Learning how: the search for craft knowledge on the internet

  • Authors:

  • Cristen Torrey;Elizabeth F. Churchill;David W. McDonald

  • Affiliations:

  • Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;Yahoo! Research, Santa Clara, CA, USA;University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Communicating the subtleties of a craft technique, like putting a zipper into a garment or throwing a clay pot, can be challenging even when working side by side. Yet How-To content - including text, images, animations, and videos - is available online for a wide variety of crafts. We interviewed people engaged in various crafts to investigate how online resources contributed to their craft practice. We found that participants sought creative inspiration as well as technical clarification online. In this domain, keyword search can be difficult, so supplemental strategies are used. Participants sought information iteratively, because they often needed to enact their knowledge in order to evaluate it. Our description of people learning how allows us to elaborate existing understandings of information-seeking behavior by considering how search originates and is evaluated in knowledge domains involving physical objects and physical processes.