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
