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3D Printing: Convergences, Frictions, Fluidity

The emergence of desktop ‘3D printing’ is not only a technological development, but equally a social and economic phenomenon that actively (and often contentiously) co-produces the material and ideological infrastructures it occupies. Reflecting wider momentum toward digital-material convergence, the current “revolution” in desktop digital fabrication is fundamentally attributable to the efforts of decentralized Maker and DIY communities who, connected through digital networks, practice citizen-led technological experimentation and occupy novel spaces for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Employing hybrid qualitative methods that include Critical Making, this research explores the following themes: rhetoric versus reality, the divisive notion of ‘digital craft’, perceptions of authenticity, as well as cultural momentum manifested in decentralization, convergence, stratification, and iteration. An overarching theme emerges: 3D printing is a fluid phenomenon – in literal, metaphorical, technological and cultural ways.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/31404
Date19 December 2011
CreatorsRee, Robert
ContributorsRatto, Matthew
Source SetsUniversity of Toronto
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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