The Potential of Digital Tools

One of my personal interests is in the opportunities for this kind of development within social inclusion and improving lives in relation to the Dott agenda.

I work within the Autonomatic research cluster at UCF.

As a cluster we investigate the creative potential of digital tools for designing and making objects which fall predominantly within the craft and designer maker sector, so we are interested in innovative process and procedure development which enables the creation of work which is relevant and meaningful in a contemporary context.

In addition we are becoming more involved in research which is looking at how these technologies, in conjunction with developments in pervasive media and web 2.0, create the possibility for new models of post industrial practice that refigure the relationship between designers and consumers/users and challenging established methods, market definitions and modes of consumption. We are interested in what challenges and opportunities these developments hold for object based creative micro businesses and undertaking research associated with the activities and resources needed in order to allow this sector to make the most of all the possibilities this digital revolution holds.

Developments in digital media have already revolutionized the way content is produced and distributed, empowering the personal production and distribution of a wide range creative output (good, bad and indifferent , but that criticism can also be aimed at established professional media output).  It can be argued that digital design and production will have an equally significant impact on the world of things, providing the opportunity for localized and even home production.  There are undoubtedly some potential dangers associated with providing the capability to easily and cheaply manifest digital designs physical, and perpetuate a throw away culture of one off objects rather than mass produced ones.  However if developed and exploited in an intelligent way, (possibly tied to well designed/crafted software and hardware), it also opens up possibilities for empowering  people to think about themselves as( and be) producers  rather than just consumers.

How can the Fablab model developed at MIT can evolve into something more substantial and be part of a broader (and not necessarily digitally focused) training, production and distribution Hub (a pre industrial work shop).  Encouraging a community to share existing skills and gain new ones, become, as Emily Campbell from the RSA suggests, self reliant?

Justin is a Research Fellow based in the Autonomatic research cluster at University College Falmouth. He has been researching the creative application of digital design and production technologies principally in craft/designer-maker practice for over ten years.He is currently working on the Bespoke project with colleagues from other UK Universities. This is a multidisciplinary project investigating how digital systems and devices can increase social inclusion and improve lives. The project is working within one area of Preston, helping people to tell their own stories through hyper local news production, and then using these stories to inspire radically simple bespoke design solutions, created with and for people, groups or communities.