It was the Friday before Maker Faire Cairo opened. At a restaurant on banks the Nile, I had dinner with Michael Shiloh, a tinkerer, engineer and maker whom I have known since before the first Maker Faire in the Bay Area. After working for many years in industry, Michael discovered he enjoyed teaching. He taught at CCA in San Francisco, until two years ago when he began his current job as an associate professor of the practice of interactive media at NYU Abu Dhabi. Michael also worked with the Arduino team and co-authored with Massimo Banzi the 2nd Edition of “Getting Started with Arduino.”
I had the pleasure of reconnecting with Michael and wanted to share some of our leisurely conversation.
A few tidbits
- It’s refreshing to come to Cairo where there is all this stuff going on, after living in Abu Dhabi for a couple of years where everything is so polished, pristine, and brand new.
- We are trying to encourage (students) to be creative, not to be so proscribed, not to think so much about products, on scalability, and how much they are going to sell their startup for. … But to think creatively about what looks interesting, whimsical, fascinating, what amazes people, attracts their attention and not so much how I can sell it.
Dale Dougherty 
“What does creativity mean in this culture?” is such an interesting question. I was reminded of a question a bystander asked of me while doing bubbles recently. Look at the bubble wands she said, “Can you make those or do you have to buy them?” Her phrasing seemed very disturbing to me. “Have” to buy them? Anyhow…I am glad to see when you post something here, and this was a sweet video.
Thank you, thank you, Dale.
Michael Shiloh is the whole reason I got involved and worked at Maker Faire.
In a few years after the very first Maker Faire Bay Area I started to run Make Play Day. Please give my warmest thoughts to Michael, I think of him and you so often in helping me to find that the DIY world was full of so many sweet and talented people who are now close friends. Hugs to you both!
Cheers,
Kent
So glad to see you and Michael catch up! Michael was catalytic in the start of Magnitude. He really helped set the mindset of what we wanted to accomplish.