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Engaging Amateurs in the Design, Fabrication, and Assembly of Electronic Devices

Published: 04 June 2016 Publication History

Abstract

This paper explores personal fabrication as a means of engaging new audiences in the creation of electronic devices, which play an ever-increasing role in our lives but which most people have little involvement in creating. We describe a six-session workshop in which eight participants made wifi-connected devices through the design and fabrication of custom printed circuit boards. We explore the implications of using components and processes analogous to those in commercial products, as opposed to the limited set of higher-level building blocks found in toolkits for hobbyist electronics. We highlight unique advantages and challenges of a personal fabrication approach. We explore the role of attitudes in identifying a suitable audience for these activities. We discuss insights into commercial electronic products offered by personal fabrication and explore its role in a world of mass-produced electronic devices. Finally, we suggest opportunities for future tools and technologies.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    DIS '16: Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
    June 2016
    1374 pages
    ISBN:9781450340311
    DOI:10.1145/2901790
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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    Published: 04 June 2016

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    Author Tags

    1. CAD/CAM
    2. DIY
    3. digital fabrication
    4. hobby electronics
    5. internet of things
    6. maker culture
    7. personal fabrication

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    • (2024)Designing with What RemainsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661628(3002-3015)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
    • (2024)Selection of technologies during design learning activities in an undergraduate courseProceedings of the 16th Conference on Creativity & Cognition10.1145/3635636.3664251(561-565)Online publication date: 23-Jun-2024
    • (2024)Design Space Exploration for Board-level Circuits: Exploring Alternatives in Component-based DesignProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642009(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2024)A Cross-domain, Computational Robot Design Flow from Morphology to Fabrication2024 IEEE 20th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE)10.1109/CASE59546.2024.10711390(4012-4019)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2024
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    • (2023)MakeDevice: Evolving Devices Beyond the Prototype with JacdacProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3573106(1-7)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
    • (2022)Design Justice in PracticeProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35675547:GROUP(1-39)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2022
    • (2022)Tools for teaching electronics workshop in a virtual academic setting2022 Congreso de Tecnología, Aprendizaje y Enseñanza de la Electrónica (XV Technologies Applied to Electronics Teaching Conference)10.1109/TAEE54169.2022.9840624(1-5)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2022
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