Prepare for Workshop 03

Facilitation Tips

This workshop has two sections. Section One can be presented 'lecture' style using the slideshow. This workshop starts out with our first round of sabotage, ideally arrive at least 30min before the workshops to give yourself time to sabotage.

Workshop 03 Checklist (approx 30 minutes)

Set up projector

Sabotage computers - see below

Check cabling for safety

Sabotage

This is the first chance for sabotage, so while your participants are on a break you will have a chance to get in there and wreck something! As a basic wreck try just pulling a SATA cable or two. Unseating RAM modules is also good. To be really devious, you can swap out components with another computer, but it might be best to save this for a future workshop. Don't forget the outside of the computer - simply unplugging a mouse or keyboard could be a suitable challenge.

We've found that it is important to bear in mind the skill each participant has shown so far. You want to challenge, but not discourage your participants. Here are a few ideas get you started with easy, moderate and nasty acts of sabotage.

Sabotage - Outside The Box

Level:Easy

  • Completely unplug power cable(s)
  • Completely unplug vga cable
  • Unplug mouse and keyboard.

Level:Moderate

  • Partially unplug vga or power cable(s)
  • Plug mouse or keyboard (gently!) into ethernet port
  • Swap mouse and keyboard between computers.

Sabotage - Inside the Box

Level:Easy

  • Unseat RAM
  • Unplug SATA cables from motherboard
  • Unplug SATA cables from harddisk
  • Unplug motherboard PSU cables

Level:Moderate

  • Unplug front panel headers
  • Switch front panel headers
  • Unplug CPU fan

Level:Nasty

  • Swap hard drive with neighbouring computer
  • Partially plug front panel headers
  • Disable front panel power switch
  • Remove battery
  • Combine two or more sabotage tricks.

It important to give your participants a clear way to measure their success, and double check their computers once they have declared 'finished'. A good goal to set is to reach a certain page in the wiki, or if you've got the internet connected, a youtube clip or something similar.

  • ttt/preparation_05
  • by Andrei Maberley