This project challenges us to augment a great Richard Brautigan tale with images, sounds, animation, and music: the choice is ours! We will build a collection of small 'zines that combine to tell Brautigan's "Blackberry Motorist" story both through the 'zines, as well as the accompanying Scratch projects.

Gather

Materials:

- 8 1/2" x 11" paper

- conductive copper tape - 1/4" wide

- hookup wire

- wire cutters

- wire strippers

- soldering iron

- safety goggles

- solder

- multimeter

- magazines for collaging

- scissors

- glue sticks

- Makey Makey

- laptops or desktop computers to run Scratch

Blackberry Motorist, by Richard Brautigan

- Read the story.

- Decide which paragraph you will work on, write you name in the field next to the paragraph.

Document

Use this document to share your notes, images, or video clips with other groups who will work on the projects, too.

Construct

Fold your paper according to the instructions in the video. You can watch it several times, pause it, and complete your fold and cut.

Plan your text flow

- Break up the text in your portion of the story and make it fit on the pages in your 'zine. You have six pages on which to fit your text.

- We will use the front and rear cover to connect it to the other 'zines, so leave them blank.

- Do not yet write in the 'zine! You are about to cover up the pages.

Build your collage in your 'zine

- Use the magazines to create images that accompany the text on the pages.

- Position and adjust the images.

- Glue down the images.

- Print the text for your book, cut it up, and glue it onto the appropriate pages.

Build your circuitry

- Use this guide to plan your circuit.

(http://makeymakey.com/guides/zine.php)

- Unfold your 'zine.

- Use a felt-tip pen to mark where the copper tape will go. 

- Use conductive copper tape to build the circuitry in your book. Don't cut the tape at the bends: here is how to properly fold the copper tape so it retains conductivity:

(https://chibitronics.com/copper-tape-tutorial/)

- Here is a video about working with copper tape.

- Use the soldering iron to finish the circuitry by connecting the various copper tape circuits at the junctions marked with a dot in the diagram above.

- Test your circuit with the multimeter. Natalie Freed's guide is a quick tutorial on how to use the multimeter. 

Program your Scratch project

- You have six pages with connections on them for Scratch to use. 

- Add sound effects, visual effects, video effects, animation, or something else.

- Add another dimension to the story.

- Changes in the Scratch project should happen using key presses. The Makey Makey recognizes the arrow keys, the space bar, as well as W A S D F G. 

- You can use this project as an example for how one 'zine was built.

Connect your 'zine to your Scratch project

- Use alligator clips to connect the Makey Makey to your 'zine. Make sure each clip connects to the Makey Makey "key" that corresponds to its place in the story and the key that triggers the Scratch event.

- Use this guide to help you connect your Makey Makey to your computer and your project.

Explore!

Interact with the text in a new way!

- Work your way from 'zine to 'zine to see how you and others interpreted and constructed your interpretations of the story!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.