Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand

In this investigation of the possibility of craft in the digital realm, Malcolm McCullough observes that the emergence of computation as a medium, rather than just a set of tools, suggests a growing correspondence between digital work and traditional craft. McCullough builds a case for upholding humane traits and values during the formative stages of new practices in digital media. He covers the nature of hand-eye coordination, the working context of the image culture, aspects of tool usage and medium appreciation, uses and limitations of symbolic methods, issues in human-computer interaction, geometric constructions and abstract methods in design, the necessity of improvisation, and the personal worth of work.

Malcolm McCullough is Associate Professor of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has been working with digital media for nearly fifteen years, and his own digital artistry encompasses geometric modeling, image processing, animation, and interactive multimedia. He is coeditor of The Electronic Design Studio and coauthor of Digital Design Media, which won an AIA International Architecture Book Award in 1993.