A talk given at the 2022 Sketching in Hardware Conference, Oct 1 2022, Dublin, Ireland.

1. Creativity,Language,
Computation:
Anatomy of an Online
Hardware Community
ALEKSANDAR BRADIC
SKETCHING IN HARDWARE 2022 0
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2. 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
HACKADAY TIMELIME / 2004 - PRESENT
HACKADAY.COM
“Radioshack Phone Dialer - Red Box”
Phillip Torrone
Sept 5 2004
AOL BUYS WEBLOGS INC.
Oct 6 2005
SUPPLYFRAME
x HACKADAY.COM
“Hello From SupplyFrame
– Your New Evil Overlords !”
July 25 2013
“Tindie: An Etsy For Electronics”
April 30 2012
THE HACKADAY PRIZE
April 28 2014
HACKADAY.IO
March 10 2014
HACKADAY SUPERCONFERENCE
Nov 14 2014
HACK CHAT
Sept 15 2017
HACKADAY x TINDIE
August 5 2015

3. HACKADAY.IO
PROJECTS
HACKADAY
PRIZE
THE GLOBAL
HIVE MIND
TINDIE
PRODUCTS
HACKADAY.COM
COMMENTS
HACKADAY.COM
ARTICLES
HACKADAY.IO
COMMENTS
HACKADAY.IO
HACK CHAT
44,665
ARTICLES
845,370
COMMENTS
HACKADAY.COM
43,610
PROJECTS
177,856
COMMENTS
HACKADAY.IO
HACKADAY ECOSYSTEM / DATASET DESCRIPTION

4. KNOWLEDGE PROPAGATION IN ONLINE NETWORKS
1,071
HACKADAY.COM
ARTICLES
8,193
HACKADAY.COM
COMMENTS
905
HACKADAY.IO
PROJECTS
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
ESP8266
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
193
HACKADAY.COM
ARTICLES
867
HACKADAY.COM
COMMENTS
246
HACKADAY.IO
PROJECTS
MQTT
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

5. 109,521
E X T E R N A L L I N K S
22,737
U N I Q U E D O M A I N S
HACKADAY.COM
SAMPLING FROM THE
GLOBAL HIVE MIND
youtube.com
instructables.com
reddit.com
flickr.com
translate.google.com
youtu.be
adafruit.com
arstechnica.com
tindie.com
sites.google.com
gizmodo.com
mouser.com
nasa.gov
docs.google.com
raspberrypi.org
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hackaweek.com
groups.google.com
jameco.com
rcgroups.com
waxy.org
jalopnik.com
ww1.microchip.com
jpl.nasa.gov
pololu.com
prusaprinters.org
ieeexplore.ieee.org
tiktok.com
mars.nasa.gov
weblogsinc.com
forums.parallax.com
lulzbot.com
niklasroy.com
dropbox.com
benkrasnow.blogspot.com
popularmechanics.com
mikekohn.net
elektronika.ba
linkedin.com
gieskes.nl
businessinsider.com
xilinx.com
radioshack.com
etotheipiplusone.net
beagleboard.org
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forums.bit-tech.net
cpldcpu.wordpress.com
trandi.wordpress.com
phoronix.com
olimex.com
myminifactory.com
mcmaster.com
irongeek.com
freescale.com
diy.viktak.com
computerhistory.org
blackhat.com
wsj.com
trmm.net

6. [ HACKADAY.COM CONTENT SOURCES ]
LABOUR ECONOMICS /
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION

7. AI as a Mediator
of Knowledge
Access
AN "EQUILIBRIUM" SOLUTION IN THE PRESENT-DAY
DIGITAL ECONOMY IS THE INTERMEDIATION
BETWEEN CONTENT PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS VIA
MATRIX-BASED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS.
THE NOTIONS OF AUTHORSHIP AND PERSONAL
AGENCY ARE DECIMATED IN THE FACE OF THIS
PARADIGM'S "EVERYTHING (AND NOTHING)"
MODE OF MARGINAL CONTRIBUTION.
CONSUMERS
PRODUCERS

