| NSF Org: |
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 2, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 7, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1453329 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
William Bainbridge
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $529,716.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $548,581.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2016 = $101,946.00 FY 2017 = $124,593.00 FY 2018 = $109,755.00 FY 2019 = $114,050.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA US 98195-1016 (206)543-4043 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
WA US 98195-2500 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Information Technology Researc, HCC-Human-Centered Computing |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This research aims to advance fundamental understanding of the creative process in production-focused design and engineering. Today thousands of artists, designers, and crafts people use computing resources in their work, for example tutorials to prepare for production, 3D printers to generate custom prototypes, and open-source hardware toolkits to weave circuitry into physical artifacts. Although these developments have begun to shape the nature and organization of creative work, most tools to support these practices have not yet adapted to recent shifts by accounting for people's use of social media alongside digital tools for production. This research will enable the development of next-generation digital craft in three ways. Empirically, it unearths novel forms of expression emerging from the integration of computation and making. Theoretically, it will offer a conceptual framework that characterizes emergent forms of digital craft operating at the nexus of labor and leisure, digital and physical, and fabrication and reuse. For design, it will advance techniques for bridging social media and digital production across multiple social contexts.
The first phase of the research will involve fieldwork and data analyses to understand current practices around making. Drawing on this empirical work, a conceptual framework will be developed for understanding new forms of creativity and engagement in digital craft. This conceptual framework will then be the basis for concrete systems that demonstrate the principles in different areas. The success of the developed methods will be evaluated through longitudinal field deployments. The investigation will contribute toward a long-term research program advancing reflexive, creative practices with digital technologies to promote responsible social change. It broadens growing bodies of research on materiality, aesthetic interaction and maker cultures to propose, build, and analyze new approaches to the shifting use of computational systems for creative activity. Central to the project is an educational plan to broaden and enhance design learning and class participation. A new graduate course on digital craft will teach students to use physical materials as an entry point for developing novel social technologies, application of developed techniques in an interdisciplinary undergraduate physical computing course to raise issues of collective social concern, and a workshop for middle school girls on physical computing for social change, including specific efforts to support participation of students from other underrepresented groups in learning engineering concepts. The tremendous potential for computer-assisted arts and crafts, as industries as well as avocations, implies that many careers will open up for students who are among the first to learn the necessary skills and principles.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This grant supported a 5-year, interdisciplinary research program that sought to enable the development of next generation of digital craft — the use of computational resources within and around traditional modes of creative activity. To reach this objective, the PI conducted fieldwork and data analyses to understand current practices around making. Drawing on this empirical work, the PI developed a conceptual framework for understanding new forms of creativity and engagement. The PI then used this conceptual framework to develop novel applications. The investigation contributed toward a long-term research program advancing reflexive, creative practices with digital technologies to promote responsible social change. Deploying a mix of qualitative and design inquiry methods, this research had three goals:
+ Describe and analyze novel forms of insight and expression emerging from the integration of digital tools for making and connecting. The PI conducted participant-observation and semi-structured interviews with tool developers, artisans, and physical computing hobbyists to study these changing practices.
+ Develop and refine a conceptual framework that characterizes digital craft by analyzing how the integration of different media shapes people’s experiences of making and connecting. This work examined which aspects of making promote meaningful forms of value, engagement, and creativity.
+ Develop and analyze novel techniques for bridging social media with digital fabrication across multiple social contexts. The formative research and resulting conceptual framework informed design developments.
Taken together, this funded research makes empirical, theoretical, and design contributions to CHS scholarship and enriches the integration of craft and computing. This work conceptualized craft as a sociotechnical process involving judgment, dexterity, and care in ways that uniquely shape outcomes. The impacts of this research reached far beyond traditional craft-based forms of creative activity to foster opportunities for creation that pervade our daily lives in domains as varied as civic engagement, sustainability, and health. This proposed research represents an important step toward supporting new forms of value and engagement in these varied domains.
Intellectual Merit: The funded research helped broaden growing bodies of research on materiality, aesthetics, technology labor, and creative practice to propose, build, and analyze new approaches to the shifting use of computational systems for craft activity. It made three main contributions to this scholarship. Empirically, it helped unearth forms of expression emerging from the integration of computation and making. Theoretically, it offered theoretical insight into emergent forms of craft operating at the intersections of labor and leisure, digital and physical, and fabrication and reuse. For design, it helped advance techniques for bridging social media and digital production across multiple social contexts. In sum, this work contributed to developing understandings of digital technologies for making and connecting.
Broader Impact: The funded work contributed to several long-term societal gains around the role of digital technologies in creative activity, with particular attention to questions of participation, social engagement, and sustainable design. Through the development of popularly targeted articles and podcasts, this research strengthened PI’s research efforts to call attention to and promote new practices and understandings around IT. Pedagogically, the PI ran multiple workshops and events that support participation of students from historically underrepresented groups in learning engineering concepts.
Last Modified: 09/07/2021
Modified by: Daniela Rosner
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