Interactions - November/December 2017

INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG 80 INTERACTIONS NOVEMBER–DECEMBER2017 FORUM DESIGN AS INQUIRY

Kristin, an author and attendee, found unexpected value in coming together around evocative materials and activism, putting materials and memories in conversation to see what emerges:

Amongst the salvage materials I found a how-to article on choosing the right cuts of meat. I suddenly was immersed in my earliest memories of injustices: the sickness in my stomach at the end of every summer knowing the livestock I’d loved and cared for the past year would soon be shipped to slaughter. Scolded for not detaching myself from “just animals,” the sickness gre w into many of my convictions today. Bringing into correspondence these evocative materials and personal histories, I worked quietly through a wash of memories that illuminated surprising connections between my own past and the activist stances I’ve taken up through adulthood.

Imagining other worlds. What
might it look like if technology could
be made through different means,
by different people, and accomplish
different ends? Rather than just
critiquing makerspace communities,
the button-making workshop
temporarily explored alternative
possibilities. Fabric- and craft-based
forms of making were the foundation
for our technological practice, serving
symbolic and practical purposes. For
example, when Amy (not her real name),
a medical student and community
organizer, described the button she had
long ply wood tables where Crafting
and Making meets each week were
uncharacteristically covered in vintage
magazines, scraps of fabric and cloth,
LED stickers, and conductive tapes.

More than 20 people gathered around, sharing scissors and passing around old copies of Art in America. Positioned at the center of the makerspace, the group glowed with a liveliness not often seen around CAD software and breadboards.

Because of the lo-fi nature of the tools, the workshop was an accessible entry point for action in the makerspace. The operations manager would be there to oversee and answer any questions, and the button maker seemed fairly approachable compared with the other equipment. This meant that many of those in the workshop were participating in the space for the first time. The group included students, staff, faculty, and family, all with different relationships to design, craft, and technological development. In gathering together for the evening, we enacted a sort of alternative community at the makerspace.

Meaningfulness. Although workshops are a common occurrence at the makerspace, the skills being taught (3D printing, sewing) are rarely connected to the social significance or historical legacies of these practices.

With the button-making workshop, we explicitly drew connections to legacies of feminist and activist making.

For example, discussion of local movements like Riot Grrrl collectives and zine making, more broadly, allowed us to talk about the use and reuse of existing cultural images to form modes of critique.

In drawing connections to sites and movements beyond the makerspace, value was found outside the goals of skill acquisition that typically motivate workshops like Intro to Laser Cutting and Sewing 101. During the workshop, one of the mentors in the makerspace observed along the periphery. When she reflected on the workshop the next day, she said that she initially hadn’t planned on joining at all. As a maker who is well versed in digital fabrication tools, she failed to see why she would want to join a workshop for a lo-fi tool like button making: “I don’t need to learn how to make a button,” she said.