The programmable hinge: toward computationally enhanced crafts

Traditionally, the practitioners of home crafting and the practitioners of computing tend to occupy distinct, nonoverlapping cultures. Those small, ubiquitous items of the crafting cultureNstring, thumbtacks, screws, nails, and so forthNthus tend to be viewed as inevitably "lowtech" objects. This paper describes our initial efforts toward integrating computational and crafting media by creating an instance of a computationally-enhanced craft item: a programmable hinge. We describe several prototype models of the hinge; outline a sample project in which the hinge might be employed; and discuss a variety of fundamental issues that affect the design of computationally-enhanced craft items generally.