Hybrid crafts blend traditional materials with embedded interactivity, yet everyday use of such artefacts remains underexplored. This paper contributes the study of lived experience with high-fidelity hybrid craft artefacts (made with interactive stained glass), following an initial study with 11 practitioners. We conducted three co-design sessions with nine end-users to create bespoke crafted artefacts deployed across three households for three weeks each, supported by user diaries and interviews. Our findings reveal how participants developed habitual patterns (placement, timing, relocation), emotional attachments, and disengagement needs, perceiving the artefacts as warm, expressive, and socially meaningful, distinguishing hybrid crafts from screen-based or smart devices. We offer design recommendations for leveraging artistic and pictorial qualities, supporting routine-based interaction and emotional connection, and designing for placement flexibility and spatial legibility. This work marks a shift from practitioner-only explorations of hybrid crafts toward user-centred in-the-wild understanding of how these artefacts function as lived-with technologies.

We explore how smart, portable, tangible, and borrowable museum displays can be used to expand museum outreach, and provide tools for measuring user engagement. Our prototype, MobileMuseum, is a portable museum display on wheels, housing digitally-fabricated replicas of artifacts from a national science and technology museum. To track interactions without cameras, we embedded photo and magnetic door sensors and RFID tags and antenna. Our deployment study was carried out for 2 months and included 4 different locations (2 recreational and 2 educational). Data collected from 6 sensors, 261 hours of field observations, 17 filled questionnaires, and 14 interviews helped us understand interaction patterns. Qualitative and quantitative findings revealed that self-monitored interactions encouraged deeper open-ended exploration. Social sharing increased among people in groups while lower foot traffic increased engagement duration. We present generalizable opportunities for self-monitored Interfaces that lends themselves to social circulation, ‘honeybee-effect’, ‘order effect’, and ‘leftovers’ from users.

The ‘material turn’ in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is increasingly drawing attention to the computational affordances of materials and how we can craft with them. In this paper, we explore opportunities for combining the maker cultures of hand spinning with e-textile crafting. In our first study, we interviewed 32 hand spinners on their practices to better understand their motivations for spinning their own yarns and the techniques they use to do so. In our second study, we conducted workshops with 6 spinners at a local spinning guild, where participants worked with the conductive fibers and spun e-textile yarns. After the workshops, we conducted follow-up interviews with each participant to understand the opportunities and tensions of hand spinning e-textile yarns. Our findings show how spinners can blend local materials with conductive ones to develop their own custom interactive textiles, and the mismatch between how these fibers are sold and what information spinners require to inform their design decisions. Through these results, we hope to empower makers and inspire the design community to develop tools to support these DIY practices.

Devices for digital fabrication are becoming increasingly smaller and more portable, enabling digital fabrication research to move into new environments. In this exploratory research-through-design project, we aimed to physicalize data on-the-go using a portable digital fabrication device, and gathered community annotations and traces of the journey the machine went on with "stitch markers". We describe the development of The Life of a Small Town, a portable knitting machine that was adapted to knit rows of stitches in response to sensor data. The machine travelled throughout a small town and "popped up" at local art events to sense and physicalize social gatherings held by an arts organization over the period of one year. Individuals participating in events could also decorate their own "stitch markers" to annotate and pin to the data. In this paper we discuss the insights from an analysis of the stitch markers and traces of the year-long journey.

Innovations in digital fabrication technologies are increasingly enabling artists and designers to create data physicalizations in real time. In this paper, we discuss how we adapted a circular knitting machine to physicalize visitors at a local art gallery during the pandemic recovery year. To evaluate this year-long installation, we conducted design critiques with 15 individuals including those who worked in the building and lived alongside it for a year, as well as subject matter experts. We then iteratively worked with 11 of those individuals to gain insights for re-deploying the visualization for interpretation. Overall, this paper contributes long-term reflections and recommendations for using digital fabrication for real-time data physicalizations.

Biofeedback sensors that measure body signals, such as heart rate, are often used for bodily awareness and behavioural change. In contrast, for this project, we wanted to use body sensor data as an artistic resource to craft wearable textile portraits as mementos of a moment in time. During the pandemic, we conducted a user study to design knitted biodata portraits. We met up individually with 20 participants to measure their heart rate, and translated that data into digitally-designed aesthetic patterns for machine knitting. Using a hacked knitting machine, we fabricated these patterns to create 20 personalized wearable shrugs to enable individuals to “wear their heart on their sleeve”. Two years later, when it was safe to do so, we conducted 2 studio workshops with participants, followed by 10 individual interviews. Our qualitative study insights reveal how individuals felt about seeing their own biodata, and the biodata of others, as aesthetic machine-knitted wearables with perceived precious value and attachment.

