I think last week’s assignment/exercise and class discussion regarding open source projects that are not software/coding related was pretty cool. I chose Precious Plastic which is a open plastic recycling group that provides people with ways to recycle plastic on their own. They like to say that everyone should have a “mini recycling plant” at home for unused plastic. I thought it was super cool because it fosters a community and helps people at almost no cost to have blueprints and make these things. Recycled plastic can then be made into furniture and sold on their marketplace which is super cool and eco-friendly. Speaking of making things, I also saw someone else choose a open 3d printer project that allows someone to 3d print a 3d printer which is kind of funny. A 3d printer being able to 3d print another 3d printer is just insane to me and it is so cool that the files to do this is openly available. Thingiverse, is another cool one where people can upload STL or 3d print files to 3d printer and it is all open and free. The healthcare open projects are also really good as I can them being a good way to create an equitable solution across the globe especially to poorer countries who may not have the resources to develop those solutions or data. My favorites from the discussion was definitely the two beverage related open source projects. Open cola is very interesting as I didn’t know people actually want to make their own colas and Free Beer was also really interesting. I didn’t expect such niches to even have communities that will contribute to their cause. I think this also showcases the depth of open source beyond just code, literally anything and everything can be open source.

In terms of group work, we finalized everything and are working on the presentation. Personally, I am pretty proud that I got two code merges in (that were released in the new p5.js 1.9.3 version) and also worked on some ongoing PRs with my groupmates. I really enjoyed the experience and it was a lot of fun being able to do this with other people. I am definitely very glad that I chose this class. p5.js was a pretty great project and we honestly got a lot more done than I expected. Even though everything was slow to begin with, it really did end of a high. In terms of the presentation works, we have a 15 minute presentation and are using a pretty aesthetic slide template that we found. We started working on it on Tuesday already so right now it is just editing and fixing some sections. We plan to rehearse right after class on Monday as our presentation is on Wednesday. I am also looking forward to my other classmates’ presentations as they all chose pretty cool projects too!