Entangled Threads:Exploring the value and significance of bringing a craft ethos to debates around the IoT/connected things.

Alongside the benefits of a world in which more and more things are internet connected (i.e., the IoT), scaffolded by increasingly powerful AI systems, there is a growing recognition of a flipside to this vision of the future. Issues associated with privacy, transparency, legibility and trust have been widely recognized – which the Mozilla Foundation has encapsulated in their Internet Health Reports [13]. This workshop will explore these tensions and concerns through the lens of craft, both as a practice and a conceptual ethos. We will use embroidery as a craft-oriented ‘thinking through making’ activity as the foundation for discussions of our craft characteristics of which consist of; bespokeness, localism, embodiment, provenance, authenticity, and care. Participants will gain a rich understanding of debates around IoT while being engaged in a ‘thinking through doing’ embodied approach to gaining new insights and leave with their own hand embroidered badge.<br/

‘Crafting Conductive Circuits and Capacitive Surfaces in Glass’. Making Futures Vol. 5., Plymouth: Plymouth College of Art. ISSN 2042-1664

Engaging the theme of Curating Maker Cultures, thais presentation features methods and processes used in the development of conductive circuits in handcrafted glass and copper combined with interactive sensors. It will also include a display of resulting objects, which have been created in a series of cross-disciplinary workshops that demonstrate the exposure of existing potentials for combining artisanal glassmaking with digital manufacture and interactive electronics. For over a decade, National Glass Centre Research at the University of Sunderland has developing digital making in a material that has a long history of making by hand. In particular it has pioneered the creative use of waterjet cutting in glass, and has pursued a shift toward digital craft in its curriculum. This project, however, seeks to consider continuity in craft as a way of thinking rather than as distinct areas of practice and encouraging new and best practice using both digital and manual making. This collaboration with the Craft Futures research group at Northumbria University and their combined Centre for Doctoral Training involves academic and student researchers from both universities as well as Newcastle University’s OpenLab. The project seeks to provide a demonstration of a new area of thinking in which the combined skills of makers drives forward new opportunities of forms of interaction with crafted objects and for traditional craftspeople to form a connection with digital possibilities in creative work. While there are many coders and potentials for interactions, the exploration of handcrafted glass and copper constructions offer new possibilities for interfaces. Glass is a material that can be formed through skillful blowing, casting, cutting and kilnforming. It adds potential uses of colour, transparency, weight and potential for optical effects. Combined with sensors a myriad of effects can be achieved. So far the workshops have yielded experiments in 3-dimensional circuits through integrating glass with a conductive material. Copper, a compatible material, has been embedded within melted glass to create an interface for an LED ‘light-writer’ that can produce a range of RGB colours transmitted through the glass surfaces. A colour sensor is being developed to compare synthetic light to objects in coloured glass. Contoured air pockets have been waterjet cut and trapped within solid glass blocks to create circuits using solid or liquid conductive materials. Screenprinting techniques are being used to create ornamental circuitry within glass tiles. Copper wire cages form ‘electric veins’ that constrict unique blown glass vessels. The project is ongoing and it is anticipated that objects can be demonstrated at Making Futures. This study is an exploration of materiality and the creation of artefacts as meaningful moments in art, craft and design. By working with researchers with a broad range of craft specialisms, we are using this collaboration to rethink the partnership of materials

Crafting Conductive Circuits and Capacitive Surfaces in Glass

Engaging the theme Procedures of Making, this paper describes and reflects on methods and processes used in the development of circuits in handcrafted glass and conductive materials, combined with interactive sensors. Demonstrating the potentials for blending techniques of artisanal glassmaking with digital manufacture and electronics, a series of cross-disciplinary workshops yielded a body of objects. These results, and the group of researchers collaborating to produce them, shared a common goal of experimenting with interactivity. The project seeks to provide a demonstration of how the combined skills of makers might expose new opportunities for forms of interaction with crafted objects, and for traditional craftspeople to form a connection with digital possibilities in creative work. While there are many potentials for digital interactions and experts who can produce them, the exploration of handcrafted conductive glass constructions offer exciting possibilities for crafting interfaces with rich material characteristics. Glass is a material that can be formed through skillful blowing, casting, cutting and kilnforming. It adds potential uses of colour, transparency, weight and potential for optical effects. More specifically in this research it can be combined with copper and other conductive materials through a range traditional and more contemporary fabrication processes. Combined with open-source electronics platforms (e.g Arduino and Touchboard) and their associated sensor arrays a myriad of effects can be prototyped. Encouraging the sharing of practice using both digital and physical making, the project seeks to consider craft as a way of thinking in a range of different media both electronic and analogue, rather than as distinct areas of practice. This paper is navigated by the following: a description of the project background and aspirations, development of an approach, illustration of results, reflection on the collaboration and possibilities for further research

Makers and Quilters: Investigating Opportunities for Improving Gender-Imbalanced Maker Groups

© {Owner/Author | ACM} 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3359131.Recent efforts to diversify participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) activities through informal learning environments, such as hackathons and makerspaces, confirm a real desire for inclusion among potential female participants. However, understanding factors that may contribute to longer-term, sustainable diversification of such groups remains a challenge. In this paper, we present the results of a mixed-methods study of two microcosms of making: game development, and quilting. Our findings reveal parallel structures within these groups despite being highly skewed towards male or female participation, respectively. Our results shed light on attitudes, behaviours, and experiences indicating that similar desires for wider community support among other factors exist in both groups, but these needs are not satisfied in the STEM context. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings as opportunities for rethinking how we design the environments that are meant to support design itself, considering the role of technology in these spaces, and prioritizing nurturing the development of the maker community beyond the maker space.Funder 1, NSERC Discovery Grant 2016-04422 || Funder 2, NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant 492970-2016 || Funder 3, NSERC CREATE Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research (SWaGUR) Grant 479724-2016 || Funder 4, Ontario Early Researcher Award ER15-11-18

