The significant screwdriver: Care, domestic masculinity, and interaction design

Abstract

HCI is increasingly recognizing its accountability to stakeholders beyond individual end users. The field now acknowledges that interaction designs participate in social formations, exerting political force whether or not designers intend them to. Inspired by the commitment to social issues common to the arts, architecture, and the humanities, we present the Significant Screwdriver, a research through design pro-ject that explicitly seeks to transgress social norms regarding the gendered division of labour in the do-mestic sphere in hopes of yielding insights or orientations toward improving the quality of domestic life.