This work explores e-textiles in the design space of Human-Vehicle Interaction (HVI) and compares distraction levels between e-textile and screen-based interactions during driving tasks. We developed three prototypes (in the steering wheel, headrest cover, and seat-belt pad) to support tactile interactions (tap, press, and swipe) with car interior elements for non-driving applications (such as media control). Our designs used digital embroidery to achieve aesthetic design qualities and wireless connection. In a deployment study with 16 participants, we collected quantitative and qualitative data through video recording, field observations, and user interviews. The study repeated all scenarios using screen-based interaction for comparison. Our findings present insights into fabric-based sensors including fewer collisions and a 302.7% decrease in eye distraction. These findings suggest new design opportunities, such as retrofitting existing vehicles, designing ideation toolkits for diverse users, devising an e-textile Fitts’ Law for reachability, and expanding vehicle interaction research within the HCI community.

HCI researchers are continually exploring new ways of engaging the public in participatory design and bringing creative making research activities to new audiences. In this paper, we interviewed individuals who independently began public and DIY installations for sharing miniature art among their neighbours. During the COVID-19 pandemic, participatory miniature art exchanges, commonly known as Free Little Art Galleries (FLAGs), organically spread in response to lockdowns and institutional constraints. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 20 FLAG ‘curators’ to understand the implications involved in setting up and maintaining these long-term deployments. From the analysis of these interviews, we provide 5 practical recommendations on supporting these types of deployments, and discuss how HCI researchers can expand upon these DIY participatory practices to bring creative ideation activities on the future of technology to broader audiences.

“Libraries of Things” are tangible collections of borrowable objects. There are many benefits to Libraries of Things such as making objects and skill-building accessible, reducing waste through the sharing of items, and saving costs associated with purchasing rarely-used items. We introduce the first HCI study of Library of Things by interviewing 23 librarians who run a variety of collections such as handheld tools, gear, and musical instruments – within public institutions and more grass-roots efforts in the private sector. In our findings, we discuss the challenges these collections experience in changing behavioural patterns from buying to borrowing, helping individuals ‘try new things’, iterating to find sharable items, training staff, and manual intervention throughout the borrowing cycle. We present 5 opportunities for HCI research to support interactive skill-sharing, self-borrowing, maintenance recognition and cataloguing ‘things’, organizing non-uniform inventories, and creating public-awareness. Further in-the-wild studies should also consider the tensions between the values of these organizations and low-cost convenient usage.

Acquired brain injuries have many complexities, largely affecting motor and cognitive functioning. Occupational therapists often use switches attached to electronics that activate the devices to give people with disabilities the ability to interact with toys and electronics. However, current switches on the market are expensive, break easily and are unable to customize. We ran two co-design workshops and follow-up interviews with 14 occupational therapists specializing in students with acquired brain injuries. In phase one, the occupation therapists built three soft switches and brainstormed iterations. In phase two, we gained valuable insights into the iterations from occupational therapists. This paper contributes to Human-Computer Interaction as a case study, designs guidelines to support co-design with occupational therapists, and discusses the potential of adaptive soft switches. This work contributes to the growing literature around supporting occupational therapists as makers and how researchers can support them during the co-design process.

Stained-glass is a craft with a wealth of opportunities that blends seamlessly into our everyday environments. Despite sharing similar tools and materials with other types of hybrid crafting, authentic stained glass is underexplored in HCI. We introduce stained-glass to TUI researchers, explain the fabrication process thoroughly (using the traditional methods of both copper foil and lead came), and explore its potential as a conductive substrate for interactivity. We contribute fabrication techniques to support various circuit connection traces, light diffusion methods, interactivities, and aesthetic qualities. We also introduce three potential applications as proof of method validity in different contexts. We follow this with a discussion on experiential outcomes and the importance of creative practices in the development of interactive artefacts.

Pandemic lockdowns created new barriers for HCI researchers, but also provided new opportunities for deeper engagement and reflection in our home environments. Five participants were introduced with a design brief on self-isolation and engaged 12 of their friends and family in the design process of in-the-isolated-wild deployments. By analysing the design process, we found that –while ‘making from home’– our participants noticed the subtlety of the interactions and materials, the processes of remembrance embedded in craft, the use of imperfection and metaphor in homeware, and how ambient presence can provide emotional support. We then conducted a follow-up study on the benefits and limitations of using a crafting approach while ‘making from home’ and discuss the tensions that novices experience while designing TUIs in such an environment. Our results expand the literature by highlighting the benefits, limitations, and trade-offs of user-led design, DIY user empowerment, and harnessing the power of craft.

