The Season for Tinkering  ## Metadata - Author: [[binatethoughts.com]] - Full Title: The Season for Tinkering - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [#open-source, #community, #technology, #WordPress] Author: [Bina T. Thoughts] Source: [Bina T. Thoughts Article] Reference: [https://binatethoughts.com/the-season-for-tinkering] date created: {{date:2025-01-03}} {{time:15:00}} --- # Title: The Season for Tinkering ## Table of Contents: - [📝 Summary](#summary) - [📖 Main Content](#main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#notes) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#methodology) - [❓ Questions](#questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#future-research) - [💡 Implications](#implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#conclusion) ### References: - [Bina T. Thoughts](https://binatethoughts.com/the-season-for-tinkering) ## 📝 Summary: This article discusses the increasing importance of tinkering with technology, particularly in the context of open-source software and community engagement. The author reflects on how tinkering drives innovation, fuels creativity, and fosters a deeper understanding of systems. The piece also highlights the role of the open-source community in providing a platform for experimentation, and how tinkering aligns with the ethos of open collaboration and knowledge sharing. It calls for more people to embrace tinkering as a method of learning and contributing to the tech ecosystem. ## 📖 Main Content: The article emphasizes the importance of tinkering, a hands-on, exploratory approach to technology that allows individuals to experiment and innovate. The author advocates for creating an environment where individuals can freely tinker with software and hardware without the constraints of traditional development workflows. Through tinkering, individuals can discover new possibilities, learn from failures, and contribute to the growth of open-source projects. The article calls on the open-source community to create more accessible opportunities for tinkering, including mentorship and support for newcomers to ensure the sustainability of these efforts. ### 🗒️ Notes: - **Definition of Tinkering**: - Tinkering involves exploring and experimenting with technology without a defined goal, often leading to unexpected discoveries and innovations. - It encourages learning by doing and fosters a sense of creativity and problem-solving. - **Role of Open-Source**: - Open-source communities provide a unique space for tinkering, where individuals can modify, share, and collaborate on projects without proprietary constraints. - Collaboration within these communities drives innovation and accelerates the development of new tools and technologies. - **Educational Value of Tinkering**: - Tinkering is a powerful learning tool, especially for new developers or those exploring unfamiliar technologies. - The article highlights the importance of embracing failure as a learning opportunity, which can help individuals build resilience and critical thinking skills. - **Encouraging Tinkering in the Community**: - The article urges experienced developers and open-source contributors to offer mentorship and resources to newcomers, fostering a supportive environment for experimentation. - It also calls for the creation of "sandbox" environments where developers can experiment without fear of breaking production systems. ## 📖 References: - [Bina T. Thoughts](https://binatethoughts.com/the-season-for-tinkering) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. Original: "Tinkering is a powerful tool for innovation, often leading to solutions that formal processes may not uncover." - Paraphrase: "By experimenting with technology in an informal manner, tinkering often produces solutions that more structured processes fail to identify." 2. Original: "Open-source communities provide an ideal environment for tinkering, offering the freedom to modify and share code." - Paraphrase: "The open-source ecosystem is perfect for tinkering, as it allows users to alter and distribute code freely, fostering creativity and collaboration." ## 📰 Newsletter: **Tinkering: The Gateway to Innovation in Open-Source** In this week's edition, we're diving into the art of tinkering and its role in open-source communities. Far from just a hobby, tinkering drives innovation and offers a unique approach to learning and development. Whether you're experimenting with new code or testing out a creative solution, tinkering allows you to push boundaries and uncover new possibilities. Learn how open-source communities are embracing this approach and how you can join the movement to explore, break, and rebuild. Check out the full article for more insights on making tinkering a part of your workflow. [Read more here](https://binatethoughts.com/the-season-for-tinkering). ## ✅ Action Items: - **Aligning with Open Source Advocacy**: This article reinforces the value of tinkering within the open-source community, aligning perfectly with my advocacy for open-source collaboration and knowledge sharing. - **Educational Initiatives**: Encourage educational programs focused on hands-on experimentation in open-source development, particularly for beginners. - **Engagement with WordPress Community**: Promote the concept of tinkering within the WordPress community by organizing workshops or events where developers can experiment with new plugins, themes, or features. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - **Hypothesis 1**: Open-source projects that provide spaces for tinkering and experimentation see higher levels of community engagement and innovation. - **Hypothesis 2**: New developers who engage in tinkering as a learning method develop stronger problem-solving skills and are more likely to contribute to open-source projects. ### 📊 Methodology: To test these hypotheses, a longitudinal study could track new contributors to open-source projects who are encouraged to engage in tinkering: - **Quantitative**: Analyze the number of contributions from new developers before and after participating in a tinkering-focused environment. - **Qualitative**: Conduct interviews with developers to assess how tinkering influences their learning process and contributions. ## ❓ Questions: 1. How can we create more inclusive spaces for tinkering in the open-source community? 2. What specific tools or resources can help make tinkering more accessible to beginner developers? ## 🔮 Future Research: Future research could explore the long-term effects of tinkering on the professional development of open-source contributors, especially in terms of creative problem solving and collaboration. ### 💡 Implications: Research into tinkering as a method of learning and contributing to open-source could lead to new educational frameworks that prioritize creativity and hands-on experience, shifting away from traditional, rigid training methods. