Traditional handcrafts provide a rich domain for exploring new kinds of playable and computational experience. There is significant shared history and conceptual overlap between computer science and fiber-based crafts such as quilting and embroidery. This talk presents three projects that sit at the intersection of games, textiles, and computer science: 1) Threadsteading is a game designed and played on computerized quilting and embroidery machines; 2) eBee is a collaborative strategy game that merges electronics and quilts; 3) Hoopla is an interactive, procedural embroidery generator. These projects share common threads such as bridging the digital and the physical, questioning authorship and creativity, exploring new modes of interaction, and disrupting the gendered assumptions associated with computation and craft.
Strategize a Smooth Tenant-to-tenant Migration and Copilot Takeoff
Computational Craft: Lessons from Playful Experiences at the Intersection of HCI, Textiles, and Games
1. Computational Craft
Lessons from Playful Experiences at the Intersection of HCI, Textiles, and Games
Gillian Smith
Northeastern University
@gillianmsmith
www.sokath.com
2. background
➤ computer science
➤ artificial intelligence
➤ human-computer interaction
➤ beyond computer science
➤ fiber arts
➤ jewelry
➤ history
➤ language
➤ play
➤ music
3.
4. why craft?
➤ tangible, tactile
➤ rooted in old traditions
➤ feminine and feminist practice
➤ intergenerational
➤ storytelling
➤ aesthetic importance
28. permanent traces of gameplay
➤ visualize the “story” of play
➤ commitment to making a move
29. play as generative design
➤ mechanics chosen for desired aesthetics
➤ players as enactors of rules
➤ many emergent maps
➤ player-executed procedural content
generation
30. gender and computing
➤ computing in unexpected locations
➤ automation of highly gendered activity
➤ software for embroidery/quilting
➤ what else can we make?
36. Acknowledgments
ebee team: Celia Pearce, Isabella Carlsson, Jeanie Choi
threadsteading team: Jim McCann, Lea Albaugh, April Grow, Chenxi Liu
computational craft: Anne Sullivan, Josh Tanenbaum, Karen Tanenbaum
funding: Science Gallery Dublin, Disney Research Pittsburgh,
Northeastern University College of Arts, Media, and Design
@gillianmsmith
www.sokath.com