HCI’s Making Agendas

This survey offers a critical review of making as a topic of HCI research, set into both historical and intellectual contexts. It surveys and critiques two primary HCI research agendas for making: the promise of democratization of technology that making holds forth, and the development of new tools and infrastructures in support of making. It investigates how maker identities are created and enacted, considering the extents to which making is coopted by capitalism; is linked to broader movements in repair, handwork, DIY, and everyday creativity; and is a form of contemporary cultural production. It surveys critiques of making as well as the ways in which making itself produces critiques. It concludes with a call for making research in HCI to become more reflexive about its making agenda. Specifically, it argues that double-down on its commitments to democracy, while being more proactive about matters of social justice, inclusion, and a broadening of values; and it argues that HCI should more proactively shape the maker “narrative” in line with these commitments.