Diversity and Coherence in a Hackerspace for People from a Low Socioeconomic Community Hackerspaces and the hacker movement are receiving increasing attention within the HCI research community, yet these sites also have the potential to exclude people of low socioeconomic status from participating. We present a case study of an urban Australian ewaste recycling social enterprise (Substation33) that engages volunteers and welfare recipients in the Work for The Dole program in technology disassembly, repair, and making activities. Bringing these people together in shared making practices has resulted in a high degree of diversity in the organisationxe2x80x99s structure, mission, activities, and workforce. We identify and discuss four key factors that establish a sense of coherence using Lave and Wengerxe2x80x99s xe2x80x98Communities of Practicexe2x80x99 lens: the interdependence of activities, characteristics of the space, social relationships through peer learning, and community rules and expectations. We contribute to the discussion on new configurations of personal making and industrial production, and advocate for extending conceptualisations of hackerspaces to be more inclusive of hybrid organisations that serve the needs of people from low socioeconomic communities.

DIY media architecture: Open and participatory approaches to community engagement Media architecturexe2x80x99s combination of the digital and the physical can trigger, enhance, and amplify urban experiences. In this paper, we examine how to bring about and foster more open and participatory approaches to engage communities through media architecture by identifying novel ways to put some of the creative process into the hands of laypeople. We review technical, spatial, and social aspects of DIY phenomena with a view to better understand maker cultures, communities, and practices. We synthesise our findings and ask if and how media architects as a community of practice can encourage the xe2x80x98opensourcingxe2x80x99 of information and tools allowing laypeople to not only participate but become active instigators of change in their own right. We argue that enabling true DIY practices in media architecture may increase citizen control. Seeking design strategies that foster DIY approaches, we propose five areas for further work and investigation. The paper begs many questions indicating ample room for further research into DIY Media Architecture.