"Now that's definitely a proper hack": Self-made tools in hackerspaces

Jeffrey Bardzell, Shaowen Bardzell, Austin Toombs

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cultures of making-that is, social practices of hacking, DIY, tinkering, repair, and craft-continue to rise in prominence, and design researchers have taken note, because of their implications for sustainability, democratization, and alternative models of innovation, design, participation, and education. We contribute to this agenda by exploring our findings on self-made tools, which we encountered in a 9- month ethnographic study of a hackerspace. Self-made tools embody issues raised in two discourses that are of interest in design research on making: Tools and adhocism. In this paper, we explore ways that tools and adhocism interface with each other, using our findings as a material to think with. We find that this juxtaposition of concepts helps explain a highly generative creative practice-toolmaking- within the hackerspace we studied.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2014
Subtitle of host publicationOne of a CHInd - Conference Proceedings, 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages473-476
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)9781450324731
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Event32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014 - Toronto, ON, Canada
Duration: Apr 26 2014May 1 2014

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Other

Other32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2014
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityToronto, ON
Period4/26/145/1/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '"Now that's definitely a proper hack": Self-made tools in hackerspaces'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this