DIY as an approach to sustainability : a case study of the design praxis of South African clothing label Superella

Abstract: This study evaluates how the integrating of arts based approaches in my teaching practice can be used to both expand my practice and to utilise the capability of the Workplace Preparation Programme (WPP) to achieve a more equitable and accessible curriculum. I am concerned with promoting appropriate changes in the classroom in order to foster a more egalitarian and democratic value system in the teacher/learner relationship which promotes individual and collective freedoms. I integrate arts based methods in my pedagogical practice in order to expand the modes for communication and meaning-making in the classroom: these methods include visual, performative, indirect, non-verbal and symbolic techniques. I contend that these teaching approaches are relevant for the contemporary multilingual classroom and more especially for teaching first-year students. Arts based methods can foster opportunities for multimodal learning and for developing the kinds of student capacities and relationships that can contribute to positive learning experiences...M.Tech. (Fashion

Unwrapping DIY enquiry: The study of 'enquiry' in DIY practice at individual, community & place levels

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) enquiry represents ownership over learning and action: figuring things out by oneself, experimenting, and questioning the state of things to find potential solutions to local concerns. It is an identifiable collective behaviour of self-reliance exhibited throughout our history but in the digital age and in societies with increasing levels of education, the way DIY practice unfolds is little understood. Traditional studies on public engagement in science and technology and perspectives on production of knowledge and technology have focused primarily on institutionally mediated methods of public participation and the validity of public contributions to established fields. This thesis research makes empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions: using a multi-method approach and grounded theory for qualitative data analysis to explore DIY enquiry in practice, community, and place. The three in-depth case studies explore the nature of the production of knowledge, the role of technologies, and the barriers and opportunities to public engagement in DIY enquiry. Participant observation of a community of DIY practice reveals its inner processes, interactions, and framings of science and technology and how DIY practice is performed through DIY tool use and development. The design and facilitation of a DIY workshop series demonstrates the initial stages of engagement in DIY enquiry and reveals that barriers and opportunities to engagement are mediated by frame of mind, setting, facilitation, and interactions. The observation of place-based citizen initiatives of DIY enquiry reveals its range of interconnected actions: development of techniques and strategies for tool development, data interpretation, and leveraging of knowledge and stance for advocacy. Together the cases reveal the transformative power of DIY enquiry, how it builds knowledge, culture, and identity and that engagement requires curiosity, courage, commitment, and foundational competencies. They also reveal an inherent tension between DIY enquiry framed as a means (seeking collective/organised actionable goals) and as an end (enabling personal empowerment). This research facilitates a better understanding of the democratic potential of public engagement in science in our time but it also promotes the leveraging of knowledge production between professional/institutional science and civil society

Lifestyle, design process and the creative practice of do-it-yourself (DIY) as a transformative experience

This is the first research project to simultaneously examine gaps evident between professional design process and amateur creative practice (in modifying home), between idealised and realised concepts of self-place, and consumptive and transformative behaviour. The thesis significantly demonstrates the validity of bricolage and hybridity to both design research and practice, providing new models for co-creation and co-design relevant to all those involved in the modification of home and home life; the space of lifestyle

A PHENOMENOLOGICAL LOOK AT THE LIFE HACKING-ENABLED PRACTICES OF INDIVIDUALS WITH MOBILITY AND DEXTERITY IMPAIRMENTS

Human-computer interaction and assistive technology research and practice are replete with examples of mostly non-disabled individuals trying to empower individuals with disabilities through the design and provision of accessible products. This study asks one overarching question: what can these communities learn from the self-driven embodied experiences of individuals with disabilities who address accessibility, impairment, and everyday life concerns for themselves? The goal of this dissertation is to examine the underexplored adaptation, modification, and design-like activities of individuals with mobility and dexterity impairments as well as the implications of these activities for researchers, designers, and individuals with disabilities. This phenomenological study examined the embodied everyday life practices of 16 individuals with mobility and dexterity impairments as well as well as their efforts to transform disabling practices into enabling ones. Using sensitizing constructs from contemporary social practice theory approaches as described by Andreas Reckwitz and Theodore Schatzki as well Bruno Latour’s articulation of actor-network theory, this interpretive qualitative research study uncovers different ways participants were dis/enabled and dis/empowered in their daily life practices. Findings point to issues most HCI researchers and professional designers rarely consider in their efforts to study access issues and develop accessible technology, including the impact of the embodied perspectives of mostly non-disabled researchers and designers on the everyday life practices of individuals who live with impairments

