![Sample our Information Science journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5940/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Information-Science.jpg"})
![Knowledge Retreat advert]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110992/Knowledge-Retreat.gif"})
![SDG Online Goal 4: Quality Education. Request a free trial today]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110751/JournalAd-Resources-SDGO-4-2021.png"})
This article provides an overview of a series of experiments in what the author calls critical making, a mode of materially productive engagement that is intended to bridge the gap between creative physical and conceptual exploration. Although they share much in common with forms of design and art practice, the goal of these events is primarily focused on using material production—making things—as part of an explicit practice of concept elaboration within the social study of technology.
Acknowledgments
This article and the events that it summarizes would not have happened without the help of a number of people. The author thanks Bronac Ferran and the RCA/Imperial “Systems of Learning” colloquia series for their invitation to present and willingness to entertain a nonstandard and untried format. He would also like to thank Virtueel Platform, director Floor de Spaendonck, program manager Annet Dekker, and project manager Annette Wolfsberger for their support of the Flwr Pwr workshop. Finally, Stephen Hockema's conceptual insights and technical work have been invaluable for this project. Without the author's ongoing conversations with him, critical making would not be possible.
Notes
For a more complete bibliography to the foundational texts of constructionist approaches, see http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Media-Arts-and-Sciences/MAS-962Spring-2003/Readings/index.htm
A recent university MA course developed by the author has attempted to push this envelope further, mapping specific making exercises to critical information issues such as digital rights management and information visibility and public space. The results of this work will be detailed in future writing.
I thank Stephen Hockema for directing me to these quotations