Making it Work – Experiences of Women Who Engage in Technological Making at Home

Georg Regal, Dorothé Smit, Nathalia Campreguer Franca, Verena Fuchsberger, Manfred Tscheligi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a 5-month diary study into the practices and routines that develop around technological making in the home, particularly focused on the experiences of women, as they continue to be an underrepresented group in the maker community. In this study, we provided participants with an entry-level electronics making kit. Over the course of twenty weeks, the participants documented their making activities via photos, videos, text messages and taking part in interviews. By means of interpretative phenomenological analysis, we identified six core themes related to women’s experiences with technological making in the home. These experiences ranged from positive—feeling challenged, proud of accomplishments, inspired; to negative—feeling frustrated, guilty due to lack of progress or confused and overwhelmed. These experiences are discussed and contextualized by aspects related to hurdles experienced by the participants, and success factors that contribute to proactive engagement with making in the home.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)30-47
Number of pages18
JournalInteracting with Computers
Volume36
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 May 2024

Research Field

  • Experience Business Transformation

Keywords

  • empirical studies in HCI
  • physical computing
  • making
  • gender equality

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