Blending the Material and Digital World for Hybrid Interfaces

The development of digital technologies in the 21st century is progressing continuously and new device classes such as tablets, smartphones or smartwatches are finding their way into our everyday lives. However, this development also poses problems, as these prevailing touch and gestural interfaces often lack tangibility, take little account of haptic qualities and therefore require full attention from their users. Compared to traditional tools and analog interfaces, the human skills to experience and manipulate material in its natural environment and context remain unexploited. To combine the best of both, a key question is how it is possible to blend the material world and digital world to design and realize novel hybrid interfaces in a meaningful way. Research on Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) investigates the coupling between physical objects and virtual data. In contrast, hybrid interfaces, which specifically aim to digitally enrich analog artifacts of everyday work, have not yet been sufficiently researched and systematically discussed. Therefore, this doctoral thesis rethinks how user interfaces can provide useful digital functionality while maintaining their physical properties and familiar patterns of use in the real world. However, the development of such hybrid interfaces raises overarching research questions about the design: Which kind of physical interfaces are worth exploring? What type of digital enhancement will improve existing interfaces? How can hybrid interfaces retain their physical properties while enabling new digital functions? What are suitable methods to explore different design? And how to support technology-enthusiast users in prototyping? For a systematic investigation, the thesis builds on a design-oriented, exploratory and iterative development process using digital fabrication methods and novel materials. As a main contribution, four specific research projects are presented that apply and discuss different visual and interactive augmentation principles along real-world applications. The applications range from digitally-enhanced paper, interactive cords over visual watch strap extensions to novel prototyping tools for smart garments. While almost all of them integrate visual feedback and haptic input, none of them are built on rigid, rectangular pixel screens or use standard input modalities, as they all aim to reveal new design approaches. The dissertation shows how valuable it can be to rethink familiar, analog applications while thoughtfully extending them digitally. Finally, this thesis’ extensive work of engineering versatile research platforms is accompanied by overarching conceptual work, user evaluations and technical experiments, as well as literature reviews.Die Durchdringung digitaler Technologien im 21. Jahrhundert schreitet stetig voran und neue Geräteklassen wie Tablets, Smartphones oder Smartwatches erobern unseren Alltag. Diese Entwicklung birgt aber auch Probleme, denn die vorherrschenden berührungsempfindlichen Oberflächen berücksichtigen kaum haptische Qualitäten und erfordern daher die volle Aufmerksamkeit ihrer Nutzer:innen. Im Vergleich zu traditionellen Werkzeugen und analogen Schnittstellen bleiben die menschlichen Fähigkeiten ungenutzt, die Umwelt mit allen Sinnen zu begreifen und wahrzunehmen. Um das Beste aus beiden Welten zu vereinen, stellt sich daher die Frage, wie neuartige hybride Schnittstellen sinnvoll gestaltet und realisiert werden können, um die materielle und die digitale Welt zu verschmelzen. In der Forschung zu Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) wird die Verbindung zwischen physischen Objekten und virtuellen Daten untersucht. Noch nicht ausreichend erforscht wurden hingegen hybride Schnittstellen, die speziell darauf abzielen, physische Gegenstände des Alltags digital zu erweitern und anhand geeigneter Designparameter und Entwurfsräume systematisch zu untersuchen. In dieser Dissertation wird daher untersucht, wie Materialität und Digitalität nahtlos ineinander übergehen können. Es soll erforscht werden, wie künftige Benutzungsschnittstellen nützliche digitale Funktionen bereitstellen können, ohne ihre physischen Eigenschaften und vertrauten Nutzungsmuster in der realen Welt zu verlieren. Die Entwicklung solcher hybriden Ansätze wirft jedoch übergreifende Forschungsfragen zum Design auf: Welche Arten von physischen Schnittstellen sind es wert, betrachtet zu werden? Welche Art von digitaler Erweiterung verbessert das Bestehende? Wie können hybride Konzepte ihre physischen Eigenschaften beibehalten und gleichzeitig neue digitale Funktionen ermöglichen? Was sind geeignete Methoden, um verschiedene Designs zu erforschen? Wie kann man Technologiebegeisterte bei der Erstellung von Prototypen unterstützen? Für eine systematische Untersuchung stützt sich die Arbeit auf einen designorientierten, explorativen und iterativen Entwicklungsprozess unter Verwendung digitaler Fabrikationsmethoden und neuartiger Materialien. Im Hauptteil werden vier Forschungsprojekte vorgestellt, die verschiedene visuelle und interaktive Prinzipien entlang realer Anwendungen diskutieren. Die Szenarien reichen von digital angereichertem Papier, interaktiven Kordeln über visuelle Erweiterungen von Uhrarmbändern bis hin zu neuartigen Prototyping-Tools für intelligente Kleidungsstücke. Um neue Designansätze aufzuzeigen, integrieren nahezu alle visuelles Feedback und haptische Eingaben, um Alternativen zu Standard-Eingabemodalitäten auf starren Pixelbildschirmen zu schaffen. Die Dissertation hat gezeigt, wie wertvoll es sein kann, bekannte, analoge Anwendungen zu überdenken und sie dabei gleichzeitig mit Bedacht digital zu erweitern. Dabei umfasst die vorliegende Arbeit sowohl realisierte technische Forschungsplattformen als auch übergreifende konzeptionelle Arbeiten, Nutzerstudien und technische Experimente sowie die Analyse existierender Forschungsarbeiten