Abstract
ABSTRACT Men’s sheds are community spaces where older, retired men come together to conduct woodworking and other types of craftwork and DIY activities. There is little research on exploring how technology can help us understand shed members’ perceived values associated with men’s sheds. In order to investigate this further, we designed and deployed a mobile storytelling application called ShedBox for an Australian men’s shed for over six weeks. ShedBox allows shed members to share audio-visual stories. Our analysis of resulting 58 stories and follow-up interviews with 13 shed members unpacked three important themes: a sense of comradery, kinship and companionship present within the shed; material and emotional engagement with the space; and, health and wellbeing of shed members. Our results also highlight a strong masculine culture of the space and how the shed is a site of active learning and engagement for its members. Lastly, our conclusion presents suggestions regarding how such forms of storytelling technology can be leveraged in similar contexts, and also how they can be effectively designed to support different demography.
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