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Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand (Paperback)

by Malcolm McCullough (Author)

3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
McCullough discusses what current-day digital craft people are doing with today's tools and software and how their actions fit within our larger intellectual history. He argues that there is little difference between traditional visual, tactile craft design as practiced throughout history and the current digital architecture undertaken with Photoshop and virtual reality modeling. The actions and mind sets are very similar. An excellent, thoughtful book on the meaning as well as practice of design, this is recommended for all academic and large public libraries.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"Drawing from many traditions, McCullough carries the reader on a wonderful pendulum swing from hand craft to industrialization back to postindustrial craft in the computer age. With clever examples of practices, conscious and unconscious, he provides a real sense of what the new technology feels like, and why 'after two centuries of separation the conception and execution of everyday objects are once again in the same hands.' A technologically deep book, it is accessible and useful for both non- and anti- technologists."
—Danny Bobrow, Xerox PARC

The art of producing digital crafts is analyzed and revealed in a study which uses a personal tone, with examples from various disciplines, to examine new artistic challenges in digital production. From a treatise on how creativity can fit into digital computing to chapters which connections between inspiration and medium choice, this provides an important examination. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 329 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (July 10, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 026263189X
ISBN-13: 978-0262631891
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #981,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Citations (learn more)

13 books cite this book:

Cognition and Tool Use: Forms of Engagement in Human and Animal Use of Tools by Christopher Baber in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Technology (Research in Philosophy and Technology) (Research in Philosophy and Technology) by C. Mitcham on page 109, and page 123
Globalization, Technological Change, and Public Education (Social Theory, Education and Cultural Change) by Torin Monahan in Back Matter
Cities: Reimagining the Urban by Ash Amin in Back Matter
Ceramic Millennium by Clement Greenberg on page 372

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent exploration on ideas of making, December 12, 2007

By	Charles Houghton "artist/tyrant" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was looking for concepts related to digital making, and how these techniques can derive from and be informed by traditional making practices(craft). This book delves into those ideas, though not in an intensely focussed manner. I recommend this for individuals interested in the intellectual/philosophical framing of such concepts, histories, and practices of making(craft).

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5.0 out of 5 stars HCI meets craft, December 9, 2002

By	Stephen J Luecking "sluecking" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

One fear of digitizing art concerns the loss of craft needed to produce objects in physical media. McCullough may not set this fear to rest, but he does present a persuasive case that craft as we know it remains present in new media. He is able to define tools, tool use and tool systems so as to convince one that the tools of program interfaces are as much tools as their physical kin. The distinction between a tool and a machine and how both are represented in a graphic program's interface is especially intriguing. This book would be of interest to the many sculptors who have adopted digital methods into their work, but it may be of most use for human-computer interaction professionals designing 3D interfaces.

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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can real artists use technology?, July 1, 1999

By A Customer

A book which explores many issues around the role of the artist utilising new-media. This re-affirms the fact that in all art forms responsibility is upmost. Great read for artists considering using new technology, especially students.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Revising the identity of technology
A very thorough and easy read for beginners to start thinking what lies beyond the computing technology. Read more

Published on June 29, 1999

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