Digital fabrication tools such as 3D printers,
laser cutters and prototyping electronic toolkits became largely available to hobbyists and more prevalent in industry in the early 2000s.
They generated hopes for a decentralised, more sustainable industrial production,
And hopes of democratising innovation, through the establishment of makerspaces envisioned as miny factories and places of apprenticeship.
We're most definitely not producing all of our household objects,
locally or more sustainably, and we've not become makers.
So while there be domains and moments in which digital fabrication is useful, there is significant scope for exploration.
Does digital fabrication change work beyond engineering related professions?
If so, how does it change organisations and workers, or their relationships with other stakeholders?
This is the broader context of our research, which investigates these issues through a case study of the uses of digital fabrication tools by workers over
six years in an organisation providing educational services to visually impaired children in France.
Indeed, Assistive Technologies is one domain in which HCI researchers have embraced early the potential of digital fabrication.
This research project hence aims at understanding Long-Term Digital Fabrication practises for the education of visually impaired youth.
which stemmed from hopes for digital fabrication could advantageously replace specialised tools and cut costs.
But advances in 3D modelling tools could allow anyone to produce tactile representations or other assistive technologies,
And that online libraries, such as Thingiverse, could become repositories of models seamlessly produced all around the world.
Investigations into practices, however, suggest a different picture.
We know from efforts to gather a community's opinions on the matter,
tthat we still have a lot to learn about designing accessible representations. And observational
studies suggest that 3D printers are rapidly abandoned in special education schools.
So we opted for looking at practices in depth, using an ethnographic approach and
activity theory models as a framework to both understand how workers defined
what digital fabrication can be used for, through practices, and how it changed the organisation,
for instance, the division of labour. We found strikingly different practices than what had been envisioned in previous work.
we found that while 3D representations are sometimes useful,
they are often limited of limited utility in pedagogy, and that 3D printing is far too limited in terms of tactile experience.
As we observed digital fabrication tools in context, we realised that 3D modelling mothering software are either too complex or too constrained,
whereas laser cutting allows for far more flexible way of envisioning and realising accessible representations,
in part because it enables more direct interaction with materials. Moreover, these tools did not replace specialised equipment. Instead,
they were added and generating new costs. Workers did not become makers even if they had a 3D printer and extensive support to use it.
At the contrary, over time, fewer people engages in making and very few developed in-depth expertise.
Yet awareness and proximity to digital fabrication processes did impact how workers felt involved in innovation.
And they organise to obtain the resources necessary to develop these practices in their field,
such as supporting the creation of a national database of projects as websites such as Thingiverse did not meet pedagogical needs.
To conclude, we call for studying making for accessibility at smaller scales rather than as a global phenomena,
to understand how digital fabrication tools might be used differently depending on the national or even regional context,
instead of hoping they will allow for seamless production. By doing this, we could bring workers and their organisations back in our studies of making,
which previously largely focused on volunteers and self-driven individuals.
It would furthermore allow us to move beyond a technology driven focus on 3D printing to instead
consider the role digital fabrication could play in larger social or technical ecosystems,
providing visually impaired youth with adequate access to educational material .
Thank you for listening and please get in touch for questions or discussions.