Parametric Crafting with Twoville
Following are the notes from a talk I gave for the Department of Computer Science at James Madison University in February 2026.
Abstract
We technologists easily spend entire days in disembodied cognition, merely thinking about virtual artifacts. Instead of striding through the concrete world, we flounder in the abstract heavens. But brains and hands work better together. In this hands-on and brains-on workshop, Dr. Chris Johnson will guide participants in a papercraft activity using Twoville, a platform for designing physical objects with math, logic, and mouse manipulations. Twoville features a bidirectional editor, which means the design can be indirectly manipulated through code or directly manipulated through the canvas. Participants will create a three-dimensional paper sculpture to take home.
Biography
Dr. Chris Johnson is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at James Madison University. He joined JMU in 2020 after abandoning his Midwestern roots of Iowa and Wisconsin for a warmer place where he could bike everyday. His interests are in computer graphics and programming languages. He'll be teaching both of these courses next fall. His favorite programming language hasn't been invented yet and never will be.