While Museomix Québec is waking up and playing catch up with the european teams, these lasts just finished their lunch and went back to their worksite. The turmoil is huge on the social networks according to a tweet by a museomixer in Québec. However, it’s the same story in every Museomix, « a quick conclusion of #museomixqc so far : Pondering is not enough. »

Thomas of the Asthrolab in the middle of an electronic creation

Thomas of the Asthrolab in the middle of an electronic creation at the Museomix in Lens.

Most of the tweets refer to advices and #help cryouts. The more the time goes by, the more the tweets reveal signs of progress in the making of the prototypes and that the teams are going beyond their troubles. Object mapping, 3D printing, laser cutting are some of the means available to the teams to pursue their quest. The laser cutter/burner is one of the most successful device out here. This device is loaned to the Petit FabLab de Paris by Nod-A and it costs tens of thousands euros. It is used to burn and cut wood, card, paper, leather and vinyl… the hundreds of museomixers’ badges were created thanks to this device! It relies on the laser technology and works from drawings and vectorial models.

Une découpeuse laser à l'oeuvre

A laser cutter in action, working on the members’ badges.

3D Printer building a foot

3D printer building a foot.

In the meantime, the Global Communication team enjoys a period of calm to do some interviews of the main players of Museomix, in the names of the witty people of the TechLab and the FabLab, the Wise Men, as well as some participants. A FabLab is an alternative structure that offers technical tools to a community. The FabLab concept is quite hazardous to define. No participant would give you the exact same definition : “Collaborative workshop where one can find the tools to realize one’s ideas” or “incubation place” are some of them. FabLab DNA lies in the field of the Open Source. All of the FabLabs are linked through an informal network based on the social networks. IRL events are thus the opportunity to meet and put faces on names or twitnames (Twitter’s aliases), and create “human” links. For a FabLab, being a part of Museomix act as a natural continuity and consolidate the frame of mind of its members : they bring their abilities and their technical solutions to make projects come real as well as innovative and collaborative. FabLab’s members are volunteers whose first goal is to experiment together and find solutions. Standing in front of new problems is for them a way to learn.

The woodshop of the FabLab in Grenoble

The woodshop of the FabLab in Grenoble is full throttle!

In the meantime, the Museomix in Grenoble welcomes students from local colleges that roam throughout the Musée dauphinois to study and make their reports of Museomix. According to the museum’s website, three groups will study three peculiar topics of Museomix. The first one will focus on the visitors’ reactions to Museomix, the second one will put the light on the creative and professional habits of Museomix while the third one will set a formal evaluation of the prototypes. Yet, the Museomix of Grenoble is not the only one to be under the spotlight : in the premises of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, experts in public studies share with museomixers and look into the teams’ work to try and evaluate their potential aftermaths for the museum. An official report, at least for Museomix Paris – but most surely for every other Museomix -, is to be published (though no release date has been officialy announced. Stay Tuned!).

Afternoon’s schedule is about setting up a beta specification and shooting a video of the use of the device thanks to a manufactured prototype. Like yesterday, the videos are broadcasted on the Museomix Youtube channel. At 4 p.m., once the videos are available, every team regroup for a brainstorming session : they need to synthesize the paths they’ve chosen and the distance yet to travel. They also need to reestablish their goals or lower them before working on improving the presentation of their project on the official Museomix website. A plenary session sums up the day : every team comes to share with the others the state of their prototype and the video of its use.

The day finally ends. In Grenoble, museomixers try to postpone the museum’s closing hour to 2 a.m.. In Nantes, the end of the day sounds joyful : museomixers only seem to be going up and down the stairs.