Updates | Digital Naturalism

Setting up for Wildhacks – Andy

On the first day in basecamp, I sent the crew out on a “Smell Adventure.” The goal was to help them explore their environment in new ways by giving them the fun task of collecting as many unique smells from the nearby areas. While they were out, I started organizing and setting up electronics at…
The Most Useless Machine (Without an Arduino) – Paul, Hugh, Laura

The party boat activity prompt was just to take a bunch of outputs and link them together in a way that might stimulate some sort of organism. Basically, it’s just use a combination of natural and digital materials to make a thing that makes noises and flashes lights and things like that. While digging through…
Hydroelectric Power from Citico Creek

We tried to generate power from Citico Creek using a fire hose and some sort of generator. This was originally Scott Gilliland’s idea, and we volunteered to put this craziness to the test by carrying an extra compatible hose all the way down the mountain with us! We were trying to make it entirely gravity…
Where am I? You are here. – Paul

June 11th, 2015 The first day of hiking was easy, until it wasn’t. I had planned it to take two days of walking to get to the NFCCDL (Owl Camp), but the early part of the day had been so easy that we’d gotten optimistic that we could make it in one day of walking.…
Standing on the shoulders of giants – Jeannette, Andy

J- I loved my role as Master Blaster. At 5’, 96 lbs and agile, I could stand on the shoulders of Andy Q and reach heights that we could not have reached alone. We raised the tent of our workplace to unprecedented heights. A- Our formation as the amazing Master Blaster duo was an important…
Diving in Heavy: First Day Hiking

After the last day of the prelim workshops, there was still SOO much for me to do. I had to finish charging all of our batteries, finish up several projects, organize the last bits of electronics we needed to take, and prep the hacking laptop (hacktop). Just getting this laptop ready was a major time…
Field Power

The first question we always get when talking about making electronics and computers in the wilderness is how to power all of our tools. During this trip we tested out numerous different ways of getting the electrical power our devices needed. Needs From extremely rough estimates of previous hiking hacks, we came up with…
Hanging Out – Laura’s Guide to Hammock Camping

The smallest things can make the biggest differences when you’re out in the field for long periods of time. After years of being a ground dweller in tents, I was ready to take to the trees and finally develop my hammock kit. Since I got confirmation that I’d be going on this trip, I’ve spent…
Preliminary Projects – Wearables in the Wild

During our initial workshops we brainstormed about different gear and superpowers we wanted to bring with us into the field. The targets were for digital, wearable devices that could help us explore the environment or interact with other living creatures. We batted around ideas covering a broad assortment of topics, and these then we loosely…
Crew – Wearables in the Wild

The Wearables in the Wild 2015 expedition has attracted quite an amazing crew! We have a diverse background of ages, jobs, technological and biological experience. Dozens of incredible researchers, designers, artists, adventurers and biologists, applied, but we were only able to accomodate 10 positions. The final selected participants originate from all around the world, and…