Making a Customized DIY-Computer with Infobricks

Making is about learning new skills, creative explorations, and solving problems; but it is also about giving and caring for others. Many makers enjoy creating unique and bespoke presents to give them to people they care about to enrich their life. To support and exploit this motivation, we designed a modular toolkit named Infobricks, which was conceived for creating DIY and accessible computers. For a grounded requirements gathering of Infobricks, we conducted a study featuring six makers. We present a functional prototype for Infobricks as an embodiment of the findings from this study. Moreover, we illustrate Infobricks in a “lived scenario” featuring one additional participant who used the kit to create a computer for her older mother. Overall, our ambition in this paper is to design a toolkit like Infobricks and to demonstrate how it can provide e.g. senior citizens with customized computers by drawing on the constructive energy and skillset of makers.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Florian Güldenpfennig

Conference

Publication date: July 2017

Publication date (Print): July 2017

Pages: 1-12

Affiliations

[0001]Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)

Argentinierstraße 8, 1040 Vienna, Austria

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.52

SO-VID: 163d0a30-2786-4302-b6ab-6458c242faa5

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2017)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 11 – 13 July 2017

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.52

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

References

R. BaeckerK. SellenS. CrosskeyV. BoscartB. B. Neves 2014 Technology to reduce social isolation and loneliness Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility 27 34 Rochester, New York, USA
V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 2 77 101
E. BuehlerS. BranhamA. AliJ. J. ChangM. K. HofmannA. HurstS. K. Kane 2015 Sharing is Caring: Assistive Technology Designs on Thingiverse Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 525 534 Seoul, Republic of Korea
D. Dougherty 2012 The Maker Movement innovations 7 3 11 14
C. GarattiniJ. WhertonD. Prendergast 2012 Linking the lonely: an exploration of a communication technology designed to support social interaction among older adults Universal Access in the Information Society 11 2 211 222
S. GrimmeJ. BardzellS. Bardzell 2014 "We've conquered dark": shedding light on empowerment in critical making Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational 431 440 Helsinki, Finland
F. GüldenpfennigG. Fitzpatrick 2013 Towards Rapid Technology Probes for Senior People A. HolzingerM. ZiefleM. HitzM. Debevc Human Factors in Computing and Informatics 7946 664 671 Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
F. GüldenpfennigF. NunesE. GanglbauerG. Fitzpatrick 2016 Making Space to Engage: An Open-ended Exploration of Technology Design with Older Adults International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction (IJMHCI) 8 2 1 19
F. HamidiM. Baljko 2015 Makers with a Cause: Fabrication, Reflection and Community Collaboration N. StreitzP. Markopoulos Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions: Third International Conference, DAPI 2015, Held as Part of HCI International 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, August 2-7, 2015, Proceedings 49 61 Cham: Springer International Publishing
F. HamidiM. BaljkoT. KunicR. Feraday 2014 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Assistive Technology: A Communication Board Case Study K. MiesenbergerD. FelsD. ArchambaultP. PeñázW. Zagler Computers Helping People with Special Needs: 14th International Conference, ICCHP 2014, Paris, France, July 9-11, 2014, Proceedings, Part II 287 294 Cham: Springer International Publishing
J. HookS. VerbaanA. DurrantP. OlivierP. Wright 2014 A study of the challenges related to DIY assistive technology in the context of children with disabilities Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing Interactive Systems 597 606 Vancouver, BC, Canada
A. HurstJ. Tobias 2011 Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology Paper presented at the The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility 11 18 Dundee, Scotland, UK
H. HutchinsonW. MackayB. WesterlundB. B. BedersonA. DruinC. PlaisantB. Eiderbäck 2003 Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 17 24 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
S. K. KaneA. HurstE. BuehlerP. A. CarringtonM. A. Williams 2014 Collaboratively designing assistive technology interactions 21 2 78 81
A. Kemp 2013 The Makerspace Workbench: Tools, Technologies, and Techniques for Making O'Reilly
S. LindtnerG. D. HertzP. Dourish 2014 Emerging sites of HCI innovation: hackerspaces, hardware startups & incubators Paper presented at theProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 439 448 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A. MoraitiV. V. AbeeleE. VanroyeL. Geurts 2015 Empowering Occupational Therapists with a DIY-toolkit for Smart Soft Objects Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible,Embedded, and Embodied Interaction 387 394 Stanford California, USA
A. A. O'KaneA. HurstG. NiezenN. MarquardtJ. BirdG. Abowd 2016 Advances in DIY Health and Wellbeing Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems 3453 60 Santa Clara, California, USA
B. PhillipsH. Zhao 1993 Predictors of Assistive Technology abondonment Assistive Technology 5 1 36 45
C. Rebola 2015 Designed Technologies for Healthy Aging Morgan & Claypool Publishers
J. G. TanenbaumA. M. WilliamsA. DesjardinsK. Tanenbaum 2013 Democratizing technology: pleasure, utility and expressiveness in DIY and maker practice Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2603 12 Paris, France
J. WaycottF. VetereS. PedellL. KulikE. OzanneA. GrunerJ. Downs 2013 Older adults as digital content producers Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 39 48 Paris, France
J. O. WobbrockJ. A. Kientz 2016 Research contributions in human-computer interaction. interactions 23 3 38 44

