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Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community practice and the interaction design field as a whole.

Christopher A. Le Dantec

Created in China: The Makings of China’s Community

Silvia Lindtner University of California, Irvine | [email protected] David Li | [email protected]

Hackerspaces are shared studios In September 2010, China’s first that bring together people commit- hackerspace opened its doors ted to the free and open sharing of in under the name software and hardware, as well as XinCheJian 新车间 (literal transla- ideas and knowledge. As of April tion: new workshop, or new factory). 2012, there are more than 500 active Only a year after the founding of in existence world- XinCheJian, the Shanghai govern- wide, making them a global phe- ment announced a call for proposals nomenon [1]. A typical studio will be to build 100 “ houses” equipped with tools that allow for (chuangxin wu 创新屋) to be sup- experimenting with the physical/ ported by government funding. digital boundary—laser cutters, 3-D Although the official document [4] printers, microcontroller kits, and described this initiative as part of so forth. Many hackerspaces also a larger effort to build a citywide host educational workshops where platform for supporting popular sci- these tools are used to teach others ence work and innovation, national about manipulating the physical and international media inter- environment through software, or preted this move as an endorse- vice versa. The global hackerspace ment of China’s fledgling maker movement has helped proliferate a culture by Chinese politicians. “” that revolves around What is going on here? What both technological and social prac- motivated politicians in China to tices of creative play, peer produc- support the growth of a community tion, a commitment to that has come to be known for its principles, and a curiosity about the commitments to a do-it-yourself inner workings of technology [2,3]. (DIY) approach toward making tech- nologies and to the free and open

! Figure 1. Promotional flyers for the exchange of knowledge? How does HAXLr8r program. maker culture manifest itself in communiTy + cuLTure Forum

China, where “making” in the DIY Making Community for its acceptance of DARPA fund- sense collides with China’s image as The establishment of XinCheJian ing for an educational mentoring the world’s largest manufacturer? in Shanghai marked the beginning program aimed at bringing “the Here we explore what goes into of a nascent community in China practices of making into education making a hackerspace commu- committed to both the techno- and [to] extend the maker move- nity in China today. In doing so, logical and ideological processes of ment into schools” [8]. Altman’s we debunk two common myths: free and open source software. It concern was a principled one, based first, that maker culture is inher- consists of six hackerspaces across on tying the maker movement, a ently apolitical, and second, that the cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, grassroots organization, to the goals innovation is limited to so-called Beijing, Hangzhou, , and of the defense industry and the U.S. post-industrial or developed regions Haerbing. Their members share military [9]. Altman recently toured functioning on the principle that ideas across several mailing lists, through China, where he promoted wealth production comes from collaborate on projects, and attend hackerspaces as community spaces “ideas, knowledge, skills, talent or organize international technol- that bring together people who are and creativity” [5]. Our explora- ogy and arts events. For example, committed to doing “what they love tions are based on a two-year col- in April of this year, they orga- doing,” even if it might entail giving laboration between the co-authors nized the first Mini Maker Faire in up a secure job and taking some that unfolded through a series of Shenzhen and a maker carnival in risks: “Hackerspaces are supportive engagements, including ethno- Beijing that drew participants from communities for people to explore graphic research, the organization China and abroad. what they love… You might find and attendance of workshops and Members of the growing scene that if you love what you are doing, conferences in the field of DIY and are not only into making and you can make a living off of it. The maker practice [6], and exchanges remaking technologies, organizing is all fine, it’s a great tool. through emails and social network- workshops, and showcasing their But it’s not real community. When ing sites. This ongoing work to others, but also are actively people come together in physical includes members of XinCheJian engaged with political debates. For places and share what they love, as well as people in our network in example, the announcement by the magical things happen. That hap- and beyond China [7]. Shanghai government to support pens all day long and all year round One of the points we make is that the establishment of hackerspaces in a hackerspace.” For Altman, establishing a hackerspace in China as innovation houses has been the hackerspaces have the potential to is necessarily entangled in both the subject of heated debate. At the independently sustain themselves, nation’s wider economic and politi- maker carnival in Beijing, Ricky because first, they have access to a cal transformations and the global Ng-Adam, one of the co-founders of global community of like-minded maker culture. The story of setting XinCheJian, initiated a discussion people who support one another, up a hackerspace in China is not about the official announcement, and second, they know how to make about the linear transfer of knowl- proposing that it “only focuses on technologies that can be sold direct- edge and tools from the West to the the tools and physical space without ly to the consumer, rather than East. On the contrary, the story of consideration for the community— depending on institutional funding. China’s hackerspace community the aspect which ought to be the What the co-founders of the two critiques such a view and highlights most prevalent.” hackerspaces share, despite working how technologies and values are Financial sustainability is a con- within different economic and polit- sites of negotiation, remaking, and stant issue for hackerspaces and the ical regions, is a careful attention constant appropriation as they are subject of continuous reflection. The to the social and cultural processes translated into particular local set- Chinese hackerspaces are not the of making technologies. They put tings. By looking at hackerspace first to wrestle with how and when as much emphasis on the writing

