Joowon Jung

Is there anyone who's so mechanically illiterate that automatically making an aching sound? Hello, I am the exact one. The machines I've been chosen had died earlier than the others. Without a doubt, I prefer to study program; liberal arts than natural sciences, I have lived my life thinking that I have no connection with mechanics or mathematics. When I took a glance at the raspberry pie book that my engineering friend was carrying around and the pages that were written with unknown symbols, I felt a sense of tension and overwhelmed. I thought coding is an exclusive property of engineering students. Or, at least, not going to happen to me in any form. When I came back to school with a year off, I could see titles like the 100th line of jobs that would disappear in the fourth industrial revolution. By the time I thought I would start innovating and changing before I was left behind, I took a class using Arduino to create a project.

On the syllabus of the class, even a child can make it quickly with Arduino, and your imagination becomes a reality! I was completely fooled by the backstabbing of the written texts on the syllabus. The products that can be made using Arduino were quite diverse, but it was quite tricky and complicated, unlike the expectation that it would be challenging and complicated. In the class, what to choose and what to upload in a certain window is so basic that these steps were skipped very quickly. And I felt betrayed because it took twice or three times as much time to make a very simple setup. And somehow, after finishing my graduation project, Arduino seemed to be remembered as an unpleasant machine that gave me a sense of defeat. And after about seven months or so, when I realized that there was something I wanted to make, and the easiest way to visualize it was Arduino, I need to face this machine again. Of course, with less pressure than before.

I have mentioned Arduino repeatedly. Arduino is a device that controls the flow of electricity using a program. The phrase “control using a program” may be challenging to understand, in other words, you can decide how to make the electricity flow, not just to stop the electricity from flowing or not to the connected device. For example, after connecting an Arduino, computer, and led, press the A button on the computer, and then you can make detailed settings so that electricity flows into the light bulb and the light is turned on. Or, under specific conditions, you can also make it possible to command electricity to flow to a particular device. In addition to the understanding of this system, coding is required. And even if I don't know how to code, I followed the tutorial on YouTube or blog. I wanted to make something, but it wasn't as easy as I thought, and I need extra steps to understand this system.

Let me use an analogy to cooking. What do we do when we try to make pasta? Do you make pasta after completing all your studies and investigations about the chemical reactions that occur when the ingredients in the pasta mix with the ingredients in the pasta, and how to use the ingredients neatly? Even if you don't, you can easily cook delicious pasta by looking at the recipe. If you have an in-depth knowledge of the ingredients of the pasta, it will definitely help you to make a high-quality dish, but just following a simple recipe will result in your own cooking of pasta that tastes good to my taste. Knowledge upswing also creates know-how when following guidelines.

After so many long trials and errors, my first work, adolescent trash bin is made. Looking back, it was an elementary level coding, but I don't know why this seemed so great, and it felt like I did make a big progress. When I look at the first code for the project, it was almost like code Frankenstein. Then I made several other ideas with simple code and with 3d printing skills. And this general idea of ‘making skills’ helped me in the Netherlands.

In December 2018, I made a big decision. I planned to move closer to the city center. I still clearly remember on the day of the Christmas FMI party, the day, I took part in house viewing. And viewing was along with seven different teams, and the explanation was in Dutch. I was convinced that I would never have a chance, and with a bit depressed mind, I got drunk that day. And on the 26th of December, I went to London not only to see a friend but also to get a chill mind of getting a new house. But with luck, when I checked the website of the rental agency, the house I saw was up again. I immediately emailed the agency and said that I would sign a contract. In my first-time neighborhood in London, I went to a print shop, filled the form, and signed and sent it.

The big obstacle seemed to be over, but the student house that I used to live in the past was furnished already that I needed furniture for a new home. And shopping for furniture with a sense of, like, ‘this much, this big’ was problematic. I made these gloves because I thought it would be good to see the right number(cm) for this gesture. Because whenever I describe size, I usually think ‘this much’ by hand, or ‘this much’ by my height. I wanted to make a handy digital ruler. I've got a battery and a mini-Arduino in my glove so that I can carry it in one hand.

By then, I moved, but the other important thing left was to bring the bike that was tied up in front of the previous house. I used to go to school by bus before. For reference, I rarely ride a bicycle in Korea. Also, the last time I ride on was probably six years ago. The last time I was on the bike in Korea was with a bad experience. A child jumped out of the corner, and I crashed into the wall to prevent hitting the kid. That was why I preferred to walk around in the Netherlands or go to school by bus. Though since this country has very good bike paths and well-organized rules, I started trying to ride a bike, but it was always challenging to make a gesture to give directions. In particular, in the windy winter, it was hard to be balanced and make a right turn and a left turn. To prevent getting hurt of myself, and the person behind me, I had only two options. First, Walk with a bicycle. Or second, Make a turn signal. Yes, so I made a turn signal glove. And I brought this friend home safely.

Quite a while later, I made tiny assistance that helps me during working with adobe program. Actually, not only for the program but for any program. Why do I always forget to press the Save button while I'm working? The mindset of adding a little bit more and saving it later is not easily fixed. It's not surprising to lost work of 30 minutes, but it breaks my heart every time I go through it. To prevent big losses of the future by adding a little bit of irritation, a Save button was created.

When LED starts to blink, it is time to save your document! No more regret, no more losing your effort.

What do you think the most obvious feature that distinguishes humans from animals? The ability to use tools. As society evolves, people no longer have to build the tools they need. With money, you can buy simple tools such as scissors or a full pot, computer smartphones, and even industrial-scale tools such as factories and airplanes. However, this also means that the opportunity for production has become largely self-sufficient. This means that even if you have a sparkling idea, it takes a lot of money to run a factory to make it into a product and sell it.

But now a wave of change is being detected in this manufacturing industry. Instead of having to establish a factory on its own or persuade a large company with a factory, an environment was created. Where people could create prototypes with ideas they had, share opinions with people with similar thoughts, improve products, create and sell finished products. And this trend is called maker movement in the United States.

Nothing seems to be more painful than not being able to articulate what you are doing. I like to make this and that. And those are just a project that I want to make. It is not the form of a start-up. Because it's not about making money or business, and I do not concern about how many users will use it. Simply, I do what I want to do. In a way, producing surplus services is the fun of my life, and I was troubled because I had no way of describing it. Isn't it too long to explain myself as ‘the creator of a side project’? Now, I can describe myself as a maker, so I feel like my anxiety is resolved to some extent.