Bamboo Agents: Exploring the Potentiality of Digital Craft by Decoding and Recoding Process

Abstract

As an emerging field in HCI, Digital Craft is often involved in debate on its concept that leads to distinctive practices. In this paper, the authors argue that the hybridization of digital power as computing and fabrication and human skills of ideation and hand-making sheds light on an important research direction for future inquiry of digital craft. In particular, the reported project focuses on bamboo craft making to explore the potentiality of digital craft through constructive design research methods. Through the collaborative making with craftspeople, methods of hybridizing digital power and human skills are explored by decoding and recoding the bamboo making process with inventive digital intervention, which enriches bamboo artifacts’ forms and integrates digital fabrication, such as 3D printing. Meanwhile, digital toolkits for bamboo weaving and a digital platform that can make computational design and craft more compatible are created and reported. The authors conclude with reported hybrid craft cases that the hybridization has the potential to stimulate a new generation of artisans.