Thank you Natassia. I was especially pleased to be part of this group as I am a non-traditional student myself. I never expected to find myself back in school at this point in my life. I have been incredibly enriched by this experience. I value the skills that I developed during my hiatus from school much more now than I ever have. I also feel more connected and in tune with society than I ever have as well. Cheers!

Thanks for your sharing your exciting project, Karen, and for articulating this distinction between computing and computation literacy. Can you talk about this a little bit more, as I think I'm still unclear, but absolutely feel these discussions around the type of literacy being developed are vital to producing environments and resources that are better suited to certain kinds of learning. How is computing literacy distinguished from digital literacy?

Thank you for your interest in our work.

Code Crafters - Procedural Patchwork -  have fun with the software! The link opens in a new window. Cheers!

Marion, the color palette you used for your quilt is lovely. I had to try it for myself. Did you allow the computer to generate it or did you create it yourself? And, how do you feel about me using it? 

Thanks again,

Karen

Hi Karen,

I'm glad you liked the palette.  I chose it myself.  I do quilting myself, and like the blue/orange combinations.  Absolutely feel free to use it!.  I'm tempted to actually try to one that was generated.  Lots of half-triangle squares, in a very interesting pattern.

Marion

I agree about the pattern. It was terrific. I am not sure you were aware, but the colors are based on the Kona quilting fabrics so they could translate directly to a quilt. And, half square triangles can be so fast to work with. Have fun!

Thank you. It has been quite rewarding.

Thank you. Crafts can be a useful tool to aid with advancing computing literacy

One of the most important changes in our in-person workshop will be a more organic, fluid access to sewing machines. We planned on sewing activities for our online workshops, however, in the end we decided to remain with our computers to remain engaged with each other. In an in person workshop, we will be in proximity to both our sewing machines and the software. This will enable us to investigate further the relationship between tangible experiences in a workshop and computing experiences. 

However, our online efforts indicate that participants recognize a clear connection between quilting and computing through an activity in which they recreated a physical, tangible quilt block on the generator. And in the converse, one participant related, "I feel like I'm getting out a lot of that exploration on the computer. And then I end up with something... I was so excited when I discovered that I could generate a quilt from my block." Participants connected their computing experience to their own practice, its social qualities, creative opportunities and feelings of competence.

The generative nature of the software and its social affordances connected their computing experience to their own practice. We designed our software to reflect a typical "learning to quilt" format. Our computing activities also aligned with this same process. They were familiar procedures that positioned computing as augmenting their current interests and practice. At the same time, the online workshop format was a flexible platform that encouraged discussion and sharing, which informed new explorations and insights. 

I hope this answered your questions. Please don't hesitate to ask any other questions and try out our Code Crafters - Procedural Patchwork software. 

Thank you for your great questions.

Our in-person workshops will incorporate measuring a change in women's attitudes toward computing. Though, our workshops in general aim to expose our participants to broad computing knowledge such as the role of computing in society and how, like quilting, computing has the capacity to bridge communities, introduce innovation and drive conversations about bias and intellectual property.

In the workshop, we discuss more direct underlying concepts as well. The "learning to quilt" framework facilitated conversations about the structure of our software as it related to quilting. We demonstrate how "liking" certain aspects or allowing more of one color or patch than another directs random generation and tight control of the results.  Our drop down menus for selecting patches promoted discussions about representation. We presented our preplanned activity of recreating a specific tangible block in the software in response to a question from one of our participants.

"And then also, I feel like I understand the randomness, which is part of the fun, of course, but if I want to get something more specific after the randomness, how do I take it to that place? Or is that possible?"

Though we had planned activities, each activity was presented fluidly, informally, as the participants indicated a need or posed a question that could be answered through engagement with the software.

It would also be nice to have some longitudinal data about what these women did with CS afterwards.

I agree wholeheartedly. The idea was discussed. We have not implemented anything at this time. Thank you.

Thank you Maria, I am pleased you enjoyed the software. 

I believe that our in person workshops especially have the potential to reach others who have never quilted. However, our online workshops did actually reach novice quilters. One of our online quilters had less than a year of quilting. I believe they related they had around 6 months of quilting experience. 

Your question about the activities we designed is a good one. I believe that the important thing about our work is that our participants indicate an interest in quilting. That is, because we position the software as contributing to and relating to their quilting practice, they must understand and/or desire to engage in a quilting practice.

Having said that, your question is an intriguing one. I am trying to imagine how the workshop could or would change if the focus was connecting software to a different craft practice. How important is a preexisting interest or participation in a craft in making a connection to software? Interesting.

A question for you. What other craft activities have you tried and how would you feel about quilting after trying the software? Thanks for your interest. 

Cheers

One of our participants reached out to us to ask if she could use the software to present workshops to other quilters. I can see she engages on a regular basis through her contributions to the community sections of the software. She offers workshops, writes blogs and offers patterns that she designs using the software. I am not aware to the extent that she connects the software back to computing as directly as we did, however, she has related that the workshops impacted her practice. Recently, I emailed her as I noticed a new color palette that she introduced to the community. I even had to try it myself as I was drawn to her choices. The software is a platform that keeps us connected while the workshop initially brought us together.

Thanks for asking.

Thank you Ann. Though I find creating a quilt, with all the thoughts about how it will be used and who will use it, rewarding, one of the most satisfying parts of quilting for me is guiding others learning new techniques. What is it that you find rewarding? Cheers.

Patti, I have enjoyed your comments. Our time travels have been an amusing interlude to my day. I am glad you found our current work. And, we are very much looking forward to in person gatherings for a dual reason. One, we initially intended to conduct our research in person. And two, comparing the activities, environment and results of online and in person events will be quite interesting. Best of luck to you.

We have presented our work at Creativity & Cognition 2021, STEM 4 ALL in May 2021, AISL, ICER, DIS and GRiSTS. Reaching the academic community with our work is a priority while at the same time we reach into our quilting community to spread the word more informally. We have a web presence - Code Crafters. And we have the online software - Procedural Patchwork - Code Crafters Software. I believe Gillian Smith - gmsmith@wpi.edu would be the best contact person to receive a more detailed account of our outreach efforts and marketing strategy. 

Thank you for your questions.