A Fieldwork Study of Learning Mediated by Digital Fabrication at a College

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between digital fabrication and fandom learning represented in ethnographic case studies of six informants aged 21-24 participating in common-based peer production group, a craftwork group in a college. Learning as digital fabrication and social fabrication is a new wave culture of mavens, who are devoted to an alternative to mass production and the mission of "how to make (almost) anything". In addition, craftwork (especially, "Costume Play") with digital fabricators is a valuable venue for observing about, for example, appropriation, boundary crossing, poaching, and so on. First we frame this work as an effort to think about their making and learning using the concept of "appropriation" [20] from Wertch. Then we share an overview of Cosplay in "Fab society" in Japan, in particular our methodology based on shadowing and participant observation. Using Tsuchikura's methodology[18], we group our findings in three different categories: (1) learning as appropriation of meanings of new technologies, (2) appropriation of waiting time and (3) learning from and taking interest in cross-cultural practices through participation in local and small fandom group.