Placemaking Tools Intro Here's where we recommend some of the valuable tools we've used in creating "place" projects, and some of the media tools used in our Place Reports. Placemaking Report gets a fraction of the purchase price of some of the tools you buy (not all), without adding anything to the purchase price. If a tool is good, and there's no affiliate relationship available, we still recommend it.
Best "Blink an LED" Experience It's the "hello world" of physical computing: blinking an LED. It's making the connection, seeing if it works. Rudimentary, yeah, but it brings together physical and digital computing in a vivid way. Here's the quickest path to that adventure.
Self-Healing Mat I came across self-healing mats as I was creating my first sorta-crafty project. They are amazing. A good companion to X-acto knives. Put one on any surface, and go crazy. These mats can absorb the abuse.
Gesture Sensor My first touchless enabler was the APDS gesture sensor, the original trigger for the gachapon/gumball machine. Later, after Covid's arrival, I circled back to it again.
T-Slot, specifically MakerBeam T-slot is an accelerator. If you need a structure, you can create one quickly using these strong, extruded aluminum beams and fasteners. It's a prototyper's dream. You can create a T-slot structure quickly, and it looks tech-y and professional.
Reporter's Notebooks Forget Field Notes and Moleskines -- commodity Reporter's Notebooks are the best value for taking notes on places. When you buy them by the dozen, they cost just $1.75 each.
Blinky TikTok LED Lights It's not a maker project without LED lights. But you have... choices. Here are 3 levels of lights.
Magnifying Glasses A few of my Maker buddies have these, but I always thought they were expensive. But $17? That's way cheaper than I expected. And this model comes with a strong recommendation from Make:'s Caleb Kraft.
DJI Osmo Pocket I've been giving this camera a try to document outdoorsy places. At first I used it to smooth out long walking-around shots, as a relatively inexpensive, pocket-sized Steadicam. But once I started using it, I discovered that it has all sorts of funny little features, like pre-programmed robot-like camera moves.
Newspaper Club It's refreshingly high-touch, in the digital era: Newsprint broadsheets. And the crucial partner: Newspaper Club, based in the UK.
Sony ZV-1 camera A new camera from Sony, aimed at "content creators" who are ready to graduate from their smartphones. Not a bad marketing plan. Lots of stuff you may not need, but a solid camera with a good-sized sensor.
DJI Mini 2 Drone Doing more Place Reports, so I upped our arsenal. This drone, selected by Max R., is just about perfect for the job. It's an easy way to get off the ground for more perspective.
Easy Metaverse/Blockchain First Step -- Get a Wallet Does anyone care right now about the blockchain and the metaverse? Maybe not, with good reason. But if you're thinking longterm, you can take a first step down that path by setting up a blockchain wallet. I began with MetaMask. It's free, like most of them. But what I like most: Metamask doesn't try to dumb down the blockchain experience.
Placemaking Report
