‘Making it Easy to Do Hard Things’: How experts help novices perceive craft as accessible

Abstract

Craft offers a path to enchantment and meaningful engagement with creation in an increasingly rationalized society. Yet, entering skilled domains where craft is practiced can be challenging for novices, particularly for those less familiar with these domains. While a growing body of research suggests that craft can be made more accessible through nontraditional pathways, the process whereby novices come to perceive craft as accessible remains undertheorized. We explore these ideas through the case of the makers, a diverse DIY movement that embraces all who build, modify, and invent across a variety of skilled domains. Using interview and observational data from Maker Faires—events wherein makers exhibit their projects and engage attendees in making activities—we induce a model of how experts enable novices to perceive craft as accessible. Our findings reveal how experts convey knowledge and skills using a creative craft approach, detailing how experts engage in scaffolding to facilitate novice creation, relax hierarchy, and cultivate fun and whimsy. In turn, this engenders the experience of enchanted engagement for novices who are able to experience how engaging in craft feels without the requisite skills or knowledge. Ultimately, this experience shapes and reinforces novices’ perception that craft is accessible. Our study contributes to the growing scholarship on craft in terms of alternative pathways for entering skilled domains, the role of craft in re-enchanting organizational life, and the emotional rewards of craft.