Presented by:

Ursula Wolz

from RIverSound Solutions, LLC
<p>Ursula has been a member of the "Logo Community" since 1976. She taught computer science at the undergraduate level from 1990 until 2020 when a heart attack while walking up 6th ave in NYC from her class at the New School suggested a re-evaluation of her life style. At the time she was teaching liberal arts courses in Code Crafting (Fiber arts and coding) and Natural Language Processing. Since then she has been consulting on AI in the Textile Industry, AI in Education and is building soft...
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Almost a decade ago I developed a course curriculum called "Code Crafting" in which I introduced the foundations of programming via Fiber Arts (crochet, machine embroidery, quilting). As an undergraduate experience it provided a flavor of what it meant to program, but didn't give guidance about how to become a master. Adaptations to the course for middle school afterschool programs, and for fiber arts guilds showed the glaring inadequacies for learning either programming, math or fiber arts from internet search, and more recently from Generative AI (e.g. Copilot). This lightening talk introduces an online resource that provides a multi-disciplinary network of nodes curated and written by humans. We are using it as the foundation of an informal local learning initiative in rural Vermont to address the need for non-commercial secure access to information about computer science, the internet, math, communication and crafting. Why "Code in the Bag"? Because we make bags using needle (or hook) and thread (or yarn) on soft material based on ancient traditions of "sewing circles" and "quilting bees". The software is an attempt to capture the rapidly very specific diminishing knowledge of crafters. This is not only about how to do something in a domain, but how universal human problem solving threads together intersecting domains of interest and brings people together to communicate directly with each other. Turtlestitch will be used to illustrate how all communication is in "code", and once you know the code you can 'speak like a native' while making beautiful things. Spoiler alert: the paragraph above was written before we held three 90 minute 'tastings' on crochet, embroidery and quilting respectively. Human engagement and learning: 3. Machine engagement 0.

Duration:
5 min
Room:
SAP Immersive Experience Studio
Conference:
Snap!Con 2025
Type:
Lightning Talk
Presented via:
Online
Difficulty:
Easy