Changing focus: micro to macro / macro to micro

 FOCUS

Where do I need to concentrate and invest my efforts? With such a broad area of possibilities in this independent study, asking this question is crucial to maximizing time and resources. This early discovery is informed by the numerous possible solutions to any given problem. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell suggests that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master in a given field. At 42 years old, I'm not sure I have another 10,000 hours left to master something new. Since we can't take back time, and we don't know how long we'll live, it's rather impractical to worry about getting in my 10,000 hours anyway. The important part is establishing a direction and moving forward, since there can be no progress without movement. 

I still think the 10,000 hour concept is useful if looked at another way. I see it as having a limited amount of hours to invest and understanding that I can't be a master of all things. As a student of New Media, I recognize that I've chosen a broad field. This is exactly the reason that I can't afford to deep dive for very long in any one area. On the other hand, I can't afford not to take the necessary deep dive now and again in order to make progress. Without the occasional concentrated investment in a specific area, it becomes nearly impossible to progress in the larger scope. This is exactly why it's so important to self evaluate and adjust focus. It's all about knowing yourself and seeking self improvement, which also happens to be the first of eleven leadership principles taught to U.S. Marines (11 Marine Corps Leadership Principles (MCTP 6-10B, Appendix B)

My initial focus was on learning TouchDesigner (TD) and using it to do everything on the software end. Of course, that was before I started learning more about Microcontrollers, sensors, actuators, and how to get everything to interact. Sure TD can do pretty much anything, but it's not always the easiest or most efficient way to do something. On the practical side of things, it was necessary to learn more about python anyways, since it was one of the languages that played nicely with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and the ESP32-POE-ISO boards I've been using. So I looked at the bigger picture and my larger goals with installation art, creative technology, and performance, in order to inform my future trajectory.

Some of the areas that warranted further exploration include: Programming micro controllers with an IDE, using Terminal, using Github, Compiling code, using libraries, debugging, modifying code examples and combining them into larger programs. Most of the solutions I found along the way have come from Tom Igoe's "Making Things Talk" (3rd edition), O'Sullivan & Igoe's "Physical Computing: Sensing and Conrolling the Physical World with Computers", Monk O'Reilly's "Raspberry Pi Cookbook" (3rd edition), and the "Freenove Ultimate Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi Tutorial" that came with the kit.