Briefing
Our brief for this project was to conceptualise a machine which gives people the possibility to experience a matter of concern. While operating the machine, the user should understand and learn about this issue in a joyful and playful way. Moreover, we had to design this machine with the target audience in the back of our mind: how, where and by whom it will be used / performed.
Idea
After extensive research, my group and I arrived at the concept of visualising the Gender Data Gap utilising a unique knitting technique. For that, we decided to hack an existing circular knitting machine and just needed to define a way to make the matter of concern tangible with this modification. We opted for a flexible “yarn-dispenser,” held together with a rubber band to ensure that the dispenser reverted to its initial position. The method we utilised to create the holes to illustrate gender data gaps proved to be relatively straightforward and we called it “The Drop Stitch Machine”.
Examples showcased to make the topic understandable
For people to easier understand what each colour symbolises, we created four samples which we showcased at our performance. This should help people understand the abstract topic of gender data gap better and show how much holes/gaps there are. The samples also demonstrated how frequently the user needed to pull the yarn from the needle to create these Gender Data Gaps in the knitting process.
Women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed when having a heart attack.
Women are 50% more likely to be seriously injured when wearing a car seatbelt.
Women are 17% more likely to die in a car crash.
Women are 70% more likely to be not understood by voice recognition technology.
Explaining the machine to fellow students
All parts of our machine
The flexible “yarn-dispenser”
The stand was adapted to the 50 percentile female to match the main audience. Also it should allow people to see the outcome better. The yarn-dispenser below is flexible so people can pull the yarn from the needle easily and create the wished drop stitches.