developments in a place like China, to seek or accept support from insti- of code as on the creation of com- 2012 December + November where commercial hardware manu- tutions. Mitch Altman, one of the munity, social cohesion, and critical facturing provides employment for co-founders of a hackerspace in San reflection on their practices. many, we provide an alternative Francisco and a long-term member By “making community,” then, we perspective on dominant stories of of the U.S.-based maker community, stress the importance of consider-

innovation and . sharply criticized O’Reilly Media ing the relationship between the interactions

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The story of setting up a hackerspace in making of things (e.g., the work that ate their work today. Rather than China is not about the goes into setting up a physical hack- focusing on a European or American erspace, the acquisition and making history of counterculture, however, of tools and digital and electronic they leverage China’s past and its linear transfer of objects) and the making of meaning current role in global manufactur- (e.g., reflecting on what it means to ing. In particular, they propose that knowledge and tools make these things in the first place). many factories in China have long Reflective engagement with things sustained their low-cost production such as DARPA or Shanghai govern- through the open source sharing of from the West to ment funding show that—contrary resources and ideas within a net- to common perceptions—maker work of hardware manufacturers. the East. On the culture is all but apolitical. Maker For members of hackerspaces in culture in China’s hackerspaces, China, this means that open source similar to hackerspaces elsewhere, production has been around all contrary, the story of possesses a strong engagement with along, albeit out of economic neces- contemporary politics and debates sity rather than motivated by coun- China’s hackerspace over both societal and technological tercultural sentiment. issues, such as freedom of expres- China’s hackerspaces see them- sion, innovation, and what counts as selves as hubs that bring together community critiques post-industrial. these two of making: maker culture and the countercultural sen- such a view and Remaking Innovation timents of the U.S. and Europe on While China’s hackerspaces partici- the one side, and open source man- pate in the global maker culture, ufacturing in China on the other. highlights how commitments to working beyond Their ultimate goal is to remake existing institutional frames and what innovation means for China. technologies and a DIY approach toward technology Shanzhai—open source of another production take on unique forms. kind. Shenzhen is most widely values are sites of Maker culture is often associ- known as home to the Foxconn ated with a critical, hands-on factories, where firms like Apple, approach toward challenging the Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and negotiation, remaking, status quo. This includes projects Microsoft produce their products. that subvert the use of copyright What is receiving less news coverage and constant law that favors an ever-expanding than Foxconn’s controversial labor corporate monopoly over products, practices is that many Shenzhen even after they have been sold to factories have adopted a model of appropriation as consumers. Other projects repur- open source sharing in order to pose old and discarded products lower production costs. They have they are translated in order to provide alternatives informally organized a peer-to-peer to our contemporary throwaway database for sharing hardware consumer culture. Inspiration for design schematics and the bill of into particular these projects often stems from the materials (BOM), a list of materials European avant-garde movement or used in manufacturing a particular local settings. the 1970s Internet counterculture product. The open sharing of these movement from the U.S. West Coast resources allowed the factories to

November + December 2012 December + November [10]. Building on these earlier social lower production costs to stay com- movements, making and remaking petitive in a global market.

are held up as tactics to subvert This form of open source manu- contemporary forms of domination. facturing has co-evolved with the Similarly, hackerspaces in China formation of new production sites,

interactions draw upon the past in order to situ- including, for example, counterfeit/

