{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/140038"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/140038","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Making Makerspaces more accessible for people with visual impairment: Understanding user needs to reimagine solutions.","abstract":"The maker revolution came about as a relief to passionate tinkerers and makers. It made making approachable. This attracted millions of collaborators and empowered them to express their imagination through tangible results. But, one subset of tinkerers and makers that this revolution hasn’t successfully included is people with disabilities who face significant barriers to Making, the irony being that this group stands to benefit the most from this revolution. As a response, I am asking a fundamental question - How Might We Make Makerspaces More Accessible to People with Visual Impairment? For this, I draw on examples from a series of interviews and workshops where I introduced hardware machines to blind hobbyists and guided assembly of a corn sheller pioneered at the MIT D-Lab workshop. This allowed me to understand the real needs, desires and frustrations of this group at a more intricate level and hence let me collaborate with them on ways to achieve the goal of making makerspaces within the MIT ecosystem more accessible as a first step through a guided workshop at the MIT D-Lab. This exploration has culminated into a bedrock of foundational knowledge that can be used to further work in this area and a set of robust suggestions that are applicable to all makerspaces - not just within MIT. The study has kept the group of potential benefactors at its fulcrum through every step of the process - from exploration to testing of solutions in an agile, iterative, human-centered manner.","abstract_html":"The maker revolution came about as a relief to passionate tinkerers and makers. It made making approachable. This attracted millions of collaborators and empowered them to express their imagination through tangible results. But, one subset of tinkerers and makers that this revolution hasn’t successfully included is people with disabilities who face significant barriers to Making, the irony being that this group stands to benefit the most from this revolution. As a response, I am asking a fundamental question - How Might We Make Makerspaces More Accessible to People with Visual Impairment? For this, I draw on examples from a series of interviews and workshops where I introduced hardware machines to blind hobbyists and guided assembly of a corn sheller pioneered at the MIT D-Lab workshop. This allowed me to understand the real needs, desires and frustrations of this group at a more intricate level and hence let me collaborate with them on ways to achieve the goal of making makerspaces within the MIT ecosystem more accessible as a first step through a guided workshop at the MIT D-Lab. This exploration has culminated into a bedrock of foundational knowledge that can be used to further work in this area and a set of robust suggestions that are applicable to all makerspaces - not just within MIT. The study has kept the group of potential benefactors at its fulcrum through every step of the process - from exploration to testing of solutions in an agile, iterative, human-centered manner.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Jain, Kritisha Kantilal"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Master","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"System Design and Management Program.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Seering, Warren"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-09","date_published":"2021-09","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:46Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"rights_urls":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140038","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Seering, Warren"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["System Design and Management Program."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Jain, Kritisha Kantilal"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2022-02-07T15:20:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-02-07T15:20:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021-09"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master","Master of Science in Engineering and Management"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140038"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The maker revolution came about as a relief to passionate tinkerers and makers. It made making approachable. This attracted millions of collaborators and empowered them to express their imagination through tangible results. But, one subset of tinkerers and makers that this revolution hasn’t successfully included is people with disabilities who face significant barriers to Making, the irony being that this group stands to benefit the most from this revolution. As a response, I am asking a fundamental question - How Might We Make Makerspaces More Accessible to People with Visual Impairment? For this, I draw on examples from a series of interviews and workshops where I introduced hardware machines to blind hobbyists and guided assembly of a corn sheller pioneered at the MIT D-Lab workshop. This allowed me to understand the real needs, desires and frustrations of this group at a more intricate level and hence let me collaborate with them on ways to achieve the goal of making makerspaces within the MIT ecosystem more accessible as a first step through a guided workshop at the MIT D-Lab. This exploration has culminated into a bedrock of foundational knowledge that can be used to further work in this area and a set of robust suggestions that are applicable to all makerspaces - not just within MIT. The study has kept the group of potential benefactors at its fulcrum through every step of the process - from exploration to testing of solutions in an agile, iterative, human-centered manner."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Making Makerspaces more accessible for people with visual impairment: Understanding user needs to reimagine solutions."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Seering, Warren"],"dc:contributor.department":["System Design and Management Program."],"dc:creator":["Jain, Kritisha Kantilal"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2022-02-07T15:20:22Z"],"dc:date.available":["2022-02-07T15:20:22Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021-09"],"dc:description.abstract":["The maker revolution came about as a relief to passionate tinkerers and makers. It made making approachable. This attracted millions of collaborators and empowered them to express their imagination through tangible results. But, one subset of tinkerers and makers that this revolution hasn’t successfully included is people with disabilities who face significant barriers to Making, the irony being that this group stands to benefit the most from this revolution. As a response, I am asking a fundamental question - How Might We Make Makerspaces More Accessible to People with Visual Impairment? For this, I draw on examples from a series of interviews and workshops where I introduced hardware machines to blind hobbyists and guided assembly of a corn sheller pioneered at the MIT D-Lab workshop. This allowed me to understand the real needs, desires and frustrations of this group at a more intricate level and hence let me collaborate with them on ways to achieve the goal of making makerspaces within the MIT ecosystem more accessible as a first step through a guided workshop at the MIT D-Lab. This exploration has culminated into a bedrock of foundational knowledge that can be used to further work in this area and a set of robust suggestions that are applicable to all makerspaces - not just within MIT. The study has kept the group of potential benefactors at its fulcrum through every step of the process - from exploration to testing of solutions in an agile, iterative, human-centered manner."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140038"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"dc:rights.uri":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Making Makerspaces more accessible for people with visual impairment: Understanding user needs to reimagine solutions."],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master","Master of Science in Engineering and Management"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:46Z"}