8. Low-entropy,
language-based
“creativity.”
RECENT LEAPS IN CONTEXTUAL LANGUAGE
MODELING AND THEIR ADOPTION THROUGH TOOLS
SUCH AS DALL-E 2, MIDJOURNEY, AND STABLE
DIFFUSION, HAVE PROFOUNDLY CHALLENGED THE
PLATONIC NOTION OF INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY.
THEY HAVE PRESENTED AN EMPIRICAL
COUNTERPOINT TO THE IDEA THAT NOT ALL HUMAN
CREATIVITY CAN BE ENCODED BY LANGUAGE.
IF ANYTHING, ANALYSIS OF THE MIDJOURNEY
USER PROMPTS SUGGESTS THE OPPOSITE.
CAN WE LEARN TO ASK BETTER QUESTIONS?
[ MIDJOURNEY 1 MILLION PROMPTS / TOP TOKENS ]

9. Emerging Discourses
Shape Technology Innovation
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
"INTERNET OF THINGS" "DEEP LEARNING" “METAVERSE”
[ OCCURENCES IN TECHCRUNCH ARTICLES ]

10. DISCOURSE FORMATION / HACKADAY.COM COMMENTS
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
DIY MAKER OPEN HARDWARE
[ OCCURENCES IN HACKADAY.COM ARTICLE COMMENTS ]

11. DISCOURSE FORMATION / HACKADAY.COM COMMENTS [ OCCURENCES IN HACKADAY.COM ARTICLE COMMENTS ]
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
MAKERSPACE HACKERSPACE

12. DISCOURSE FORMATION / HACKADAY.COM COMMENTS [ OCCURENCES IN HACKADAY.COM ARTICLE COMMENTS ]
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
MAKER FAIRE KICKSTARTER

13. DISCOURSE FORMATION / HACKADAY.COM ARTICLES [ OCCURENCES IN HACKADAY.COM ARTICLE COMMENTS ]
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
MICROCONTROLLER 3D PRINTER

14. TECHNOLOGY CHANGE / HACKADAY.IO CREATED PROJECTS
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
ESP8266 ESP32
646 PROJECTS
905 PROJECTS

15. Discourse-Conditioned
Creativity
SHARED COMMUNITY DISCOURSES AND A SHARED
KNOWLEDGE BASE LEAD TO HIGHLY REDUNDANT
IDEAS. A SIMPLE WORD CO-OCCURRENCE
ANALYSIS OF HACKADAY.IO PROJECT TITLES
REVEALS THESE BIASES AS LATENT ONTOLOGIES
OF THE CREATION PROCESS.
[ KEYWORD CO-OCCURRENCE IN HACKADAY.IO PROJECT TITLES ]

16. Traversing the
idea-space ends in a
personal connection.
FILTERING THE SOURCE DATASET ALONG THE
LINES OF FREQUENTLY CO-OCCURRING KEYWORDS
INEVITABLY LEADS TO A SMALL FIXED SET OF
PROJECTS AND THEIR AUTHORS. THIS HELPS
FACILITATE A PERSONAL CONNECTION
BETWEEN CREATORS, A CONNECTION THAT IS
OFTEN LOST WITH AI-BASED "MEDIATION."
THE INTRINSIC AGENCY OF A CREATIVE
PROJECT IS ITS ABILITY ACT AS AN
INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN PERSONS.
[ HACKADAY.IO PROJECTS MATCHING THE QUERY SET ]

17. [ HACKADAY.IO USER-PROJECT CONNECTION GRAPH (SAMPLE) ]
P R O J E C T S
U S E R S U S E R S
27,987
P R O J E C T S
454,658
C O N N E C T I O N S