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copycat design houses. Over the years, these copycat productions have adopted these open source processes and moved beyond sim- ply copying popular brands such as Nokia or Apple. Today they often produce new, consumer-specific products, such as mobile phones with additional features tailored to particular customer segments or location-specific demands. Examples include dual-SIM-card mobile phones that support two operator networks on one device—such as the G5 phone, a made-in-Shenzhen brand for the Indian market—and phones with built-in compasses that are shipped to consumers in the Middle East, who may need to know the direction of Mecca during redirecting social and economic HAXLR8R uses China’s - ! Figure 2. Nomiku prayers [11,12]. Many of these inno- development toward the creation spaces as local hubs to facilitate promotional photo- graph. vations were later reappropriated by of ideas, services, and knowledge, this collaboration. During their mainstream mobile manufacturers; China should evolve from the image time in China, the invited start- for example, in 2010 Nokia launched of “made in China” to “created in ups are based out of hackerspaces, two dual-SIM mobile phones. China.” Drawing upon shanzhai where they brainstorm and build Copycat productions from innovation, China’s hackerspaces . The staff of the hacker- Shenzhen are often described with argue for an alternative version of spaces facilitate connections with the term shanzhai (山寨). However, “created in China.” Rather than pro- local manufacturers to implement in the hackerspace community, posing to overcome manufacturing the ideas. HAXLR8R merges maker shanzhai now speaks to a new for the sake of knowledge produc- creativity with the open source form of innovation based on the tion, they offer a view that China’s manufacturing of Shenzhen’s shan- principle of open source manufac- existing manufacturing infrastruc- zhai factories. The idea is that both turing and continuous remaking. ture could be used to accomplish sides benefit: Hardware manufac- The literal translation of shanzhai in practice what so far has been a turers find new clients as mass- is “mountain village” or “mountain political vision. scale production demands from big stronghold,” the home to ban- When two maker cultures meet. corporations decrease; at the same dits or Robin Hood–like figures China’s hackerspaces use shanzhai time, small start-ups are able to who oppose and evade corrupted innovation not only to challenge affordably produce and test their authority. China’s hackerspaces political approaches toward eco- products. invoke this image of subculture in nomic change in China, but also to Nomiku, one of the projects order to argue for an alternative offer a broader remaking of inno- that took shape during the latest take on the meaning of copying vation, redefining what counts as HAXLR8R, illustrates this idea of through the lens of remaking. innovation and where it originates. merging maker and shanzhai cul- The examples of shanzhai phones Depicted in Figure 1 are two pro- ture. Nomiku, depicted in Figure cited above are used to challenge motional flyers for HAXLR8R [13], 2, is a project that

ideas of innovation promoted by a 15-week mentorship program received crowd-sourced funding to 2012 December + November politicians and corporations. Since that invites foreign hardware- make an affordable and easy-to-

China’s entry into the WTO in 2001, based start-ups to China in order use device for sous vide cooking—a a new line of reforms stresses the to realize their ideas in direct col- technique popular among high- need to transcend China’s reli- laboration with manufacturers end chefs that uses water, airtight

ance on manufacturing. Through in regions such as Shenzhen. plastic bags, along with precise interactions

