June 15–July 17, 2022 at Cerulean Arts in Philadelphia, PA. 1460 Wallmountables 2017 July 21--September 10, 2017 at the DC Arts Center.
1460 Wallmountables 2020 August 8--October 18th, 2020, at the DC Arts Center.
1460 Wallmountables 2022 August 12--September 11, 2022 at the DC Arts Center. 2021 Fall Salon November 10--December 12, 2021 at Target Gallery in Alexandria, VA. 2022 Fall Salon November 12–December 11, 2022, at Target Gallery in Alexandria, Va. 2022 Spring Juried Show March 18–May 22, 2022, at Tamar Hendel Gallery in the CREATE Art Center in Silver Spring, MD.
BTPxMonochrome Art Fair June 26--July 12, 2020, online, benefiting Halcyon and By the People. Buffer Overflow April 9--April 25, 2018 at Fab Lab DC. Building Momentum July 9--September 30th, 2020, at Building Momentum in Alexandria, VA. Building Momentum 2021 August 27--November 16, 2021, at Building Momentum in Alexandria, VA. Controlled Burn May 8–June 5, 2021, at "but, also." DC Art Now 2021 October 11--November 19, 2021 at DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in Washington, D.C.
DEEP FAKE November 15--January 5, 2021, at SUPERCOLLIDER in Los Angeles, California. Enter : Future December 2, 2019--January 17, 2020 at Gallery 102. Everyday Objects November 1--December 6, 2019 at Studio Montclair. Finding Home November 15--January 7, 2022 at Harmony Hall in Fort Washington, MD.
Fragile Beauty May 9–July 1, 2022 at DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in Washington, D.C. Fresh May 14–June 11, 2022, at Otis Street Arts Project in Mount Rainier, MD. Georgetown GLOW 2021 April 9--June 27, 2021, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Global Conversation September 1-28, 2020 at the United Nations' UN75, f.99, and Ikono Space. Judging Me Judging You April 27--August 12, 2018 at the DC Arts Center. Lights Out July 11–September 10, 2022 at Brentwood Arts Exchange in Brentwood, MD. Lossiness September 3--October 17, 2021 at VisArts's Concourse Gallery in Rockville, MD. Maelstrom (Rhizome DC) January 16--February 15 at Rhizome DC in Takoma, D.C. Movements, Moments January 23--March 7, 2021, at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA. Moving Forward June 20--August 23, 2020 online at Glen Echo. Multiples November 6--December 18, 2021 at "but, also" in Washington, D.C. Off the Walls February 27, 2022 at Hole in the Sky in Washington, D.C. Pop Out Art Show September 23, 2022, at Jackie Lee's in Washington, D.C. Sculpture NOW 2022 April 22–June 3, 2022, at Harmony Hall in Fort Washington, MD. Shine June 11--August 29, 2021 at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center in Solomons, MD. Small Wonders 2021 December 2--23, 2021 at Maryland Federation of Art in Annapolis, Md. Sound Scene X July 8, 2017 at the Hirshhorn Museum. Sound Scene XI July 7--July 8, 2018 at the Hirshhorn Museum. Spotlight@Touchstone December 10--February 10, 2021 online at Touchstone Gallery in Washington, D.C. Sugar Rush July 10--August 1, 2021 at Bad Candy in Washington, D.C. Take a Number September 25--December 18, 2021 at Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, VA. Tamar Hendel Gallery 2021 Juried Exhibition March 1--April 30, 2021, at Tamar Hendel Gallery in the CREATE Art Center in Silver Spring, MD.
Turning Tides July 23–September 11, 2022 at Target Gallery in Alexandria, Va. Unfinished Business September 28--November 23, 2019 at VAE Raleigh. When Night Falls October 11, 2019--January 26, 2020 at Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center. Wide Open 12 June 18–July 17, 2022 at Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Brooklyn, NY. WPA Collectors' Night 2022 June 3--17, 2022, online, benefiting Washington Project for the Arts. WPA High Frequency July 30--August 13, 2020, online, benefiting Washington Project for the Arts.
Fabrication
3D printing
Aluminum enclosure
Aluminum standoffs
Enclosure design
Laser cutting
Laser toner
Molybdenum
PLA
Vintage "bubble" display
Vintage indicators
Wood PLA
Woodworking
Hardware
Adafruit Feather This ecosystem of integrated devices makes it possible to get a hardware project started quickly.
AVR The Atmel AVR 8-bit embedded processor architecture.
Custom circuit boards A circuit board, or PCB, that I designed and sent to a fabrication factory.
ESP32
ESP8266 This powerful microcontroller can natively connect to Wi-Fi.
