Aside from the excellent Physical Computing book, how can artists and interaction designers learn how to get into electronics to make all kinds of interesting projects? Interaction Design Institute Ivrea had one solution, InstantSOUP. InstantSOUP is a path into electronics using an approach of “learning by making”, introducing electronic prototyping in a playful, non-technical way. It was developed following the experience gained in teaching physical interaction design at Interaction-Ivrea.
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Looking through the site, they have very good step-by-step instructions and photos, well documented and I really like the concept. For this to work though I would like to see two things:
1) Don’t focus too much on the use of Flash. It was never designed for this purpose and tools like PureData and Processing are much better (and free), so provide an alternative.
2) Make the great looking Wiring boards available for people outside of Ivrea.
(thanks to regine at wmmna)