Computational Access

While technology has rapidly become available to more people, there is still a lack of representation and diversity among the individuals who develop and create with it. The implication of computational design and digital fabrication scholarship is that knowledge circulates through publications when, in a practical sense, it tends to be consolidated within a limited set of people and institutions. Even as the costs of hardware trend lower and free software and workfl ows are published online, specialized education and social capital are often necessary to apply this knowledge and produce innovative digital designs. And so, access to technology alone does not necessarily lead to greater equity. Improving access to digital design knowledge—specifically methods and processes—could help address this concern. In scientific publications outside of architecture, the methodology section and technical appendices are critical to verification and advancement of the field. If an experiment cannot be duplicated, the validity of the result is called into question. The same standard does not seem to apply in computational design and digital fabrication, as the descriptions of projects are seldom detailed, transparent, or instructive enough to permit replication.