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: - **Visual Learners**: The article could benefit from visual aids such as diagrams or flowcharts illustrating how tinkering contributes to innovation. - **Aural Learners**: Adding audio resources like interviews with developers or podcast summaries of key points could engage auditory learners. - **Verbal Learners**: The article does a good job of explaining concepts, but it could include more storytelling to engage verbal learners more effectively. - **Physical Learners**: More hands-on exercises or challenges related to tinkering could engage kinesthetic learners. - **Logical Learners**: While the article makes logical points, adding more data-driven examples or case studies would appeal to logical learners. - **Social Learners**: Encouraging collaborative tinkering through group challenges or community events could benefit social learners. - **Solitary Learners**: The article provides a strong framework for solitary learners to reflect on their own tinkering processes. - **Naturalistic Learners**: The connection between tinkering and real-w - Summary: Like many, the holidays are about taking stock, reflecting, and recharging. They are also often about learning new things and experimenting. - URL: https://binatethoughts.com/the-season-for-tinkering/ * Like many, the holidays are about taking stock, reflecting, and recharging. They are also often about learning new things and experimenting. This year, I took some time to do just that and found myself returning refreshed with several excellent projects brewing. #### Move fast and break my things. At the start of the break, I knew I wanted to do too much, which isn’t an uncommon theme for many. However, I knew the point was starting to do things and keep doing them. If anyone explores one of my experiments or things I worked on over the holidays and finds a bug, I wouldn’t be surprised. That’s the point. I moved fast and broke my things. Brewing to polish and level takes time, so this was done as an experiment with my things. I will now be taking that time. #### A goal started I am not the most frequent resolution setter, but I have one this year, and it’s simply to try and make 50 things in a year. These can be big, but they will probably be small for the most part. From themes to plugins to non-WordPress things, this year will be about making for me. I will write more on the why of this in another post, but the short version is that I am turning 50 this year and want to get back to my essence as a maker. So, I did that this holiday: I started making each day. I will log most of the journey here or through [Composition Products](http://www.compositionproducts.com/). #### The making I am closing out the break, having made a few things. Most haven’t been launched or need fixing, but they will soon be. I plan on writing about each, as part of this is also about writing as I go. Don’t you miss the days when we wrote about what we created? I sure do. This year’s side quest is to write more about what I am making and have a more frequent writing cadence Here is a list of what I have made, even if it’s got friendly bugs. + This site and several others of mine use a new theme base. This is in no way a complete theme, but it is a start and it got me blogging again. + I refreshed many of my [own sites](http://www.tammielister.com), including their content. I aligned them to reflect what I do more and surface my projects. + I created a [new site](http://www.circadian.photo) for my photo-a-day project for this year, which I am doing again. + A block in a plugin that is a mode switcher: seen on this site and others I updated. + A duotone and filter plugin for images. + A watermark plugin for image prototypes.Along with these, I sketched out several prototyped ideas that include: + A holding page plugin that uses templates. + A prototype of a tagging and group plugin for images. + A generative line art and shape plugin for backgrounds. + A background generator plugin for the site editor. + Site editor style selector plugin. + A classic theme-to-block theme convertor.#### The learning Along the way, I learned more about several areas and identified areas where I wanted to dive. Here are a few things I got to explore this time: + Creating blocks: appreciating how easily you can [scaffold one](https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/getting-started/devenv/get-started-with-create-block/#:~:text=The%20%40wordpress%2Fcreate%2Dblock,scripts%20)%20with%20no%20configuration%20required.). + Block themes: particularly noting how you can rapidly prototype with the [create block theme plugin](https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=create+block+theme+plugin&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8). + [Fly.io](https://fly.io): I wanted to learn something new for deploying. + React/Remix: A new stack that’s not tied to WordPress and with native CSS. I fell in love with the ease of composing and plan to write about this more. + Plugins: I spent a lot of time learning the guidelines and some nuances around plugins. + CSS/JS: I dipped my toes into a variety of new things in styling and scripting.I also learned a lot about other areas in preparation for the following things I want to do. #### The approach I took a few different paths along the way and also used tools. In general, my approach was to write down everything I wanted to make at the start and then not hold myself to any product roadmap for once and this once only. While my passion for them remains, I wanted to give myself a pure experimentation space to make in. Some notes from my approach: + I used [Cursor](https://www.cursor.com/) along the way as a prototype or unblocker when I was using something new. For example, I explored a new project using Remix and React publishing to fly.io at one point. I wasn’t unfamiliar with this stack, so I got some support there. + I would pivot to another idea if I hit a block that took too long. I was brewing something with editor styling, and it just wouldn’t shift. I would have taken most of the holiday on this alone and got nothing else done. I will return to this idea, but it didn’t serve well for rapid ideation. + I pushed to a private repo on GitHub each day. I will make things public, but being private helped me. + I released my theme and other pieces early onto the sites as shown here. Bugs can be found in my things when I use them.#### Reflections Sometimes, you need to get a bit selfish to make it. I did this holiday. I didn’t think about the market or the reason for making it. I made it for myself in most cases. I also made it to learn—which often is a good reason to make in itself. Selfish-making isn’t always the right path at all, but it is something I’ve not done for a while, and I needed to get into my teashop and brew for a bit. Not shipping everything is also okay. I am very comfortable launching early on my own sites. For example, this theme is very minimal and will be something I grow into, but I happily am now using it across a number of sites. The point is I got it done, bugs or not. Bugs are friends you get to move projects forward with by fixing when in your own teashop. A reflection I’ll wrap up is to keep going. It is going to be tempting to get distracted by work in the best way and not make space to keep going with the momentum I gained this break. In order not to let all this good work go stagnant, it also needs refinement and release. So now the hard work happens. I will have a day a week where I continue this work. I have learnt by doing this that making gives me energy and a longing to continue., The Season for Tinkering, binatethoughts.com, 01jgp294fsbb482d1wkx71w984.