Designing an online portfolio platform to support makerspaces in contributing to a smart city vision

Abstract

In recent years, a new culture has arisen in which citizens use technology to make and learn for themselves. This culture, called maker culure, has gathered the attention of the municipality of Delft as a means to have citizens contribute to long term municipality goals outlined in a Smart City vision. This master thesis explores how maker culture could empower citizens to contribute to these municipality goals and argues that makerspace communities can function as communities of practice in which citizens can learn from each other. It is argued that the differences between the practices of makers are a central obstacle preventing a makerspace community from functioning as a community of practice and that a lack of documentation on maker practices makes it difficult for makers to understand each other. To tackle this problem, this thesis proposes a design for an online portfolio platform which uses task analysis methods to accurately and effectively document maker practices. Because task analysis methods have not been used to create online portfolio documentation before, the use and value of these methods within the given context is researched using a research through design method. By iteratively creating designs which incorporate task analysis methods and user testing these designs, the use of task analysis methods to document maker practices is evaluated. These research findings are then used to create a final design proposal and argue for its value. This design, called Makefolio, uses task analysis methods to help makers formulate and structure descriptions of their project activities, allowing others to easily find makers to collaborate with and learn from. This way, Makefolio supports a makerspace community in learning from each other, allowing this community to empower citizens to use technology and contribute to the Delft Smart City vision.