Sometimes I feel like an octopus with many arms reaching out to all sorts of subjects that interest me. As a result, I have participated in several types of independent learning environments, including makerspaces, project nights, and informal classes, as well as more formal classes taught through an accredited institution.

My most recent creative endeavor in learning has been joining Computer Graphics Meet-up group that assembles on alternating weeks. At first, I thought my understanding and abilities were not deep enough to participate meaningfully in this group, but after being encouraged by a friend, I finally tried it out.

The format for these meet-ups roughly follows this: we’re all members of a Facebook group where we post announcements, reminders, and links to interesting papers or websites. We meet in person every 2 weeks, and those who come to the meet up must bring a relevant demo that they put together on the week’s chosen topic. In the 2 sessions that I have participated in, the topics were “quaternions” and “symmetry.”

The “demo” assignment might be easier for some people than others. Folks that are professionally embedded in the field often just pull out a polished-looking project that they had previously spent weeks or months fine-tuning for some other purpose. Whereas I am on the other end of the spectrum and basically have to put together a demo on an unfamiliar topic from scratch. I try to make my project relevant to something we’re doing in my Creative Computing class so I can justify (to myself) working on something that isn’t my homework For the “symmetry” meet up, I needed to learn more about serial communication for my CC class, so I created a kalaidescope-like Processing sketch whose axes of rotational symmetry increased or decreased depending on input from a flex sensor strip.

The group is small – typically 4 people show up on any given night. This lends itself to lively and jovial conversations about topics that might otherwise seem intimidating to me. The fact that the group is so small adds an incredible pressure to finish a demo to share, as well. I have found myself showing off projects that I feel are extremely crude in comparison to others, but they are well received anyways since at least I engaged with the topic. That engagement has a double pay-off: everyone gets to see my creative process and perhaps be inspired by a part of my demo, and I can participate in the ensuing math-heavy conversation, even if I had never heard of the topic before it was assigned.

At the end of the night, we pick the next topic. Sometimes it’s based on a project that someone wants to show off. Other times the topic happened to come up in conversation and we decided to explore it further.

I’ve found the group to be very welcoming. We’re all at different levels of capability and interest. The discussion is lead by a professional CAD designer and mathematician who has an incredibly deep grasp of the subject. However, effort is made to keep the topic interesting for everyone, and any mathematical tangents are engaging and interesting.

The space were we meet is an art and fabrication studio the doubles as a performance venue, complete with stage and sound system. This lends itself well to the lively discussions — that sometimes even turn into interpretive dance (if you have never had the privilege of watching someone act out the rotational axes of 4D Euclidian space, you haven’t lived!)

I think that the small group, informal setting has lent itself well to keeping me motivated. When the only failure mode possible is a failure to contribute to the group, there’s this sense of accountability that I find personally affecting, when I know that I will be judged only by my peers.