Objects in Flux - RMIT Research Repository - RMIT University

Objects in Flux
[Figure 4-2]
Tim Hirzel’s Silvia coffee machine with
Arduino controller, 2008.
Photograph Hirzel.
3/ http://www.arduino.cc/playground/
Main/CoffeeTronics accessed 12 Feb-
ruary 2010.
4/ http://www.diyhappy.com/nes-
controller-cellphone-mod/ accessed
15 February 2010.
5/ Figure A: ‘Pokia’ handset completed
20 February 2005. UK designer Nicolas
Roope coined the term ‘Pokia’ to de-
scribe a traditional telephone handset
connected to a mobile phone. Roope
went on to market this product under
the name Hulger, however the Pokia
term persists within the DIY commu-
nity where individuals create their own
versions. See for example Robert M.
Hall’s home-made Pokia, http://www.
54
Tim’s coffee machine is no
longer the basic product
he purchased seven years
ago. Tim has remade the
machine’s internal functioning,
user interface
and aesthetics – even its
advertising narrative. He
has also remade his role as
‘owner’, ‘user’ and ‘consumer’.
Tim has gained
possession of the object in
a way that far exceeds the
generic forms of ‘ownership’
and ‘use’ given with
mass-produced consumer
culture. The coffee machine has become a site of innovation, an arena
through which Tim can extend his technical prowess and participate in
communal discourse.
Tim’s actions, remarkable as they may be, are not isolated. His
website links to an online community where numerous other coffee
related modifications can be found. 3 In this network, individuals share
their stories, offer advice and build collective knowledge. Such acts of
modification and related activity are not limited to coffee machines:
similar practices are visible in the ‘use’ of mobile phones (see, for
instance: NES controller mobile phone, 4 Pokia mobile handset, 5 SMS
your VCR6 ), iPods (iPodLinux, 7 Rockbox8 ), power tools (power tool
drag racing9 ) and even vacuum cleaners (Roomba10 ). Collected under
the terms ‘hacking’, ‘modding’ and ‘DIY’, these practices of consumer
modification present a diverse array of productive activity the scale
of which has only recently become apparent.
This chapter investigates the extent of these activities and their representation
within society via an exploration of the terms ‘hacking’,
‘modding’ and ‘DIY’. Through examining the emergence and use of
these terms a general overview of practices of object modification is
developed. This overview reveals a number of common themes that
describe a highly social and transformative consumer practice.