HCIL BBL Speaker Series: Open Hardware in Art, Community and Beyond!
Date/Time: Thursday, April 23, 2026 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: In Person: HBK 2105 and Virtual
Abstract:
Hardware is often daunting and difficult to understand, a lot of what is happening is in black boxes, that companies restrict access to at every turn. The Open Source Hardware Association works to bring hardware out of blackboxes and into the community. During this talk lee and sid will discuss open source hardware, OSHWA, and the effort to bring more people into contact with the vast ways that hardware can exist.
Bios:
lee wilkins
lee is an artist, cyborg, and educator currently based in Montreal. They hold a bachelor’s from Concordia University, a master’s from OCAD University, and currently are a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Lee is interested in lasers, technology, outer space exploration, and building whimsical robots. They are a member of OSHWA’s board of directors, co-executive director at Little Dada and secretary and board member at Pleasure Dome. You may know them from co-organizing events like Make Change Conference, Make Friends Meetup, Long Exposure Festival, Defcon Biohacking Village, or from being director at Site 3 coLaboratory.
sid drmay
sid drmay is an artist, maker and freelance journalist based in KW, ON. They have a deep passion for zines and run the Hamilton Zine Machine as well as KW Zinetopia. They have written for This Magazine, Shameless Magazine, Xtra Magazine and CBC. They currently co-chair the Digital Naturalism Conference and work as the Community Manager & Fellowship Chair for the Open Source Hardware Association. You can find them being annoying online on nearly every platform as @cyborggarbage.
Additional Information:
Please contact infoevents@umd.edu at least one week prior to the event to request disability accommodations. In all situations, a good faith effort (up until the time of the event) will be made to provide accommodations.
For parking information and directions, please visit the Transportation Services website or view the campus map.
Speaker(s): lee wilkins & sid drmay