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] R. BaeckerK. SellenS. CrosskeyV. BoscartB. B. Neves 2014 Technology to reduce social isolation and loneliness Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility 27 34 Rochester, New York, USA

[2] V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 2 77 101

[3] E. BuehlerS. BranhamA. AliJ. J. ChangM. K. HofmannA. HurstS. K. Kane 2015 Sharing is Caring: Assistive Technology Designs on Thingiverse Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 525 534 Seoul, Republic of Korea

[4] D. Dougherty 2012 The Maker Movement innovations 7 3 11 14

[5] C. GarattiniJ. WhertonD. Prendergast 2012 Linking the lonely: an exploration of a communication technology designed to support social interaction among older adults Universal Access in the Information Society 11 2 211 222

[6] S. GrimmeJ. BardzellS. Bardzell 2014 "We've conquered dark": shedding light on empowerment in critical making Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational 431 440 Helsinki, Finland

[7] F. GüldenpfennigG. Fitzpatrick 2013 Towards Rapid Technology Probes for Senior People A. HolzingerM. ZiefleM. HitzM. Debevc Human Factors in Computing and Informatics 7946 664 671 Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

[8] F. GüldenpfennigF. NunesE. GanglbauerG. Fitzpatrick 2016 Making Space to Engage: An Open-ended Exploration of Technology Design with Older Adults International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction (IJMHCI) 8 2 1 19

[9] F. HamidiM. Baljko 2015 Makers with a Cause: Fabrication, Reflection and Community Collaboration N. StreitzP. Markopoulos Distributed, Ambient, and Pervasive Interactions: Third International Conference, DAPI 2015, Held as Part of HCI International 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, August 2-7, 2015, Proceedings 49 61 Cham: Springer International Publishing

[10] F. HamidiM. BaljkoT. KunicR. Feraday 2014 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Assistive Technology: A Communication Board Case Study K. MiesenbergerD. FelsD. ArchambaultP. PeñázW. Zagler Computers Helping People with Special Needs: 14th International Conference, ICCHP 2014, Paris, France, July 9-11, 2014, Proceedings, Part II 287 294 Cham: Springer International Publishing

[11] J. HookS. VerbaanA. DurrantP. OlivierP. Wright 2014 A study of the challenges related to DIY assistive technology in the context of children with disabilities Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing Interactive Systems 597 606 Vancouver, BC, Canada

[12] A. HurstJ. Tobias 2011 Empowering individuals with do-it-yourself assistive technology Paper presented at the The proceedings of the 13th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility 11 18 Dundee, Scotland, UK

[13] H. HutchinsonW. MackayB. WesterlundB. B. BedersonA. DruinC. PlaisantB. Eiderbäck 2003 Technology probes: inspiring design for and with families Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 17 24 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA

[14] S. K. KaneA. HurstE. BuehlerP. A. CarringtonM. A. Williams 2014 Collaboratively designing assistive technology interactions 21 2 78 81

[15] A. Kemp 2013 The Makerspace Workbench: Tools, Technologies, and Techniques for Making O'Reilly

[16] S. LindtnerG. D. HertzP. Dourish 2014 Emerging sites of HCI innovation: hackerspaces, hardware startups & incubators Paper presented at theProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 439 448 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

[17] A. MoraitiV. V. AbeeleE. VanroyeL. Geurts 2015 Empowering Occupational Therapists with a DIY-toolkit for Smart Soft Objects Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Tangible,Embedded, and Embodied Interaction 387 394 Stanford California, USA

[18] A. A. O'KaneA. HurstG. NiezenN. MarquardtJ. BirdG. Abowd 2016 Advances in DIY Health and Wellbeing Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems 3453 60 Santa Clara, California, USA

[19] B. PhillipsH. Zhao 1993 Predictors of Assistive Technology abondonment Assistive Technology 5 1 36 45

[20] C. Rebola 2015 Designed Technologies for Healthy Aging Morgan & Claypool Publishers

[21] J. G. TanenbaumA. M. WilliamsA. DesjardinsK. Tanenbaum 2013 Democratizing technology: pleasure, utility and expressiveness in DIY and maker practice Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2603 12 Paris, France

[22] J. WaycottF. VetereS. PedellL. KulikE. OzanneA. GrunerJ. Downs 2013 Older adults as digital content producers Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 39 48 Paris, France

[23] J. O. WobbrockJ. A. Kientz 2016 Research contributions in human-computer interaction. interactions 23 3 38 44

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