18. 6 Nevermore_Micro
1
raspberry-pi-iot-cat-doorbell
7
arduino-tvout
2
ESP32Console
1
OPAL
1
gCore
1
rp2040-motor-controller
1
Badger2040Keypad
1
cli-screenview
1
PICO-Chord-keyboard
3
jfrog-spring-tools
1
MessagesForMacintosh
1
Dummy-Robot
1
IRtranslator
1
EsPaint32
29
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1
OpenTOFLidar
17
TornadoVM
2
NymphRPC
1
mozzi_wilhelm
1
CVE-2019-19781
1
USB_Polygraph
1
open-makers-cube
17
Grbl_Esp32
2
TCSintercomArduino
66
Adafruit_NeoPixel
28
libesphttpd
0
InternetOfBatteries_DC27
3
ServoEaser
2
Etch-a-Selfie
1
atmos-dk1
20
urh
61
tg
1
HackyRacerPID
2
PCE174-communication
49
esp8266_deauther
10
rosshow
2
Renderific
6
ogx360
2
Z-probe-on-smd-resistors-2512
1
papercraft
1
keras-pandas
1
2d-xmas-tree
1
verifla
1
satellite_tracker
1
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237
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powergloveVR
1
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4
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3
0
3
3
0
29
chromium-vim
1
musicplayer
2
drakkar
11
WebPlotDigitizer
1
1btn
1
Belgrade_Badge_Demoscene
5
Boms-Away
3
drones
8
SVGnest
2
h8mini-acro
0
DOOM
1
rpi-matrix-pixelpusher
4
paths2openscad
24
rc-switch
GITHUB HACKADAY.COM LINKED REPOS
NUMBER OF COLLABORATORS (SAMPLE)
4,233
R E P O S I T O R I E S
2,019
S I N G L E - C O N T R I B U T O R
R E P O S
719
R E P O S W I T H > 1 0
C O N T R I B U T O R S
35,386
U N I Q U E
C O N T R I B U T O R S
59,204
T O T A L
C O N T R I B U T O R S
134
R E P O S W I T H > 1 0
C O N T R I B U T O R S
HACKADAY.COM-REFERENCED
GITHUB ECOSYSTEM

19. AI Tools x
Data Comprehension
MODERN AI METHODS HAVE PROVIDED US WITH A WAY TO
“PRODUCTIZE” BIASES IN THE DIGITAL FOOTPRINT THAT
WE GENERATE. HOWEVER, WE CAN ONLY COMPREHEND THE
PATTERNS IN OUR COLLECTIVE BEHAVIORS BY CLOSELY
EXAMINING THE UNDERLYING SOURCE DATA.
EMPLOYING BOTH PARADIGMS (”LEARNING” AND
“COMPREHENSION”) SIMULTANEOUSLY CAN HELP UNLOCK
NEW VISTAS OF CREATIVITY.
[ “HACKERSPACE” MENTIONS IN HACKADAY COMMENTS ]
User-centric practices
for Open Hardware projects
A CLOSE LOOK INTO THE CORPUS OF COMMUNITY-DRIVEN
HARDWARE PROJECTS REVEALS A PERVASIVE OVERSIGHT
THAT LIMITS THEIR USE VALUE - A COMPLETE DISREGARD
FOR THE PERSONA OF A POTENTIAL USER. IMPROVING
THIS ASPECT OF HARDWARE HACKING CULTURE IS
CRITICAL FOR ENSURING ITS BROADER SOCIETAL IMPACT.
HACKERSPACES, AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MEANS OF
HARDWARE COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION,
HAVE BEEN SEVERELY IMPACTED BY THE PANDEMIC.
NEW, DIGITAL-FIRST METHODS MUST EMERGE TO KEEP
THE PROMISE OF "SOCIAL MAKING" ALIVE.
Reinventing “Social Making”
for the Post-Pandemic World

20. ALEK.BR@GMAIL.COM
@RANDOMWALKS