Altruism and Wellbeing as Care Work in a Craft-based Maker Culture

Abstract

This paper aims to examine motivations of participants for being involved in a crafts-based, women-only maker organization. Over a period of three months, we observed and interviewed ten women aged 42 - 78 to explore how they experienced being involved in knitting, sewing, crocheting, card making and other similar craft forms. Using the ethos of care as a lens to interpret our data, we found that our participants perceived making as an 'outlet' for them to perform activities that support their physical and mental wellbeing. Moreover, they perceived making as a tool to support others in need and help the larger community rather than a self-serving achievement. We also observed how the use of technology was inherent into their craft making activities that supported not only the making processes but also sharing these with others. Our findings highlight the 'care work' that goes into making in such a social setting that generally goes unnoticed when the focus is purely on instrumental and objective aspects of making. We believe that these findings will inform CSCW researchers to think about the not-so-visible qualities of making that elevate care (for self and for others), and to support these via the design of innovative technologies.?