294: Crafting the Digital: A pedagogical design process in a digital era.
Original title: Artesanía digital: Un proceso de diseño pedagógico en la era digital.

Research in ESPAÑOL

This paper outlines a methodology defined as crafting the digital, that adds to current craft-based discourse in the digital age. It proposes pedagogy centered on a constant examining of the local design discourse linked to analog local tecniques, tradition and material abundances of the local environment and susteainability in relatión to digital relationships between form, material, and use (load). The paper illustrates a MDA pedagogy used to challenge students to innovate through an iterative experimental design process informed by a hybrid mix in local routes and the use of digital tools. The key question is how local tradition techniques, abundant local materials and loads could be integrated as datasets into a renewed concept defined as “crafting the digital” a soft modeling and iterative design ´process that further explore a hybrid process that incorporates craftsmanship in a digital era as part of the production process. The results expand the boundary of conventional static and idealized craft as an object result of a cultural process while seeking for an integrated design process linked to local economies as an alternative to global markets. The result is an exploration and convergence of both: analog techniques and digital simulation in a parallel and coexistent contemporary dialectic dialogue.
Digital-physical, Craft, Dialectical Dialogue, Design Processes and Practices, Design Pedagogy