Digital threads: Towards personalised craft production in Malay cottage industries

“数字线”项目旨在应对马来农村妇女面临的贫穷挑战及其对传统编织做法文化遗产的风险。整个南亚地区的家庭手工业被认为既有利于经济增长，也是减轻农村贫困的一种可利用的手段。近几十年来，马来政府投入了大量资金，以振兴松吉纺织品等编织实践。然而，由于这些项目采用了传统的以产品为中心的商业模式，并且对数字技术的使用有限，因此成功有限。在这个项目中，我们将从事开创性的跨学科研究，通过彻底改变家庭手工业的商业模式，促进马来西亚的可持续经济发展和福利。该项目将探索更具可持续性和创新性的商业模式，灵活整合尖端技术，将客户置于个性化生产的中心。我们提出了数字应用程序的设计，这些应用程序可以建立在分布式账本技术的基础上，用于管理需求链。这反过来又将能够支持手工制作独特的个人手工艺品，而不是大规模生产商品。我们从HCI，计算机科学和信息管理中汲取专业知识，以提供：（i）关于家庭手工业及其分散的手工生产模式的新知识;（ii）以客户为中心的创新商业模式，用于需求链的管理;以及（iii）数字技术的新颖设计，通过新颖的方法来塑造这些商业模式。这些方法将使手工制作过程的透明度、制作者的经验以及其中蕴含的文化遗产的价值成为可能。这些成果有可能将马来家庭手工业带入21世纪及其全球数字经济，同时尊重和利用他们的文化遗产。他们还将利用区块链技术较少探索的潜力来产生社会影响，并应对全球贫困挑战。

The Digital Threads project addresses the challenge of poverty for rural Malay women and its risk for the cultural heritage of traditional weaving practices. Cottage industries across the entire region of South Asia are considered beneficial both for economic growth and as accessible means to alleviate rural poverty. The Malay Government has invested significantly over recent decades to revitalise weaving practices such as songket textiles. However, there has been limited success since these initiatives have adopted a traditional product-centric business model and made limited use of digital technologies.In this project we will engage in ground-breaking interdisciplinary research to promote sustainable economic development and welfare in Malaysia by radically changing the business models of cottage industries. The project will explore more sustainable and innovative business models flexible to integrate cutting-edge technologies that place customers at the centre of personalised production. We propose the design of digital applications which could be built upon distributed ledger technology for the management of the demand chain. These in turn will be able to support the hand-making of unique individual artefacts rather than mass-production commodities.The Digital Threads project has the potential for significant economic and social contributions. We draw expertise from HCI, computer science, and information management to deliver: (i) new knowledge about the cottage industries and their decentralised handmade modes of production;(ii) innovative customer-centric business models for the management of the demand chain; and (iii) novel designs of digital technologies for shaping these business models through fresh approaches to designing for provenance. Such approaches will enable the transparency of the hand-making process, the maker's experience, and the value of cultural heritage embedded in it. These outcomes have the potential to bring the Malay cottage industries into the 21st century and its worldwide Digital Economy whilst honouring and leveraging their cultural heritage. They will also leverage the less explored potential of blockchain technologies for social impact and for addressing the global challenge of poverty.