The field of textile fabrication has a strong pattern-making culture that enables individuals to reproduce items at home. Electronic textile (e-textile) researchers within HCI are increasingly exploring how computing can leverage these textile pattern-making practices, accessible fabrication tools, and do-it-yourself (DIY) maker cultures to enable individuals to make technologies for themselves with soft form factors that further blend computing into our everyday environments. In this paper we focus on the pattern-sharing artifact of stitch samplers, which are used for sharing, teaching, and learning stitching techniques, and explore how the design decisions around them should be adapted for practicing e-textile exercises. To do so, we conducted three studies: (1) preliminary interviews with five modern stitch sampler designers to understand what stitch samplers are used for, (2) a think-aloud user study of our initial e-textile sampler with ten beginners, and (3) interviews with five e-textile educators to reflect on applications and to better understand the opportunities and limitations of using samplers for distance learning. This paper contributes a better understanding of how HCI researchers can incorporate craft pattern practices for learning hybrid craft techniques.

Within the emerging field of e-textiles, goldwork embroidery (also known as metalwork) which uses metal threads and materials is an underexplored area, despite being a centuries-old practice in traditional crafts of different cultures. In this paper, we explore the material culture of textile goldwork to better understand how e-textile researchers can leverage their material properties, palette, and practices. First, we provide a historical background of English goldwork to give HCI researchers context on this craft field including technological and cultural influences. Then, we interview 13 contemporary goldwork practitioners on their creative practice to better understand the tools, techniques, and skills they employ. Our study findings show how goldwork practitioners deal with the unique constraints of metal threads and materials, and how these materials need to be handled differently than regular non-metal threads and fibers. This paper contributes an analysis of goldwork practices for HCI audiences with suggestions on how we can leverage these practices for the future of e-textile hybrid crafts.

During the pandemic many individuals turned to handcrafts such as knitting to cope with the uncertainty and anxiety we were collectively feeling. In this artwork we wanted to bring knitting out of isolation and to use it as a method of community participation to document the “recovery” year at a local art gallery. In July 2021 we launched The Life of a Building at the Ottawa Art Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, which knits visitor data at the physical gallery as well as online interactions on the gallery website. Each month the colour of the yarn changes, creating a tangible, soft record of this unpredictable year. During TEI, the audience will be able to visit the gallery website, click a button to create their own row of stitches on the machine, and watch the knitting machine knit them into the installation through the livestream.

Textiles have several characteristics that make them well suited for updates, sometimes called patching or mending, but textile repair is underexplored in the context of personal fabrication. This exploration is an urgent sustainability issue so we can extend the life of textiles and avoid producing more materials. In this paper we take a craft ethnography approach by interviewing 15 visible mending educators for insights into how they teach the techniques of repair and re-use so individuals can upcycle the textiles they already own. We discuss the values that menders bring to the practice, the teaching strategies they employ, the tangible teaching materials and tools of the practice, and introduce three types of teaching samplers: wearable samplers, sampler swatches, and practice samplers. Overall, these interviews provide insights for textile maker toolkits, textile personal fabrication, and how we can teach tangible hybrid crafts and sustainable making practices.

Extending the life of our clothes is the most effective intervention of all current sustainable textile practices. Taking this into consideration, this paper explores how we can upcycle and repair our clothes with e-textiles, and how to share these techniques with other makers and crafters. To do so the author interviewed 4 visible mending educators about their teaching practices and personal experiences with mending. These interviews were then used to inform the design of the E-Darning Sampler for the TEI 2021 swatchbook, which includes examples of different e-textile darning patterns and functionalities made with darning looms. This paper contributes insights on how to design educational samples for encouraging sustainable making practices.

Participatory design with wearable users entails engaging people in the design process from the early ideation phases. However, user-generated wearable concepts are often limited by the narrow design space of commercially available wearables. This paper presents an ideation scaffolding method we developed for eliciting wearable concepts, called Wearable Crazy Eights, where participants used an ideation deck and sketched up to 8 concepts in 8 minutes. Herein, we discuss the artifacts produced from our ideation method in a study with 46 participants comparing 3 groups. By comparing the 3 groups we were able to parse the effects of each activity on the resulting ideas. Our contribution is a replicable and customizable ideation method for encouraging outside-the-box thinking in wearable studies.

Tangible toolkits enable individuals to explore concepts through combining components together and taking them apart. The strength and limitation of many e-textile toolkits is that threads hold them in place, and once put together they need destructive methods to take them apart. In this paper, we propose Punch-Sketching e-textiles, a drawing technique that uses a punch needle to iteratively prototype soft circuits. The benefits of this approach is sustainability and reusability where users can easily pull out circuits without damaging the materials or creating waste, while also testing out concepts using the actual threads that will be used in the final prototype. To validate our technique, we ran three studies comparing sewing and punching e-textiles through: 1) Understanding the process with two fiber artists; 2) Exploring the potential with four beginner users; and 3) Utilizing our methods further with 10 occupational therapists. Insights from these three studies include when and how to use each method, toolkit recommendations, considerations for iterative physical prototyping, sustainability, and accessibility.

