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"It's a Bomb!" -- Material Literacy and Narratives of Making

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

This paper analyses a series of events in which a discarded box found in a garbage room is examined and taken apart in the context of a makerspace. The participants' inquiry provided a rich and multifaceted experience in various settings, including puzzle-solving, exploring physical and digital materials, engaging people with different skills. The social engagements with and around the artifacts brought certain interpretative aspects to the fore. Situated acts of interpretation worked as ways of building a coherent narrative and a meaningful experience. In the paper, we highlight the relationship between on the one hand the subjects' skills and motivations to understand and make sense of the technology at hand which we call material literacy, and on the other hand the specific material qualities that encourage or trigger certain interpretations and experiences. The qualities we discuss are: opacity, risk, authenticity, uniqueness, age, and hybridity. This study allows us to reposition the contemporary understanding of makerspaces beyond that of being places for innovation and learning.

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  1. "It's a Bomb!" -- Material Literacy and Narratives of Making

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2017
    7138 pages
    ISBN:9781450346559
    DOI:10.1145/3025453
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    Published: 02 May 2017

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    1. experience
    2. maker culture
    3. material literacy
    4. material qualities
    5. taking apart

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    • (2024)Uncertainties as Generative Resources in Research through Design: Three Dynamics for Moving in a Design SpaceACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/368904131:6(1-31)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
    • (2023)Cripping Data Visualizations: Crip Technoscience as a Critical Lens for Designing Digital AccessProceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3597638.3608427(1-16)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2023
    • (2022)Why Users Hack: Conflicting Interests and the Political Economy of SoftwareProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35557746:CSCW2(1-26)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)Modding the Pliable Machine: Unpacking the Creative and Social Practice of Upkeep at the MakerspaceProceedings of the 14th Conference on Creativity and Cognition10.1145/3527927.3532804(220-233)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2022
    • (2021)Becoming a Maker PedagogueFabLearn Europe / MakeEd 2021 - An International Conference on Computing, Design and Making in Education10.1145/3466725.3466756(1-10)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2021
    • (2020)Machine SensibilityProceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society10.1145/3419249.3420166(1-13)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2020
    • (2019)A Framework for the Experience of Meaning in Human-Computer InteractionProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300455(1-15)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
    • (2019)Producing Printability: Articulation Work and Alignment in 3D PrintingHuman–Computer Interaction10.1080/07370024.2019.156600134:5-6(433-469)Online publication date: 9-Feb-2019
    • (2018)Driving on sunshineProceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3240167.3240179(439-451)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2018
    • (2018)Making within limitsProceedings of the 2018 Workshop on Computing within Limits10.1145/3232617.3232626(1-11)Online publication date: 13-May-2018
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