Knowledge-creation Processes in Crafts-based HCI Research
Raune Frankjær, Peter Dalsgaard
Abstract
Crafts-based approaches in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) blend analog crafts and materials with digital technologies. In addition to introducing novel ways of creating artifacts, they also present us with alternative modes of inquiry and knowledge creation but we still lack frameworks for understanding the forms of knowledge created through them. We therefore introduce a sympoietic framework for articulating and analyzing knowledge generation in crafts-based research projects in HCI, which integrates concepts from craft theory with HCI. The framework extends from knowledge processes in the making of an artifact to encompass the wider research process. This includes processes that occur within the ‘lab’, e.g. research question articulation and experimentation, as well as what happens when an artifact is deployed in and enters into dialogue with the world. We exemplify the potentials of the framework with analyses of two cases, a photonic fabric and a kinetic wearable.