Do-It-Yourself (DIY) has been a fundamental part of human life for a long time, but it is undergoing major changes driven by new tools and information. Advances in computers, software, and the internet have created an explosion of accessible DIY tools and information. This has transformed DIY from primarily practical activities motivated by need into a broader range of activities also motivated by enjoyment, self-expression, and mastery. The widespread availability of information and ability to collaborate online has further accelerated this transformation of DIY.

1. Do-It-Yourself World

2. What comes to
mind when you
think of
Do-It-Yourself ?

3. has been around as long as humans
DIY • a fundamental part of life
As basic as cooking and sticks
DIY goals:
• create
• repair
• maintain

4. As our world changes…as the materials and
tools of our world change…as the availability of
information dramatically increases:
DIY is undergoing huge changes

5. The Three Elements of
DIY
• Tools
• Information
• Need or desire

6. DIY = Tools
Desktop Computers
Digital
Cameras
Tools can become an obsession--an end in themselves

7. DIY = Tools COMPUTERS & SOFTWARE …
the new tool shed
Monitor
Digital
Camera CD/DVD
Burner
Computer
Printer
Audio
speakers
Scanner
MP3
Player

8. DIY = Information
Various types of practical
How-To-Do-It knowledge

9. DIY = Information
Sources of DIY info
• Word of mouth ----------------
• Books, magazines, print
• TV, video, DVD
• Computers (CDs, DVDs)
• The WORLD WIDE WEB
INFORMATION may be
the biggest piece of the
DIY puzzle

10. Information Channels: Print

11. Information Channels: TV, video, DVD

12. Information Channels: CDs & DVDs

13. Information Channels: Internet
Find out everything
or how to do anything
on the Internet!

14. The internet itself has been a huge
collaborative DIY project
Collaborative
open systems
Linux, Napster

15. DIY is undergoing a tools-and-information explosion
Tools = (computers x software) x internet
Information = (computers x software) x internet
Tools X Information = (Computers x software x internet)2 = DIY gone wild

16. DIY gone wild … via the internet
Four examples
• DIY surveys
• DIY health care
• DIY websites
• eBay

17. DIY Surveys & Opinion Polls
Online.
Available to everyone
Do your own
consumer research!

18. DIY Internet Health Care
Health website users are more likely to:
•Ask their doctors questions
•Question their doctors about diagnoses and
recommendations
•Agree that the medical Internet often explains
things better than their doctors
•Feel more like partners with their
doctors regarding their health care
•Have more faith & trust in their doctors

19. DIY websites
www.fotolog.net
Weblogs

20. And then there is eBay
Huge DIY system
An object sells on eBay every 1.7 seconds.
• Searching & buying stuff
More than 70,000 Americans make their
• Selling your stuff living by selling on eBay
•Promoting it yourself
•Writing text
•Pictures
• eBay has spawned a cottage industry of “DIY on eBay”
businesses
• Buy stuff for DIY projects

21. The Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards
of DIY
• survival
• practical – money/prevention
• mastery & control/confidence
• pride/reputation • adds personal meaning to
• amusement & pleasure the objects in our lives
• joy of self-expression • adds meaning to our lives
• joy of problem-solving
• joy of learning (& flow)

22. Need/Desire & Expertise
Human Experience and Motivation of DIY
• From need to desire
• From practical and functional to expressive and fun
• From learning to mastery

26. Hypothesis/Insight:
In general, as learning continues,
expertise grows and the DIY activity
moves from being motivated by
practical considerations to being
sustained by intrinsic and
expressive rewards

27. Can we plot consumers
and brands on this map?

28. DIY Priorities
We can’t do
everything
DIY Which DIY activities do we pursue
& which do we hand off?
Cost/benefit trade-offs &
personal desires

29. DIY trends
Artisanal Cheese
Making At Home
Experts see a few trends at work here: Sales of
artisanal cheeses have spiked, science-happy home
gourmets continue to seek new challenges, and the
ferment-it-yourself trend is going beyond standards
like homemade beer and wine. From Keeping Up With the Cheese-
Makers by Lisa Kalis, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 7, 2003

30. DIY trends
Shed
Chic
Backyard sheds traditionally house lawn mowers
and garbage cans. But in the insane California
real-estate market, where many families can’t
afford to buy bigger homes, gussied up sheds are
housing something else: people. Newsweek Sept 2003

31. DIY trends
DIY as Religion
Groups now organized in
New York
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle
Montreal
Toronto
Stockholm
www.churchofcraft.org

32. DIY trends
Self-organizing shopping-alert groups
DIY recognizance

33. End comment
It’s a do-it-yourself world…
and you’ve got yourself a do-it-yourself life