Can I share with you one of my pet peeves? I have real trouble with people who describe themselves as “a creative.” Even if I ignore the linguistic problems of the adjective construction (and I find it really, really hard to do that), the vague label means it could be applied to almost everyone. It’s like calling someone “a good.” While there are certainly a few folks who couldn’t realistically wear the badge, it does apply to most of the people we meet on a given day.
More importantly, as it is generally applied to those engaged in a subset of the visual arts, “a creative” ignores many of the people I know who are genuinely creative. Take the people who write for and read Circuit Cellar, for example. In this issue, we have Wolfgang Matthes developing multitasking operating systems, Raul Torrico explaining how to modify the sound that comes out of your electric guitar, and Maheshwaran Sadasivam with detailed plans on how you can build and modify a robotic arm. And those aren’t nearly all of the articles presenting examples of creative solutions to real problems that hang out in the land away from cyberspace.
In recent months, I’ve been absolutely amazed by the quality and creativity of the articles that have come our way. They’ve ranged from primers on technology to projects for education to projects for industry. They have made use of all sorts of microcontrollers, programming languages, and operating systems. The one thing they have in common? They’re all the result of creative thought and creative processes.
I’d love to see our readers’ creative projects. Even if you don’t want to write an article, please send a photo or two and a quick description of a way that you’ve made creative use of electronics. I would appreciate the inspiration, and I am always happy to hear from members of the Circuit Cellar community.
Speaking of creative projects, I’m especially curious to know whether you’re using 3D printing in your projects. I have a small fleet of 3D printers that I keep busy on various projects, many of which include electronic components. Some of the projects wouldn’t realistically be possible without 3D printing. Others would be possible but wouldn’t look nearly as good if I had to make parts out of wood or metal. In any case, 3D printers have become part of my tool set as surely as various cutters and soldering irons. Are they part of your toolkit, as well? Let me know.
Finally, Circuit Cellar has begun spreading inspiration and information in some new ways. In addition to the Circuit Cellar Podcast you can find on YouTube and various other hosting services, we have begun offering webinars. Some of these are sponsored by a particular company and focus on a technology they provide while others feature our columnists or writers and focus on topics we think are really interesting.
You’ll be able to see upcoming webinars on the Circuit Cellar website and in our social media posts. So far, we’ve had some great conversations around coding quality and ways to make sure that your C++ code won’t provide unanticipated results when multithreading. There is much more to come—I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming webinar!
email: c.franklin@circuitcellar.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtisfranklin/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtis.f.franklin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curt_franklin/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@Kg4gwa
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/kg4gwa.bsky.social
Issue Table of Contents can be found here,
as articles are made available online they will be linked.
PUBLISHED IN CIRCUIT CELLAR MAGAZINE • August #433 – Get a PDF of the issue
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Curtis Franklin has been a journalist working in the computer and technology fields for more than forty years. From his early career as a columnist at Computer Shopper and the founder of the BYTE Testing Lab, he has covered computing devices from handheld to supercomputing and applications from trivial to life-altering. In 1988, he was the first editor of an exciting startup publication that was then called Circuit Cellar INK. Since then, he has edited and written for publications including ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld, InfoWorld, InformationWeek, and Dark Reading. Most recently, he was Principal Analyst for Cybersecurity Management at Omdia.
Curtis co-wrote one of the first books on podcasting and has been a host or co-host on more than 500 episodes of various podcasts, including hundreds of episodes of This Week in Enterprise Technology, a production of the TWiT Podcast Network.
When not telling stories of computers and the people who make them, Curtis is an amateur radio operator (KG4GWA), an artist, and a Florida Master Naturalist. He’s also active in the maker community, working on the teams that produce Maker Faire Orlando and Maker Faire Miami.
