Lab Notes

The U-M Library’s Shapiro Design Lab and the U-M Museum of Natural History are happy to announce a new Community and Citizen Science Project Incubator program for University of Michigan faculty, staff, and students! Community and citizen science projects can help scientists conduct extensive, quality research while engaging with members of their community. The program will explore questions about project design, ethics, learning goals, and data management. Participants will create project prototypes for their own research and community engagement, and develop the skills needed for successful projects.

The University of Michigan Library's Shapiro Design Lab (SDL) seeks two Masters'-level students to become Program Assistants and help direct this ever-evolving experimental space founded on peer learning, engaged learning, and interdisciplinarity. The Lab encompasses a variety of learning opportunities and projects within three different spaces, all located on the first floor of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library:

We are seeking undergraduate and graduate students to help pilot a new program focused on engaged learning experiences through software project development. Student Developers will be expected to work 10-15 hours per week, at a rate of $15/hour.

Announcing the 2018-19 Shapiro Design Lab Residency

In light of the growth of podcasting as a medium, the bloom of podcasts as texts that merit study, and recent interest from faculty in tasking students with the creation of audio essays, the Shapiro Design Lab is pleased to present its new Podcasting and Audio Storytelling Guide.

This year, I primarily worked on the Awesomebox/Awesomizer project. Through this project I learned about web design and got to do some work with a database and the Myrlin API. Additionally, I had the chance to work with other students on the volunteer-based LibriVox project to record public domain audiobooks. I got to work with the other Student Developers on the library’s instance of the Measure the Future project and got to attend a talk by the project’s creator -- Jason Griffey.

The Design Lab is an aspirational entity, always in the process of becoming. While this creates a certain amount of ambiguity at times, it also provides a refreshing sense of possibility. My role as a resident at the Lab over this past academic year has allowed me to develop what were several casual interests of mine into keener ones, picking up useful know-how and experience along the way. In this post, I have given each of these interests and projects their own mini-blurb.

Up until now, learning has been all about finding the right books and online courses, finding some free time, and focusing. I did that kind of learning at the Design Lab, as well: going through a textbook on data analysis, going through tutorials on designing 3D models. But this new kind of learning--the one that occurred by chance--started taking an increasingly important role in my life. Learning how to analyze data from Zooniverse from people with more experience and having numerous discussions on technology’s impact on developing countries were also part of my learning experience.

By far one of the most amazing experiences was working with my club in the Design Lab space over the course of the year. Being able to see one team sewing electrode sleeves, while another tests circuits and software, while yet another team works on a printed part and assembling an arm. The culmination of all of this work was also realized in the Design Lab with final testing, assembly, and photos of the device before we gave it to Julian, occurring in the Design Lab spaces. It is so unique to have a space such as this as accessible as it is, and Justin’s encouragement towards the pursuit of collaborative work is what makes it all possible for us to do.

As the year comes to an end, I thank the Design Lab for developing both my hard and soft skills. I experienced the wonders of multidisciplinary collaboration, and just how much people love to share their interests with others. I believe the best way to learn is through simply speaking with others. In doing so, I was quickly able to learn their interests, and hey, some of them also became mine before I knew it!