Arduino, An Exchange Of Knowledge
Arduino
We could say that Arduino has caused a revolution around the world, impacting specific sectors such as digital culture, programming, education, and even entrepreneurship and innovation. Some libraries, promoters of the concept of free culture in their communities, have also incorporated Arduino and other free hardware devices (such as 3D printers) into their technological experimentation spaces.
Therefore, we are witnessing that mutation that some libraries are experiencing towards makerspaces, fablabs, factories, etc. Active knowledge centers or collectors (hubs) that incubate new ideas create ties with their communities and generate new knowledge.
But What Is Arduino?
Arduino is an open digital electronic platform, based on hardware and free software for prototyping, straightforward to use, allowing you to create interactive objects and environments. It is a perfect example of knowledge sharing. It has a large community of users behind it, which constitutes its heart and gateway to knowledge of this platform: the forum officer and the official community on Google+. It also has an exciting collection of knowledge resources such as tutorials and instructions through its Wiki, The Arduino Playground.
One of its co-founders, the Spaniard David Cuartielles, a Telecommunications Engineer from the University of Zaragoza and a researcher at the University of Malmö (Sweden), is also a content creator for the innovative colony etopia_KIDS, in Zaragoza, in which children and young people learn in a playful way, with this type of device, designing robots or video games, making animated shorts, programming or experimenting with weather stations, for example.
Cuartielles is a defender of the use of free culture as a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge (publishing research production freely and openly, with licenses that allow redistribution and modification) and the importance of teaching programming in primary schools.
Arduino Applications
The application areas of the platform are mainly educational so that it can be potentially interesting in school, academic or university libraries. Arduino seeks to be a tool for children to understand digital electronics.
As explained by himself Barracks in an interview, with free hardware, teachers can make robots with recycled materials without the need to use code to program. But there are also other areas. Software employees, for example, use it in rapid prototyping processes.
The importance of Arduino lies in the fact that being a free and open-source platform, users can modify the requirements to their needs. And thus exchange knowledge.
An example of a playful application of Arduino and Scratch, a programming language for children and young people, is the event that was held in Zaragoza last May, in which children and young people learned to create, in an effortless way, stories, simulations, games, to build Lego robots controlled with this language, video game creation, etc.
Libraries, Driving Centers Of Knowledge Generation
A TechSoup article from late last year, Getting Started with Arduino: at the library?, gave an account of various workshops and formal groups on the Arduino free hardware platform, held in libraries in the United States.
These workshops can enable libraries to bond with their user communities to share their Do-it-yourself passions, making digital electronics affordable, easy to learn, fun, and supported by a large community.
And in addition, it is possible to create virtual communities to serve as a meeting point to share information, learn and collaborate. Quite a challenge for libraries!
Also Read: Virtual Reality: Future And Current State
