"Cyber Crafting"

Intriguing Reactions and Self-Discovery

On March 5th, the Craeft project brought together a distinguished panel of experts to review and provide feedback on its so far achievements. The meeting featured Elisa Guidi from Artex and Tracks4Crafts project; Ignasi Guardans, Co-founder and Chairman of CUMEDIAE aisbl; Daniel Carpenter, Executive Director of Heritage Crafts and initiator of the UK Red List of Endangered Crafts; and representatives from the HEPHAESTUS project, Elena Raviola and Francesca Leonardi.

The discussions were lively and insightful, focusing on the Craeft's Ethnographic Protocol and the integration of digital tools in crafts. A particularly engaging topic was the use of egocentric recording with helmets equipped with cameras. The experts were intrigued by how comfortable crafts professionals felt using this technology, prompting a thought-provoking debate on the "cyber mode" of craftwork, as noted by Elena Raviola. They expressed a keen interest in staying updated on CRAEFT's future developments in applying this methodology.

See the full discussion

While the egocentric vision may be familiar to computer scientists, it introduces a novel approach for the craft community. This innovation was highlighted during the video elicitation sessions, where crafts practitioners watched recordings of their gestures and provided verbal explanations. This process revealed hidden dimensions of their work, much like how dancers use mirrors to refine their movements. It demonstrated the potential of this approach for enhancing self-evaluation and teaching methods.

Feedback from: Marie Laure Trochon and Gilles Bonettat at ENSAD Limoges

During the video-elicitation sessions with the experienced ceramic modeler Marie-Laure Trochon and porcelain workshop technician Gilles Bonettat at ENSAD Limoges in January 2024, several intriguing reactions were observed. Marie-Laure's first impression of the ego-centric camera's perspective was, "It makes you feel a bit dizzy..." while Gilles noted, "It's not like the eyes," highlighting the unfamiliarity and gap between the recorded and the natural viewpoints.

Practitioners compared their techniques, with Marie-Laure observing Gilles's method and saying, "I don't work in the same way... I make a line before pouring the plaster and I make a line on top of it, so in fact I join my two lines together..."

Practitioners reflected on seeing themselves work, with Gilles rediscovering his hands, "I'd never noticed my hands... I didn't think they were so visible." As the more experienced practitioner, Marie-Laure observed that her younger colleague was performing an unusual gesture, using his left hand to stabilize himself when he was normally supposed to be able to perform the action using only his right hand. She explained, "...normally you should be able to hold the line without the other (hand) but because he was a bit stressed, he helped with the other to maintain the tremor..."

Benefits and Future Implementation

of Egocentric Camera Viewpoints

Practitioners emphasised the benefits of the egocentric viewpoint for memory recovery of actions, with Marie-Laure stating, "We see our memory." Both agreed on the potential of this approach for teaching purposes , imagining uses like online courses, and highlighting the essential dimensions of technical actions. Gilles added, "I find it interesting (especially for) the people who focus on transmission (...) we see the gestures as we make them..."

Reflections from Yiannis Hondrogiannis, Marble Carver, Tinos, Greece

Yiannis Hondrogiannis shared his unique experience with the egocentric camera, saying, "The truth is that I had never seen such a reproduction before because I had never put a camera on my head. I've never seen my hand movements in such detail before. It's original. Do you know why? We usually look at the tool while working on the marble; we don't look at how the hands move."

Johanna Pierret, Blow Torch Glass Master,

Cerfav, France

During the video elicitation process, Johanna Pierret reflected that "Reviewing my gestures and talking about them enabled me to put words to all my gestures and manufacturing processes. It enabled me to become more conscientious about my practice." She continued by highlighting the impact that video elicitation had on her: "This device encouraged me to deconstruct my own gestures, to better translate them and then explain them to my students." Like other practitioners, she believes, "I also think that I could use this digitised content later on to meet up with my students and explain things together."