Digital maker communities democratize manufacturing through hands on learning, trans-disciplinary work and open source knowledge sharing. Little is known how knowledge sharing actually happens. A recent article by Patricia Wolf and Peter Troxler in the International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation presents a study that applied actor-network-theory as underlying theoretical framework to a co-design project in a digital maker community – the teletransportation project. At the core of this project was a basic digital design for a cup that can be 3D-printed.
The study showed that the different network types re-assemble around nodes that result from translations (and therefore transformations) of the initial project idea and the code that allowed to 3D-print a cup. It was able to show translations and the circular movement in the network as well as translation costs, time effects, intermediaries and mediators.
We are happy to provide you here with:
- a link to the abstract announcement of the Special Issue, and
- a link to a pdf sample of the article by Patricia Wolf and Peter Troxler