Hello! I’m Willy.

I’m a third-year MIT student studying Digital Media. I work with all kinds of software, hardware, media, and people. I build multiplayer games, music controllers, and interactive visualizations. I study the creative process and how it evolves with computers and computation.

I’m going into this class without an established community partner or project, with the expectation that I’ll join an existing group and offer my support. As a jack of many trades, I often find myself as a mediator or translator, for example, explaining design concepts to engineers or technical terms to designers. In past teams, I’ve also found myself moving around to fill in missing roles as needed.

Through taking this class, I hope to learn more about what it means to cultivate, sustain, and modify a community. Community, to me, is more than a group formed out of similarity; be it geographical region, heritage, interest, etc. For me, a potent community draws out the best in humanity – collaboration, creativity, support, and selflessness, to name a few. I hope that as we examine, break down, and build back up the elements of a community, we can uncover more of what pull us together… and makes us human.

Well, of course, all while working with awesome folks and making an impact in a real-world initiative; who would have thought that classes were for learning only?