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temperature control to cook dishes. named contributing factors are Forthcoming 2012 (cited with permission). During the HAXLR8R program, the China’s historical development, its 3. ratto, M. A Practice-based model of access for : Linux kernel development and shared Nomiku team learned how to turn educational system, and its culture digital resources. Science and Technology Studies their sous vide DIY kit, which they or focus on manufacturing following 20, 1 (2007), 73-105. had developed with help from U.S.- the years of economic reform. For 4. See http://www.stcsm.gov.cn/jsp/xxgk/zhtz/ content.jsp?id=2267 and http://www.stcsm.gov.cn/ based makers like Mitch Altman, example, in a blog post in response zwzyml/fileUpload/file/20111102100853.doc into a compact consumer product to a New York Times article by John 5. Leadbeater, C. Living on Thin Air: The New Economy. Viking, 1999, 18. that is more affordable than most Markoff and David Barboza on 6. See www.transfabric.org and www.makercarni- competing versions on the market. China’s innovation goals [15], James val.com Nomiku not only uses open source Landay reflected on his work and 7. This includes but is not limited to Liu Yan, manufacturing in Shenzhen but in teaching experiences at Microsoft Chen Xu, Min-Lin Hsieh, ricky Ng-Adam, Isaac Mao, Aaajiao, Mitch Altman, Justin Wang, Garnet many ways also reflects the mak- Research Asia and Tsinghua Hertz, Paul dourish, Susan Evans, Ingrid Fischer- er-culture ethos. The device is the University in Beijing. He argued that Schreiber, John Philip, briar Smith, Kate Coyer, and Kevin Gotkin. brainchild of a couple of passionate “the level of innovation and creativ- 8. http://blog.makezine.com/2012/04/04/maker- home cooks who gave birth to the ity in this cohort is much lower than spaces-in-education-and-darpa/ idea while they sat at home watch- in similar cohorts in the U.S. And in 9. https://twitter.com/maltman23/status/186997470 180548609?category=people ing Top Chef. Nomiku was designed fact, the ones that are the best on 10. Turner, F. From Counterculture to Cyberculture: to function on simple, cheap com- the ‘creativity’ scale almost invari- Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Catalogue, and the ponents, and rather than being ably are folks who received their Rise of Digital Utopianism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2006. financed by a large corporation or Ph.D.s in the U.S./Europe or worked 11. Keane, M. Creative Industries in China: Media, investor, it was sponsored through in the U.S./Europe” [16]. Comments Art, Design and Entertainment. Wiley, 2012. Kickstarter, a crowd-funding such as Landay’s often contribute 12. Jeffrey, L. Innovation spaces of the future: research notes on China’s shanzhai meeting the website that has become emblem- to cultural stereotypes and extend makers. The Future Now blog. Aug. 16, 2011; http:// atic as a DIY and maker business existing systems of power. We have www.iftf.org/node/3943 model. With Kickstarter, anyone— attempted to show that the hacker- 13. HAXLr8r stands for hardware-related acceler- ator, a hardware-focused incubator. It was founded a geek working out of a basement, space and maker culture in China by Cyril Ebersweiler and Sean O’Sullivan through or a passionate home cook—can challenges dominant views that their SOSventures fund. Operational partners in China are Chinaaccelerator, Seeed Studio, and become inventor and producer by define regions other than “the West” dragon Innovation. See more at http://haxlr8r.com seeking financial support from as inherently lacking creativity or 14. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nomiku/ the Kickstarter community. This the capacity to innovate. Cross- nomiku-bring-sous-vide-into-your-kitchen?ref=live 15. barboza, d. and Markoff, J. Power in numbers: is how the Nomiku founders regional on DIY and China aims for high-tech primacy. New York Times. described their original idea: “Our open-source development such as dec. 5, 2011; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/ science/china-scrambles-for-high-tech-dominance. goal is to create the best immer- HAXLR8R projects provide alter- html?_r=4&pagewanted=all sion circulator for home cooks so native takes on what innovation 16. http://dubfuture.blogspot.com/2011/12/china- everyone can have sous vide in means in the first place. China’s will-overtake-us-in.html their kitchen arsenal. Eating and hackerspaces demonstrate that “cre- About thE Authors sharing perfect food shouldn’t be ated in China” already exists and Silvia Lindtner is a post-doctoral out of reach” [14]. that it has emerged from grassroots researcher in the department of Informatics at the University of HAXLR8R projects like Nomiku communities committed to a maker California, Irvine and at the and China’s hackerspaces together ethos and DIY. These spaces dem- Cooperative Information and Systems at Fudan demonstrate that “created in China” onstrate that making and remaking University, Shanghai. Her research explores the is already a reality, but it takes a is as much about forming com- relationship between dIY creativity, global maker culture, and contemporary political, social, and slightly different form from how munity across cultural boundaries economic transformations in China.

politicians, policy makers, and large and engaging critically with politi- david Li is one of the founders of corporations envision the future of cal debates as it is about hacking the hackerspace XinCheJian. He has worked in the areas of social

November + December 2012 December + November innovation. together a low-cost sous vide tool. networks, mobile systems, and virtual worlds. He received a b.S.

EndnotEs: in science from the Concluding Thoughts University of Southern California. China’s technology sector is often 1. http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_ALL_ Hacker_Spaces assumed to inherently lack inno- 2. Coleman, G. Coding Freedom: The Ethics and DOI: 10.1145/2377783.2377789

interactions vation and creativity. Frequently Aesthetics of Hacking. Princeton University Press. © 2012 ACM 1072-5520/12/11 $15.00

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