Don Undeen. Culture, Tech, Makerspaces

About

Makerspace builder, innovation consultant, new media artist, educator. Manager of the Maker Hub, Georgetown University's makerspace. Former Founding and Senior Manager of the MediaLab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hi! I get up to all sorts of trouble, but in a nutshell I do creative and help others do creative.

I built and managed the Maker Hub at Georgetown University. During my tenure, we went from being a university with no open-access makerspace to making Newsweek's list of The Best Maker Schools 2021.

I was the Founding and Senior Manager of the MediaLab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2012 I was tasked with establishing a space for experimentation at the intersection of art, technology, and the museum experience. By working closely with NYC's creative technology community, the MediaLab developed a worldwide reputation for consistently delivering provocative, exciting, and valuable projects.

Lessee, what else... I've traveled around the world, consulting with museums, universities, governments, and religious organizations on how to develop space for creativity and innovation. I advise entrepreneurs and students on project development. I serve as technical lead for cultural projects. I help multimedia artists develop new works. I create digital art systems and use them to perform my own compositions. I design and create art objects using digital fabrication and vintage tech.

I like people, experiences, AND things.

Here's a better Bio for publication: Don Undeen (MDes Concordia 2023 ) was the Founding Manager of the Maker Hub at Georgetown University, and Adjunct Professor of creative technology courses in Georgetown's Communications, Culture, and Technology graduate program. Prior to his work at Georgetown, Don was the founder and Senior Manager of the Media Lab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an incubator for experiments at the intersection of art, technology, and the museum experience. A lifelong lover of creative technology and the communities that practice it, Don has consulted with businesses, non-profits, museums, governments, and religious institutions around the world, helping complex organizations develop spaces for connection and innovation.
In his creative practice, Don explores how collaborative development of nonsense objects can build bridges between people and deconstruct the techno-solutionist hegemony. To this end Don is the creater of WeCanMusic, a system for turning electronic sensors into silly instruments that follow chord changes, allowing anyone to join the jam.

Teaching

I serve as adjunct faculty for Georgetown University, for both Georgetown College and the Communications, Culture & Technology program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Georgetown Old North Pilgrimage Project "The Pilgrimage Project" is a multi-disciplinary collaborative ITEL experiment rediscovering the spaces of Georgetown's campus. Our first focus is Old North, Georgetown's oldest standing building.

UNXD-456 : Maker Hub Extension, Spring 2018. 1-Credit course through Georgetown's Maker Hub in which students actively integrate academic studies with hands-on, project based learning, by developing a physical product, prototype, or creative work utilizing the fabrication equipment in the Maker Hub.

CCTP-702 : Creative Web Development, Fall 2018, 2019, 2020. 3 Credit, graduate-level course teaching web development skills through art-making and the study of Net Art.

UNXD-368 : Makerspaces and Justice, Fall 2019. A collaboration between the Center for Social Justice and the Maker Hub, this course integrates design-thinking, experience, and reflection through a community-based making project serving individuals experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C.

IDST-220 : Making Matters, Spring 2020. This 3 credit undergraduate course will provide hands-on, practical learning opportunities through skill-building and volunteer service in the Maker Hub. Additionally, students will reflect in groups and through writing assignments on their experience, considering such questions such as: What makes a makerspace successful? Why do people use them, and what do they get out of it? Who are makerspaces for, and who decides? How can MY actions contribute to the success of a community makerspace?

CCTP-531 : Designing & Prototyping in a Makerspace, Spring 2020. In this 3 credit graduate course students learn not only the "hard" skills of design and fabrication with a wide range of tools, but also the "soft" skills of empathy, communication, and collaboration necessary for innovation. This course will provide hands-on, practical learning opportunities through skill-building and volunteer service in the Maker Hub.

CCTP-505 : Intro CCT: Inter Prob & Method, Fall 2020. This course introduces students to interdisciplinary studies in the Communication, Culture & Technology program. It is a how-to for developing expertise and contributing to an intellectual community that puts the student in the driver's seat.

Workshops

I'm available to teach hands-on workshops on a wide range of creative technology topics. My approach to workshops is to leave partipants with lots of resources and excitement to learn more. Previous workshops have included:

3D modeling with free tools
Creative Web Development (HTML/CSS/Javascript)
Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for the Laser Cutter
Digital Strategy for Startups and Entrepreneurs
Fundamentals of 3D Printing
Arduino
Raspberry Pi
Soldering

Art

WeCanMusic, Don Undeen A system for channeling data from any kind of sensor (accelerometer, rangefinders, capacative, EEG, brain scanners, etc) through chord changes. This allows anyone to transform bodies, spaces, and objects into musical instruments that can be played in groups with syncronized harmonic progressions.
Implemented to run on cheap hardware with Raspberry Pi, NodeJS, and wireless Arduino ESP32.
Versions available for Max/MSP and MacOS as well.

Vagina Chorus, Althea Rao. A multimedia performance series designed to normalize the conversations around pelvic health and the imperfect female body. I'm the Technical advisor and programmer, developing a musical system that interfaces 16 bluetooth devices with the harmonic and tonal stuctures of the composer. Tech includes: Raspberry Pi, Bluetooth, Arduino Feather ESP32, NodeJS, OSC, Max/MSP, and Midi.

