I was extremely proud to have the research I did on how untrained users interact with 3D printing published at a top-tier Human-Computer Interaction conference.
This interview study looks at how untrained users are starting to get involved with 3D modeling and printing in walk-up-and-use contexts, such as those increasingly found in libraries and schools. We interviewed 18 newcomers to 3D printing along with 9 print center operators who helped these newcomers with their 3D printing projects. This paper is the first to look at this emerging population and work to empirically determine insights about them.
Hudson, N., Alcock, C., and Chilana, P. (2016) Understanding Newcomers to 3D Printing: Motivations, Workflows, and Barriers of Casual Makers. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '16).