Mixed Making: Navigating Complexity Through a More Tangible Mixed Reality

While emerging technologies like mixed reality (MR) have continued to blur the boundaries between hardware and software, experiences situated in MR are often still constrained to the very same desktop metaphors used in the design of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for decades. In response, designers and technologists have sought out new patterns for interaction that challenge these preconceptions and capitalize on the ability for MR to couple rich digital information onto physical objects and environments. Building off of Mark Billinghurst et al. ‘s investigations into Tangible Augmented Reality, this thesis explores how the design of hybrid objects and environments might foster a stronger and more intuitive connection between physical and digital worlds. Yet the question remains as to who stands to benefit from these emerging environments?

In this regard, the resources and platforms that support the maker community are particularly well suited for intervention. Through the use of analog and digital resources, these makers often find new skills, community, and a renewed sense of agency. However, the benefits experienced by those who engage in these making practices, whether it be through physical computing, home repair, knitting or the like, are often not equally distributed. As such, through a series of co-creation exercises, design explorations, physical prototypes, and technical probes centered around the use of littleBits, this thesis questions how a more tangible mixed reality can be used to navigate complexity through the lens of the making.