Crafting communities of practice and interest: connecting 'online' and 'offline' making practices

本研究将对与工艺相关的实践社区和感兴趣的社区中在线/离线参与的实践进行系统回顾。通过对学术文献和当代趋势的探讨，本综述将探讨与手工艺相关的在线/离线社区中新文化交流的发展，以及创造力在塑造这些文化中的作用。该项目还将回顾手工艺运动中与社区建设的线上/线下实践相关的新文化、社会和经济实践。它将分析信息通信技术工具的采用如何塑造了构成手工艺社区的联系、实践和流程。这些工具包括互联网、社会媒体、Web 2.0应用程序，以及在工艺品本身的生产中使用数字技术。本综述将在线/离线工艺社区理解为动态过程，而不是静态实体。它将探索在线/离线，虚拟和真实主题之间的界限，以展示制作如何在物质上调解这些复杂的时间动态社区。这种理解提出了一些问题：与在线/离线工艺相关的实践和兴趣社区之间的区别和重叠是什么？传统技能是如何被当代的实践/兴趣社区所采用的？手工艺对本地网络和全球连接的强调之间是否存在矛盾？“虚拟”社区和物质产品之间的关系是什么？这些问题在线上和线下社区之间的联系中展开，并涉及空间、时间和物质性如何与社区建设的过程和实践相关。该综述将采用多学科方法实现三个目标：1)文献综述，将人文社会科学文献中的在线和离线社区定位。这篇文章将回顾不同的手工艺社区是如何随着时间的推移使用在线技术的，它们与手工艺经济的关系，它们在传播知识方面的作用，以及它们在创造新形式的制作中的作用。2)了解新兴工艺社区和连接实践的研讨会。这项研究将积极参与手工艺界的利益相关者和制造者。这将建立与手工艺者之间的对话，以思考在线/离线工具在手工艺社区中的作用。它将揭示这些活动与创意经济的关系，以及虚拟空间中影响这种活动的中介机构的作用。3)将线上和线下制作实践的物质性联系起来的理论化：本综述将以这些发现为基础，探索在“虚拟”和“真实”社区之间制作物体时出现的物质性和时间性问题。这项审查本身是及时的：工艺实践将人们聚集在一起分享知识，鼓励日常环境中的创造性实践，并为创意经济做出贡献。然而，对于团体和个人如何使用在线/离线实践来形成社区、身份以及制作和分享这些实践，缺少一个关键的参与。纠正这种缺失对于回答当代社区建设的问题至关重要。此外，由在线工具实现的创新实践正迅速被工艺组织所采用。然而，他们的经验和成功的吸收遇到了成败参半的成功。需要进一步了解在线交互的好处和限制，以确保开发最佳实践。此外，新的政治运动的兴起，例如“手工艺主义”，它使用在线工具将使用编织和刺绣的活动家聚集在一起发表政治声明，这表明从手工艺的例子中可以学到更多关于社区可持续性、弹性和参与的知识。

This research will undertake a systematic review of practices of online/offline participation within craft related communities of practice and communities of interest. Addressing both scholarly literature and contemporary trends, this review will address the development of new cultures of communication within online/offline communities linked to craft, and the role of creativity in shaping those cultures. This project will also review the new cultural, social and economic practices in the crafting movement, in relation to online/offline practices of community building. It will analyse how the adoption of ICT tools has shaped the connections, practices and processes that constitute craft communities. These tools include the Internet, social media, Web 2.0 applications, and using digital technologies in the production of craft objects themselves. This review understands online/offline craft communities as dynamic processes, rather than static entities. It will explore the limits to distinctions between online/offline, virtual and real subjects, to show how making materially mediates these complex temporally dynamic communities. This understanding raises a number of questions: what are the distinctions and overlaps between communities of practice and interest in relation to online/offline craft? How are traditional skills appropriated by contemporary communities of practice/interest? Is there a tension between craft's emphasis on local networks and global connectivity? What are the relationships between 'virtual' communities and material products? These questions unfold in the nexus between online and offline communities and are concerned with how space, time, and materiality relate to the processes and practices of community building. The review will adopt a multidisciplinary approach to achieve three objectives: 1) a literature review to situate online and offline communities within humanities and social sciences literature. This will review how online technologies have been engaged by different craft communities over time, their relationship with economies of craft, their use to disseminate knowledge, and their role in producing new forms of making. 2) A workshop to understand emergent craft communities and practices of connecting. The study will actively engage with stakeholders and makers within the craft community. This will establish a dialogue with and between craft makers in order to think through the role of online/offline tools in craft communities. It will uncover how these engagements relate to the creative economy, and the role of intermediaries in virtual spaces that influence that engagement. 3) Theorising to connect the materialities of online and offline practices of making: the review will build on these findings to explore questions of materiality and temporality that emerge from making objects in between 'virtual' and 'real' communities.The review itself is timely: craft practices bring together people to share knowledge, encourage creative practice in everyday settings, and contribute to the creative economy. However, a critical engagement with how groups and individuals use online/offline practices to form communities, identities, and to make and to share these practices is missing. Redressing this absence is critical to answering questions about contemporary community building. Furthermore, innovative practices enabled by online tools are rapidly being adopted by craft organizations. However, their experience and successful uptake has met with mixed success. Further understanding of the benefits and limits of online interactions is needed to ensure that best practice can be developed. Furthermore, the rise of new political movements, such as 'craftivism', which use online tools to gather together activists that use knitting and embroidery to make political statements, suggest there is more to be learned about community sustainability, resilience and engagement, from the example of craft.