Fan
Gas sensors
IoT "Internet of Things" devices tend to be simple, standalone objects with a clear purpose that are continuously connected to the Internet.
LCD1602 These "character LCD" displays can show 16 characters on each of their 02 rows.
Lithium-ion battery These batteries are used in cell phones, but have a steep learning curve for use in home projects.
Microcontroller
Next Thing CHIP This all-in-one computer made a splash when it debuted at a price of $9. It has WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4GB of storage and runs Linux.
Occupancy sensor
Orange Pi Zero LTS
Power management It takes specific software and hardware design choices to get a reasonable battery life in homemade electronics.
Raspberry Pi An inexpensive, credit-card-shaped computer board that can run Linux and costs about $30.
Seven-segment displays These displays are designed to show numbers, but can be used to show some letters too.
Sharp Memory LCD
WS2812B LEDs These LEDs come in large quantities and can each be set to their own color.
Interactivity
Interactive A person's actions can change the artwork.
Product Intended to serve a functional purpose.
Static It is not interactive.
Time-based Its experience changes over time but is not interactive.
Materials
Acrylic
Aluminum
Barnwood
Birch
Brass
Cloth
Copper
Found object
Glass
LEDs
Metal
One-way acrylic
Paper
Pine
PLA
Plastic
Reclaimed wood
Seashell
Steel
Veneer
Wood
Roles
Artist
Collaborator
Embedded developer
Front-end developer As a front-end developer, I use languages like SASS, JavaScript, and HTML to build web pages that are fast and functional.
Functional designer As a functional designer, I identify the problems that users are trying to solve, and help smooth their path to doing so.
Hardware designer
Journalist
Photo editor As a photo editor, I work with photographers to find their best shots—and help make them better shooters.
Photo researcher
Photographer As a photographer, I seek surprising and delightful scenes in the world.
Photojournalist As a photojournalist, I work with sources to document their lives in understandable and surprising ways.
Product manager
Project manager As a project manager, I work with stakeholders to develop reasonable timeframes and help our team metabolize work into manageable pieces.
Protocol designer
Template designer As a template designer, I take individual designs for pages and synthesize them into a maintainable, usable template.
Web operations
Web producer As a web producer, I work with editors, photographers, and artists to shape stories into engaging web pages.
Writer
Series
Sync/Desync series
Thermoelectric Candles series
Transmission series
Software
Arduino Arduino's ecosystem of software and simple, flexible hardware allow you to quickly make smart electronic devices.
Cadsoft EAGLE This tool lets you design circuit boards, matching the physical dimensions and properties of electronic components.
Cheetah This internal tool at National Geographic powered part of its magazine web site.
CSS Cascading stylesheets are powerful tools for changing the appearance of web pages, letting you define rules instead of having to change each object individually.
HTML The hypertext markup language was first devised in the early 90's, and continues to power the modern Web.
IFTTT
InDesign This layout tool allows you to make printable files for lengthy publications, such as books or magazine articles.
Instagram
iOS Apple's mobile operating system is found inside every iPhone and iPad.
JavaScript
Markov chains These simple algorithms can "chain together" sequences of letters or other data into a plausible-looking mishmash.
Neural networks These algorithms learn how to categorize or make things by studying examples provided by humans.
nginx This web serving software powers much of the modern Internet.
Photoshop Adobe's famous image enhancement software can be used for good or evil, journalistically speaking.
PHP This programming language drives WordPress. Mildly idiosyncratic built-in functions make it easy to pick up and hard to master.
Python Simple, powerful, and picky, this programming language makes it possible to get a lot done in a hurry.
RemotePins This software (of my design) lets you seamlessly connect Arduinos together or to other computers.
SASS This language stacks on top of CSS, making it even more powerful—and scalable to an enterprise.
Text-to-speech
Twitter
Techniques
Topics
Cosmic Call
Mueller Report
Transmission I-III
Transmission IV-VI
Venues
Other Tags
Addressable LEDs
Analog meter
Arecibo message
Backend developer
Beeswax
Bright tone
Camera
Candle-powered
Capacitive touch
Circuit designer
CNC milling
Community
Contract negotiation
Creator
Cython
Darkroom manipulation
Data processing
DigitalOcean
Disco lightbulb
Editioned
Foam
Icecast
Jokes
LED matrix
Maelstrom
Monochromatic
OLED
Open Notify API
Papier mâché
PDSP-211x displays
QDSP-6064
RGB color sensor
Security camera enclosure
Sonic transducer
Stochastic arrangement
Three-axis capacitive motion sensor
UART
VFD
Video
Vintage Monsanto LED displays