Tech D.I.Y. Thesis statement

Thesis statement 09/16/2007 Ji Sun Lee

Physical computing or D.I.Y(Do It Yourself) technology is not easy for people with little knowledge of electronics. Although there are many people who may not be concerned about physical computing, many men want to buy tools at places such as HomeDepot or Lowes and make something special in their garage as a hobby. That’s why Make magazine, the Instructables website and thousand of electronic shops are very popular with them.
Most customers of electronic shops are male and there are still low percentages of females at graduate schools with an educational focus in electronics, robotics or technological innovation. Make magazine was published in January 2005 and after almost one year, in mid-October 2006, Craft magazine was published. Most of the readers of Make magazine are male, but target customers of Craft magazine are female. It interesting that there was a perceived need to publish a separate electronics hobby magazine for women.
When I went to Maker Faire 2007 to exhibit my project Interactive Cake, which was inspired by my daughter’s birthday party playing, most of the attendees at the fair were parents who had brought their children to encourage and educate them about technology and science. Although there were many interesting technically oriented exhibits, mothers and daughters often went to the craft section and made something cute and simple. So, I thought if there were technology D.I.Y. kits which are very interesting and cool, and also very cute and beautiful, the kit would teach them basic knowledge of electronics or electricity. This would be very useful and helpful for them, especially, for the mothers and daughters. If the D.I.Y. kits help females make beautiful things using sewing skills or other craft skills, it will be a very interesting hobby for them.
To help encourage women to gain interest in technology, electronics and science, I would like to develop a Tech D.I.Y. kit that mother and daughter can make and enjoy together. The basic principles of the kit are, firstly, it will be used as an education kit. Secondly, instructions inside of the kit will help the mother explain the fundamentals about what she and her child are making and they will learn while having quality time together. Thirdly, it will be easy to start and make.
Although there are already lots of kits for making robotics such as Lego’s Mind Storm, it’s still not cool for female children. Furthermore, most D.I.Y. instructions such as Makezine.com and Instuctables.com don’t provide materials and it's very hard to make an order through the online store because of lack of information about part numbers of the materials and unfamiliar category and material names. For this reason, Tech D.I.Y kits will include all of the materials to make the project along with paper and video instruction. IN addition, there will be more focus on external form with decoration to stimulate female’s interests, so that they can see that technology crafts can be attractive without exposing wire and circuits. Themes are also selected from feminine oriented interests.
The Tech D.I.Y. kits will be safe. Though soldering includes lead and is very harmful for children and fertile women, soldering skill is still required to make to electronic projects. Also many electronic products radiate electromagnetic waves. For this reason, if it is possible, the D.I.Y. kit will not require any soldering skill and the main circuits will be covered by an electromagnetic field shield.
The Tech D.I.Y kit will enable mothers, daughters, fathers and sons in families to begin participating in technology hobbies together. They can start to have common interests in making electronic projects together and can gain knowledge. The kit will initially act to encourage them and can expand their options for the future.