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September 14, 2004
Abstracting Craft: the Practised Digital Hand
| Title | Abstracting Craft: the Practised Digital Hand |  |
| Author | Malcolm McCullough | |
| Publisher | The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA | |
| Date | 1996 | |
| ISBN | 0 262 13326 1 | |
| Reviewed by | Jane Szita | |
| Can designing for computers be a craft? This is the question this book sets out to answer. At first sight, the situation is unpromising: craft is the work of hands, and "hands are underrated," in modern life; especially as computers are seen as abstract, conceptual, creations of pure mind. Yet since computation has become a medium, rather than just a tool kit, the correspondence between digital work and traditional craft is increasing. Modern software products, though immaterial, are nevertheless the creation of "practised hands" and eyes, as well as minds. Moreover, to craft is to care: humane values can — and should — inform a software designer’s work just as a potter’s or carpenter’s. McCullough gives all those who work with code the chance to proclaim: "I am not a programmer! I am a digital craftsperson!" | ||
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Posted by Books Editor at September 14, 2004 09:33 PM