Abstract:
I present work by the CMA group that has investigating the collection, organisation and use of constellations of artifacts by members of a local organic food community in Aarhus. In particular I present two studies that explore the formation and changing nature of artifact ecologies, first in the context of the community, and second focused on the daily lives of individual members.

The first study examines the dynamics of developing the community artifact ecology, framing decision processes used within the community in terms of strategies and tactics as a response to happenstance. This study reflects on these strategies and tactics and how they can be understood in terms of infrastructuring. This study also considers the role of design internally within a community by its members, and how this relates to extrinsic and intrinsic design.

The second study, focusing on the daily lives of individual community members. It demonstrates the use and reflection of a visual mapping technique, to expose the role of relationships between the individual and their friends, family and communities, and how this relates to use and non-use of technology. This study reflects both on the visual mapping approach for both data collection and analysis, and contributes to the discussion of the future direction of artifact ecology theory.