Pointless Web Content Swapper, Don Undeen This is a simple plugin for making weird art mashups with web pages.
Suck the content (images or text) from one page and swap it into another page. Art!
View code on GitHub

Human Essence, Althea Rao. An interactive installation consisting of two flat light sculpture panels that interact with the visitors as a set of mirrors, capturing and reflecting human silhouettes in real time. I was the technical lead, responsible for programming and fabrication of the devices. Tech includes: Raspberry Pi, Python, OpenCV, Laser Cutter.

Art Image Morpher, Don Undeen. A video projection installation in which museum apis are used to harvest images, faces are detected, and images morph from one face to the next. Composed with NodeJS and Meteor. Debuted at London Science Museum's 2017 Hackathon.

Art Squares, Don Undeen. A series of experiments in html, emojis, and css animations. Simple loops of animations overlayed to produce endless variation. Designed for digital art display screens. Best results on Chrome and Firefox
The Series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10,

Code

C5 Creative Coding, Cultural Commons, Community. C5 is a web-based environment for collaborative live coding in interaction with open data and media from cultural institutions. It is designed to make creative remixing of museum APIs fast, fun, and sharable.

Me on GitHub Tools, creative projects, APIs, and experiments

SeeburgJukeboxReader. A system for using a vintage Seeburg Jukebox wall unit to control a Spotify Playlists. Tech includes: Iot, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, NodeJS, Mopidy.

Hey Box. A pair of arduino boxes, connected via IoT, that tell each other "hey." I made this so my wife and I can stay connected when we're living apart. I love her. Tech includes: Iot, Arduino, adafruit.io.

Me on Glitch I use the Glitch platform to teach and practice creative web development. Quality of projects varies.

Makerspaces

Makerspaces are my happy place. I love visiting, volunteering, building, managing, and partnering with them.

Here are some resources you might find useful in your own making journey.

Georgetown University's "Making" LibGuide: This set of how-to's, resource links, project ideas, and instructional videos is based on my experience building and running Georgetown University's Maker Hub.

Maker Hub Staff/Volunteer Manual: Every volunteer and staff member at Georgetown University's Maker Hub recieved this book at their orientation. It clearly explained not only a volunteer's responsibilities and the rules of the space, but more importantly the VALUES of our makerspace that made it a warm, welcoming, creative and inclusive environment.

Makerspaces for Learning, Living, and Sharing: The content of the playbook is the result of co-construction events that were held during the Winter 2022, with 80 practitioners, scholars and students who are actively involved in the facilitation of maker education within schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums and community centres. I helped distill the knowledge generated into a colorful handbook that emerging makerspaces can use to generate ideas and facilitate conversations as they grow to serve their communities' needs. Available in English and French.

Strategy

My passion is helping large organizations build spaces for creativity, community, and innovation. To this end I've facilitated conversations around the world, with museums, universties, governments, and religious organizations.

Below are a few publications I've helped produce that distill my experience into actionable strategies that can be implemented from any position within your organization.

I'm also happy to discuss how I can help your organization create its own "Space for Yes."

The Creative Lab Strategic Framework: This 100-page workbook is a collection of conversations every organization needs to have to develop a robust strategy for their creative space, whether it's a makerspace, FabLab, incubator, or even a program that doesn't require a physical space.
This framework is living document -- copy this google doc into your own drive, and edit it with the insights from your organizational conversations.
Shameless Plug: This process works best with an experienced facilitator who can help you choose the right order of sections to cover for your organizations specific needs. I'm happy to be that person for you.

The Creative Museum Toolkit: The mission of the Creative Museum Project was to help museums expand their relevance through new connections with creative communities. In addition to organizing pan-european museum maker residencies, I contributed my insights to the production of three "Toolkits:" Connecting to Communities, Spaces for Yes, and Strategies for Success. As museum come to grips with the fact that they cannot be neutral spaces in a changing world, I think these books are more relevant than ever.

Makerspaces for Learning, Living, and Sharing: The content of the playbook is the result of co-construction events that were held during the Winter 2022, with 80 practitioners, scholars and students who are actively involved in the facilitation of maker education within schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums and community centres. I helped distill the knowledge generated into a colorful handbook that emerging makerspaces can use to generate ideas and facilitate conversations as they grow to serve their communities' needs. Available in English and French.

Groups

Creative Museum The Creative Museum Project seeks to explore and inform the connections between our cultural organisations and their communities by capitalising on the emergence of new and democratising digital technologies. I helped to produce a series of "Maker Residencies" at 6 different European partner institutions, through 2017.

Vatican Arts and Technology Council The VATC is dedicated to exploring ways that Art and Technology can help to promote and enact universal human values to people in need around the world. I served on the Executive Committee as leader of the Labs group and co-author of the strategic framework.

Hyphen-Hub Hyphen Hub is a New York-based non-profit organization that explores, promotes, and presents radical new visions of the future through the integration of art and emerging technologies. It produces live performances, art salons, and installations. It also serves as a platform for a global community of artists, engineers, designers, performers and tech innovators to connect and collaborate. I served on the Advisory Board, and now participate as a technology advisor.

CV

Videos