The Things of the Internet: Participatory Object Culture and the Maker Movement

A key imaginary of the early development of the internet was that of a utopian space for sharing and participation. This imaginary, which has strong foundations in countercultural, academic, and hacker communities, presented the internet as a unique medium that enabled more open social relations simply through access to the network. Yet over time, the internet has also integrated with the world of material objects. One example of this is the emergence of the Internet of Things, or the integration of objects into Internet-based systems through the embedding of sensors, which can be thought of as an enfolding of the world of material objects into online networks. This thesis examines an opposite process, where network activity and artefacts condense into material objects; a phenomenon I call the Things of the Internet. It focuses particularly on ways in which the participatory orientation of the internet has turned towards material artefacts, creating the conditions for a ‘participatory object culture’. While this suggests a utopian horizon, similar to the foundational imaginaries of the internet, the thesis pays close attention to the way online participatory cultures can be thwarted or opposed. This tension between participation and enclosure is conceptualised through Ivan Illich’s distinction between conviviality, which prioritises vernacular culture and openness, and ‘radical monopoly’, which favours corporate and proprietary regimes. In constructing this analysis, I draw upon Maker culture—a merging of hacker ethics and a turn towards material artefacts—and related practices through a series of case studies aligned with specific object families. These case studies share participatory, open-source and online cultural foundations, exemplifying participatory object culture and the Things of the Internet.<p></p>