How I learnt to love numbers My personal experience of creativity

and computing

@iamhelenharrop @iamcreative

http://www.firebox.com/product/624/Postcode-Puzzles

I wanted to be a spy

I wanted to be a spy

• ‘How to be a spy’ books

I wanted to be a spy

• ‘How to be a spy’ books

• Ciphers

I wanted to be a spy

• ‘How to be a spy’ books

• Ciphers

• Coded messages

I wanted to be a spy

• ‘How to be a spy’ books

• Ciphers

• Coded messages

• Invisible ink

I wanted to be a spy

• How to be a spy books

• Ciphers

• Coded messages

• Invisible ink

• Morse code

Above all else though ...

Above all else though ...

• I wanted to draw pictures

Above all else though ...

• I wanted to draw pictures

• I wanted to write stories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro (BBC Basic – 1981)

“Do schools kill creativity?”

http://on.ted.com/8GMY

A B C D E F G H I J K

L M N O P Q R S T

U V X Y Z

1 2 34 5 67 8 9

0

My world view until circa 1997

• Something Changed

• Something Changed

• I got creative again

• Something Changed

• I got creative again

• And I became a geek

“When I speak about computer programming as an art I am thinking

primarily of it as an art form, in an aesthetic sense. The chief goal of my

work is to help people learn how to write beautiful programs”

Art of Computer Programming(Don Knuth,1968)

http://www.chris.com/ASCII/

ASCII Art

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/03/13/ascii-art-1948

1948!!!!!!!!

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/03/13/ascii-art-1948

• Fractal art

http://www.free-background-wallpaper.com/background-wallpaper-fractals.php

• Fractal art

http://www.free-background-wallpaper.com/background-wallpaper-fractals.php

• Fractal art

http://www.free-background-wallpaper.com/background-wallpaper-fractals.php

• Scott Blake ‘Bar Code Jesus’ & ‘Bar code Elvis’

ASCII Curtain - Nienke Sybrandy

Robert Hodgin + Arduino

http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/2007/08/29/biomimetic-butterflies/

“Designed with Processing, made by mom”

http://roberthodgin.com/magnetoquilt/

Adam Marks: calltrace: a live visualization of a running computer program. each box is a function in the code, each line is a function call.

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• iamhelenharrop@yahoo.co.uk

• @iamcreative

• @iamhelenharrop

• http://flickr.com/photos/creatinginthedark/