Summary
This paper is a look into the growing trend of DYI and home hacking. Specifically they focus on IKEA hacking. If you dont know, IKEA is a Sweedish company that makes all manner of home products. They sell furniture to ice cube trays, small-space storage solutions to complete kitchen remodels. Their products usually lean more towards a Danish Modern look however they do have products more Contemporary American. The researchers interviewed nine frequent IKEA hackers to gain insight into the creative and collaborative community. One hacker defined the community as "a collaborative set of non-concurrent projects". The paper provides enthnological data on these emerging online communities and suggests that there is a need to develop new ways of online collaboration.
Thoughts
I am a big DIY-er and a fan of IKEA. Most of their stuff isnt the best quality but you just have to consider that its all 2-3 year items. Meaning youll have them for that long and then chunk them and thats ok because they were cheap. I am familiar with IKEA hacking and it is a consistent topic in all the home-centered blogs I read.
I thought it was silly for them to draw conclusions on the effects online culture simply based on the fact that the word 'hack' and 'program' have now entered common vocabulary and have gathered new meanings.
Overall I think that the traditional website has become a bit outdated and we should work on new ways of online collaboration. Maybe like an interactive Flash site which is like an in browser Second Life kind of thing. Or maybe like an online shared cork board of ideas and posts and links and images. Or maybe some sort of online version of a shared Lego table, like the one that is the doctors office or in the back of a car dealership. Were kids can come and make something but then they have to go and the next kid comes and either adds on to what is there or destroys it. Something like that but for adults.
I agree, it was a little bit of a stretch to link the culture of IKEA hacking to the online DIY culture...it seemed that they wanted to make it a paper about IKEA hacking but had to make it seem technical so they talked about how the DIY community interacts on the internet....which is pretty much how every community acts: through emails, forums, and posted online videos.
ReplyDeleteI read this paper because IKEA Hacking was mentioned in my assigned reading and I have to say this paper is very dull. I think IKEA Hacking is interesting, but this paper brought very little to the table except the concept of IKEA Hacking. I think their intention of how the internet affected IKEA Hackers was very trivial and I don't think it deserved an entire paper devoted to it.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that the word 'hacking' is a bit of a stretch in terms of computer science.
ReplyDeleteI just wish they had some other examples of IKEA hacking in the paper, really.
Really the focus on the paper and it's connection to technology was the fact that people were carrying out physical projects based on identification with an online community.