Making Cultures Spotlight

Message from the Making Cultures Spotlight Co-Chairs

In recent years, HCI researchers have increasingly turned to processes of making, from knitting to digital fabrication, to rethink the digitization of our everyday worlds. Some have studied the rise of community-operated workspaces and blogs that celebrate hands-on practices of hacking, crafting, and tinkering. Others have used reflective modes of making to provoke alternative forms of qualitative inquiry. Through making, such research has probed social responses in participatory design workshops, extended and interrogated existing theory in "critical making" projects, and enacted social change in citizen science initiatives. In all cases, researchers have posed making as a research activity that asks how tactile engagements become tactical within specific socio-technical environments.

The Making Cultures Spotlight includes researchers and practitioners focusing on:

  • Empirical study of existing cultures of making, including physical computing, hackerspaces, amateur multimedia production, craft, etc.
  • Theory on issues closely related to making, including digital materiality, sustainability, research through design, creativity, and communities of practice and interest
  • All aspects of design, development, and deployment of making-focused systems, technologies, technology components, and interfaces
  • Use of making as a research method
  • Computer science education
  • Participatory and democratic design

It is our goal as Making Cultures co-chairs to increase the quality and quantity of submissions from making culture researchers and practitioners. There is a broad variety of submission possibilities allowing you to discuss with other experts from the field a certain topic (Workshops), enabling you to discuss latest trends (Panels, SIGs), show your results from research (Papers and Notes), demonstrate your making experiences and practices (Case Studies, Interactivity, Videos) or show your alternative approach to making (alt.chi). Please see below the summary for all possibilities for submissions at CHI2014.

Jeffrey Bardzell, Indiana University
jbardzel@indiana.edu

Shaowen Bardzell, Indiana University
selu@indiana.edu

Carl DiSalvo, Georgia Institute of Technology
carl.disalvo@lmc.gatech.edu

Ann Light, Northumbria University
ann.light@northumbria.ac.uk

Daniela Rosner, University of Washington
dkrosner@uw.edu

making@chi2014.acm.org

Types of Submissions

Submissions about making cultures are appropriate in any of the following forums. We especially encourage you to submit interesting case studies that illustrate how innovative game techniques were used in specific projects that have broad implications. We urge you to submit material to one or more of the following forums:

Preparing your Submission

You must prepare your submission in the format that is required for each submission type. If you use the terms "making," "fabrication," "DIY" "hacking," "hackerspaces," "repair," "craft," "tinkering," "physical computing," "amateur," "critical making," "citizen science") in the title, abstract, or author's keywords, it will help review committees to assign appropriate reviewers. Please contact making@chi2014.acm.org if you have questions about your submissions.