Janis Meissner
Doctoral Trainee
In theory, maker technologies such as 3D-printers, micro-controllers and other fabrication tools have the capacity to empower their users to create any designs they wish. However, what do people without any technical background need so that these can become useful tools for them in practice? In my Digital Civics research, I have collaborated with groups as diverse as hackers with disabilities, quilting sex workers and aging members of a Men Shed on making their own ‘useful stuff’. One of my particular interests is in experimenting with participatory and creative research methods and how co-design can be used as a means to establish healthy give-and-take-relationships between researcher and researched.
I am a co-founding member of fempower.tech, a group of intersectional feminists who raise awareness of feminist issues in HCI. I hold a Bachelors and Masters degree in Media Informatics and have previously worked in the IT-department of an Austrian governmental institution as well as in consulting services for a software company.
The complex dynamics of diverse practises at Maker Faire
Empowering Hacks: challenging perceptions through DIY making
2020
“We come together as one…and hope for solidarity to live on”: On Designing Technologies for Activism and the Commemoration of Lost Lives
2020 – Designing Interactive Systems - DIS '20
2018
A Schnittmuster for crafting context-sensitive toolkits
2018 – Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
#CHIversity: Implications for equality, diversity, and inclusion campaigns
2018 – 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Thinking outside the (tool) box: Empowering people with toolkits
2018 – ACM International Conference Proceeding Series
2017
Open design at the intersection of making and manufacturing
2017 – CHI EA '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Do-It-Yourself Empowerment as Experienced by Novice Makers with Disabilities
2017 – 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems