Creating communities: the use of technology in craft and DIY communities of practice
| Published date | 04 November 2014 |
| Pages | 277-295 |
| Date | 04 November 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-05-2013-0018 |
| Author | Kate Holmes,Anita Greenhill,Rachel McLean |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems |
Creating communities: the use of
technology in craft and DIY
communities of practice
Kate Holmes and Anita Greenhill
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester,
UK, and
Rachel McLean
Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to gain insight into craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) communities
of practice (COPs) and how the use of technology provides ways for participants to connect, share and
create. Gaining deeper insights into the practices of these communities may provide new opportunities
to utilise within this ourishing domain.
Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative methods were adopted to collect data and analysed
through an interpretivist lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of craft and
DIY COPs to gain a deep understanding of the broader ethnographic study. Existing theoretical
perspectives surrounding COPs have been applied to further current perspectives.
Findings – Findings from this study suggest that being part of a COP allows participants to connect
to others, build creative enterprise and learn or enhance skills. Insights gained from this study indicate
some of the detailed ways in which the application of technology redenes craft and DIY COPs.
Research limitations/implications – This study provides a succinct exploration of a vast and uid
domain; if presented with more time and wider resources, the research would include further
exploration of virtual COPs.
Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) within craft and DIY COPs. The application of theoretical
perspectives from the area of Information Systems (IS) and Technology Management to this domain is
regarded as an original research and furthers knowledge in these areas.
Originality/value – The investigation provides a rich insight into the use of ICTs within craft and
DIY COPs. The application of theoretical perspectives from the area of IS to the domain of craft and DIY
culture is original research and extends existing concepts to include skills sharing as a previously
unexplored domain.
Keywords Communities of practice, Craft and DIY culture, Communication technologies,
Interpretivist
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The aim of this investigation is to explore the impact that social media (SM) is having on
communities of practice (COPs), craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) communities. The
research examines how participants within online DIY communities connect, share and
create their particular craft items. In particular, the paper seeks to understand if SM
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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DIY
communities of
practice
277
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 16 No. 4, 2014
pp. 277-295
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-05-2013-0018
impacts on how participants in DIY communities connect to each other. The study is
situated within the discipline of Information Systems (IS) and Technology Management.
This paper begins with a literature review; it presents a full discussion exploring the
creative industries including craft and DIY culture and the application of SM within
these domains. It then progresses with a theoretical introduction to COPs. This leads
into the methodology section, providing information of the paradigms and methods
used to conduct the investigation. The paper then provides a detailed analysis of the
data collected, which has been arranged around the emergent themes as follows:
connecting, sharing and enterprise and to learn and create. The study concludes by
offering insights into the application of ICT by COPs working within craft and DIY
culture.
Literature review
The creative industries
The creative and cultural industries are becoming increasingly recognised for the
contribution they make to the UK economy, particularly in terms of academia and from
the perspectives of UK governing bodies (Banks and O’Connor, 2009;Potts, 2009;
UNCTAD, 2010). Hartley (2005, p. 1) argues “creativity will be the driver in social and
economic change”. Highlighted changes include creativity as a means to shape culture
and an enabler for other industries and services to build from. This argument is
reinforced by Henry (2007, p. 1) who states that the creative industries are “one of the
fastest growing industry sectors, and are now seen as central to the success of most
developing and advanced economies”. Understanding the creative industries is an
increasingly signicant domain because the activity within this area has the potential to
drive and reshape culture and the economy in a unique way.
As a subset of the creative industries, the area focussed on in this paper, is craft and
the DIY culture. According to Spencer (2008, p. 11):
The DIY movement is about using anything you can get your hands on to shape your own
cultural entity; your own version of whatever you think is missing from mainstream culture.
The movement celebrates the numerous possibilities available for some to create and
contribute towards their own culture and may be considered a variation of participatory
or convergence culture that recognises this activity across a variety of media platforms
(Burgess, 2006;Jenkins, 2006). Examples of DIY activity include any everyday creative
practice, ranging from knitting, baking, gardening, carpentry, software development
and even making YouTube (2013) videos.
SM, craft and DIY culture
The emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has encouraged
craft and DIY activity by providing practitioners with the means to learn skills,
exchange ideas and when fully embraced may allow channels for enterprise, promotion
and marketing (Qualman, 2011). Further, accessible use of technologies (for example, the
use of laser cutters, digital photography and recording equipment), once only available
for professionals, may have enabled the production of quality products (Hearn et al.,
2004;Anderson, 2009). The Internet provides access to the tools and the means to
communicate ideas on a global scale, for example, easy access to instructional text and
pictures, tutorials on YouTube, live streamed video classes and access to suppliers
(Torrey et al., 2009). Use of social networking sites (SNSs) has risen as an effective way
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