Materiality, Craft, Identity, and Embodiment: Reworking Digital Writing Pedagogy

Too often in Rhetoric and Composition, multimodal writing (an expansive practice of opening up the media and modes with which writers might work) is reduced to digital writing. “Reworking Digital Writing” argues that the opportunities and insights of digital writing should encourage us to turn our attention to all kinds of nondigital materials that have not traditionally been considered part of composing—including the materials that are already familiar to crafters and do-it-yourselfers (DIYers). Further, I argue that the material, technical, rhetorical, economic, and social dimensions of DIY craft provide a coherent framework for teaching multimodal writing in ways that encourage students to engage in the work of writing in ways that can make more apparent the composing activities and processes of writing and make more concrete the kinds of work that composed objects can do. Through this approach to composing, I argue that we can help students experience the very real ways in which writing can reshape our subjectivities and build new kinds of worlds with others. To that end, I examine DIY craft histories, theories, and practices to develop a new pedagogical framework for teaching multimodal writing

The Unexpected Sources of Innovation

From increased access to information to a shift in production from material to immaterial goods, recent trends enable citizens to become more active agents of change. Both at their homes and workplaces, citizens are witnessed to be producers of goods, including innovations enabling new functions when compared with the existing goods offered on the (local) market. Examples range from tangible goods, such as new brewing technologies for making craft beers, to intangible goods, like open-source software. In the words of Eric von Hippel (2005): innovation is democratizing. In this thesis, Max Mulhuijzen studies the democratization of innovation. With four studies, he researches the development of innovations by individual citizens and when and how these innovations diffuse. Thereby, Max sheds light on the process of innovation brought about by actors not recognized in the traditional academic literature: the unexpected sources of innovation. The first study unravels the process through which citizens produce household sector (HHS) innovations. In particular, how citizens’ income and discretionary time permit them to develop goods at home and subsequently, how these resources allow citizens to be innovative in their efforts. The main contributions of this chapter to the literature are the more nuanced conceptualization of HHS innovation—Max connects the concept to broader constructs on citizen production behavior (e.g., do-it-yourself)—and the sophisticated model theorizing how resources steer innovation by citizens. In the second study, Max takes a helicopter view of the regional factors enabling citizens to develop and diffuse innovations and develops an ecosystem model. Past studies of HHS innovation are weakly correlated concerning the policies they advise, resulting in only a few changes to policymaking. The ecosystem model presented in this chapter explains how the most significant regional elements may determine levels of HHS innovation, how these elements complement or weaken each other, and provides a valuable toolbox to scholars and policymakers in suggesting HHS innovation policies. The third study focuses on the interactions between innovating citizens and firms. Though the academic literature has counseled firms to open up their boundaries and facilitate innovation by and absorb knowledge from users of their products, few theories to date explain variation in users’ characteristics and how this might explain their innovation outcomes. Max examines quantitatively the case of the Ultimaker 3D printer and its online platform YouMagine—such platforms allow users to share freely the product improvements or additions they developed. He offers new insights into the characteristics of users contributing designs well-received by the user community, guiding firms on which users are likely contributors. The final study included in this dissertation considers how a democratized view of innovation implicates innovation in firms by exploring underground innovation, i.e., the innovations employees initiate and develop without their supervisors or managers knowing. Previous studies have reported such cases but did not provide an in-depth account of employees’ motivations—while these can have implications for the diffusion, hence the visibility of underground innovations. This study contributes such an account and reveals three orientations characterizing employees’ projects developed underground

Empowering consumers to reduce residential energy waste : designing, implementing, and evaluating the Connecticut neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-164).This thesis considers behavior change strategies to increase CT residential energy efficiency uptake in the context of an action research pilot. Action research includes experimental pilot deployment within a realworld system, continuously analyzing customers participating in their daily lives. The approach allows for simultaneous planning, execution, and evaluation, as well as concurrent development of major program changes, real-time solutions, and innovative responses. The Connecticut Neighbor to Neighbor Energy Challenge (N2N), in which my research was conducted, was designed to determine the minimum conditions necessary to administer cost-effective community and behavior-based energy efficiency programs. Customers in 14 small towns complete energy savings actions, such as efficient lighting, weatherization, and upgrades, like insulation, appliance upgrades, advanced air sealing, and renewable energy installations. N2N meets customers where they are already going (e.g., in the field) by partnering with local community groups, town governments, low income and senior organizations, faith communities, education facilities, and business organizations, and using social and earned media channels. I describe the N2N opportunity; program design, execution, and evaluation; primary behavioral research, especially the DOE Home Energy Score behavioral economics experiment; and the post-grant transition process. Four main pilot implementation components were used, including: lead generation using behavioral marketing, research, and outreach approaches; a technology platform closely tracking the customer; a continuous process of evaluation; and frequently published results dashboards. The research discovered gaps in program performance that will hinder meeting CT's long-term energy, efficiency, and carbon reduction goals. N2N is also finding evidence of increasing rates of upgrade uptake, where word of mouth and self-herding (e.g., where people follow past behavior) leads to action for others, as well as additional actions in individual households, respectively. The research finds two main recommendations for CT energy efficiency programs: 1) Continue to fund fast-paced, testing grounds for efficiency programs outside of current regulatory constraints to: inform program design and policy decisions, as well as direct market innovation, and 2) Use social and behavioral approaches to encourage viral spreading of efficiency uptake.by Kat A. Donnelly.Ph.D