We introduce Soft Speakers, a systematic approach for designing custom fabric actuators that can be used as audio speakers and vibro-haptic actuators. Digitally-embroidered with e-textiles, we implement Soft Speakers as tactile, malleable and aesthetic designs to be part of wearables, soft furnishing and fabric objects. We present a rapid technique for the DIY fabrication of audio feedback into soft interfaces. We also discuss and evaluate 7 factors for their parametric design in additive and constructive methods. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach and the breadth of new designs that it enables, we developed 5 prototypes: 3 wearables, a piece of furniture and a soft toy. Studying Soft Speakers with maker-users expanded the design space, empowering users and supporting inclusive design. Our study includes insights on user experience of real-world interactive applications for remote communication, e-learning, entertainment, navigation and gaming, enabled by Soft Speakers’ customizable and scalable form factor.

As technology is integrated into all aspects of our lives, researchers are exploring emerging technologies in the field of fashion design. The substantial growth in the field of functional apparel design, such as the use of smart textiles, encourages researchers and fashion designers to incorporate technology within their designs. In much previous work, e-textiles have required interdisciplinary knowledge such as electrical engineering and computer science to be successful. To help with this we created ready-to-use shape changing fabric samples for fashion designers. We explored this research gap through a preliminary user case study with seven experienced designers. Our results suggest design approaches for shape changing fabric samples that would assist non-technically skilled designers incorporating technology in their designs.

Wearable devices of today help people track and monitor their biometric data such as heart rate. While the tracked data can help inform people of their health, many find that it adds unnecessary anxieties in the way the feedback is provided. In the case of college students, they spend most of their time in a stressful environment, leading them to an increase in the risk of mental health issues. To help with this issue, we present Heart Waves, an experimental ambient feedback system that tracks heart rate and uses water sound to provide feedback in a stressful work environment. Heart Waves uses the sound of falling water to create a relaxing atmosphere to help ease any stress they are going through. As the user's heart rate goes up, the flow of water increases, and as their heart rate goes down, the flow rate of water decreases. The purpose of this project is to automatize the processing of heart rate data so that the user does not have to analyze the data and create an ambient feedback system that adjusts to their heart rate.

The creation of e-textile swatches is a common practice for documenting material experiments, sharing techniques with other practitioners, and for concept ideation. The Creative Interactions Lab has developed a system that turns e-textile swatches into easily connectable "bits" so that swatches can move between being an ideation tool into a prototyping tool(kit). The benefit of this approach is that experimental swatches and ideas for their use can be easily tested in context. In this studio, participants will be invited to bring their own swatches and/or prototypes, will learn how to create modular e-textile swatch-bits, and then we will spend the afternoon making prototypes and will engage in hands-on activities with the modular swatches. The goal of the studio will be to share e-textile prototyping techniques, and to discuss the potential for modular swatches to be incorporated into e-textile prototyping processes.

Smart garment and wearable e-textile prototypes are difficult to co-design because of the variety of expertise needed (garment design, sewing skills, hardware prototyping, and software programming). To help with this, we developed a toolkit for prototyping wearable e-textiles, named Wearable Bits, which enables co-design with non-expert users without demanding sewing, hardware or software skills. We developed a low-fidelity and medium-fidelity experience prototype of the toolkit and ran a series of workshops where non-expert users designed their own e-textile wearables using Wearable Bits. In this paper, we discuss the ideas they developed, their construction techniques, the roles individuals took on while building, and suggestions for future toolkits.

We present the design and implementation of Your Body of Water, a display that wirelessly gathers heart rate data using a 3D camera and then visualizes the viewer's heart rate as water. As heart rate goes up the water gets livelier (with larger and faster waves) and as heart rate goes down the water gets calmer. The purpose of the display is to use aesthetic biofeedback data to help participants reflect on their felt bodily experience. The device went through system critique using somaesthetic appreciation design heuristics, and we describe the design themes that arose from those critiques.

Calm technologies help us avoid distraction by embedding notifications in our surroundings with peripheral updates. However, users also lose out on the passive awareness that comes from more overt notifications. In our paper, we present an initial study setup on shape changing circuits as notifications. We compare near and far peripheral locations to determine the optimal location for these notifications by assigning a primary task of arithmetic questions, and a secondary task of responding to bend notifications. Our demonstration will show the set-up of our study to encourage discussion on possible applications of shape changing notifications in peripheral locations.