Designing a craft computing environment for non-industrial settings

Abstract

This thesis studies the design and introduction of relevant computer-based design tools for non-industrial locations in developing settings. To this end, a programmable environment for combining motifs into patterns was developed named Estampa (Environment for Stamping Patterns). Estampa was developed for the community of Santa Clara del Cobre, a copper craft artisan town located Mexico, where they already used Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for their craftwork. Estampa is a visual programming language environment for applying transformations to primitive motifs to create ornamental patterns. Estampa seeks to recreate the motifs and patterns in the Best Maugard drawing method, a drawing technique for creating authentic Mexican drawings. The design and implementation of Estampa seeks to fulfill the economic, cultural and artisanal requirements of this specific location. The evaluation of Estampa, through initial user trials in the community, presents other possible approaches for introducing programming in a relevant way to non-industrial locations in developing countries. Drawing from this example, a series of guidelines are presented for designing and introducing relevant computer-based applications for these communities.