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Published in:
Introduction | New Directions in Third Wave HCI Read chapter Read first chapter

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

7. Denaturalizing 3D Printing’s Value Claims

Authors : Gabby Resch, Daniel R. Southwick, Matt Ratto

Published in: New Directions in Third Wave Human-Computer Interaction: Volume 1 - Technologies

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter examines how 3D printing has been framed as a liberatory technology that confers agency to users on the one hand, and an automated system that de-centers the user on the other. These entangled visions, we argue, can be traced to values that are threaded into 3D printing’s DNA. By historically situating the social context of 3D printing, tracing its roots to the CAD/CAM revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, we denaturalize assumptions about the technology’s users, its modes of interaction, and its societal impact, offering third wave HCI new insights for broadening how it considers context and values.

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previous chapter 3D Printing Technologies: A Third Wave Perspective
next chapter Physical Computing | When Digital Systems Meet the Real World
Footnotes
1
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) printing (and related forms of additive manufacturing), the most common process for hobbyist-grade desktop 3D printing, traces back to the 1980s. The first commercial FDM machine was released by Stratasys in 1992. Various desktop printer kits, including do-it-yourself (DIY) projects like the open source RepRap and the MakerBot Cupcake CNC, became available between 2005 and 2009. The technology’s origins, however, as we will see, are rooted in CAD/CAM technology.
 
2
For a great example of this, see MakerBot’s description of its automated build platform: https://​www.​thingiverse.​com/​thing:​4056. This techno-utopian narrative overshadowed more cautious arguments about piracy, remix, and the “napsterization of three-dimensional things.” See, for example, http://​www.​nytimes.​com/​2007/​04/​05/​business/​05scan.​html
 
3
Historian Langdon Winner (1983) writes of the development of new technologies: “New worlds are being made. There is nothing ‘secondary’ about this phenomenon. It is, in fact, the most important accomplishment of any new technology.”
 
8
A 2007 article in the New York Times suggested that “Adopters must be ready to develop the same skill as the early photographers who juggled glass plates and egg white emulsions in total darkness.” http://​www.​nytimes.​com/​2007/​04/​05/​business/​05scan.​html
 
10
For a detailed history of these three projects, see Reintjes (1991), Noble (1984), and Ross (1978).
 
11
A much longer cultural-historical analysis of CAD/CAM is currently being undertaken as a component of ongoing research by one of the authors. Refer to Southwick (forthcoming) or contact the authors for more details.
 
12
Author Ratto is Nia’s Chief Science Officer. All three authors work in the Critical Making lab and the Semaphore Research Cluster. Support for this work included sustaining funding from cbm Canada, and grants from Grand Challenges Canada, Google Foundation, Jericho Foundation, and Autodesk Foundation. A portion of the descriptive text in this section comes from an unpublished clinical trial report. The authors would like to thank Joshua Qua Hiansen, Jennifer Marshall, Jerry Evans, and Nia Technologies for the use of this material.
 
13
To be clear, the history of CAD/CAM and prosthetics pre-dates 3D printing. Early research includes work by some of the original CAD/CAM researchers, including Robert W. Mann (http://​news.​mit.​edu/​2006/​obit-mann). Currently, various CAD/CAM systems are used by prosthetic practitioners. This primarily involves specialized CAD software and subtractive milling; cf. Smith and Burgess (2001).
 
16
Clinical trials carried out between 2015 and 2017 demonstrate the success of our system (Ratto et al. 2017). Equally, end of trial semi-structured interviews with users of the system indicate that the goals of supporting user agency were successful (unpublished clinical trial report; please contact authors for more details).
 
17
There is a connection here to how Bardzell and Bardzell (2016: 26) describe as emancipatory design in the context of humanistic HCI: “... the fusing of the humanistic use of critique as speculation with design activities. Doing so enables HCI researchers and practitioners to interpretively explore alternate worlds.”
 
18
See Harrison et al. (2007: 10) for elaboration on the three ways HCI uses this term. They suggest that each notion - the interactionist, the ecological, and the cultural – is a “systems approach” that primarily seeks to understand the relationship between system elements and activities. In a 2011 follow-up paper, Harrison et al. elaborate in greater depth, suggesting that “taking situated knowledges seriously” will require researchers to explicitly articulate the intellectual and political commitments they bring to a particular project (Harrison et al. 2011: 392). It remains to be seen when or how this will commence (outside of the occasional alt.chi paper).
 
19
See Haraway (1988) with its specific emphasis on re-drawing the boundaries of scientific objectivity, which, in many ways, calls into question the rigid empiricist methods that third wave HCI has a difficult time shaking. Suchman (2007: 13–17) and Frauenberger (2016: 344–345) offer descriptions that bridge HCI and STS concerns.
 
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Metadata
Title
Denaturalizing 3D Printing’s Value Claims
Authors
Gabby Resch
Daniel R. Southwick
Matt Ratto
Copyright Year
2018
Book
New Directions in Third Wave Human-Computer Interaction: Volume 1 - Technologies

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73355-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-73356-2

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73356-2_7