Staying Warped

Over the past several weeks, I've learned a lot about what Weaving Today users are not doing.  They're not, in the main, developing primary identity.  They're not posting to blogs.  They're not doing much social networking.

Then what are they doing?

Most users of Weaving Today are looking for answers to specific questions that arise in their weaving.  the often look for these answers without signing in, mostly by following forum posts.  If their question is unique, they may post it.  This usually results in one of the "professional" Weaving Today inhabitants posting an answer, following which the user may or may not post a "thank-you."  Users are spending limited time in the space.  This pattern of use is consistent with theories of adult and older adult computer use, which suggest that these users are more likely to use digital resources to address particular information or task-related needs.

As soon as I finish threading this project, I'll go in search of the comfort zone I left to start this project.  Maybe it's a little closer than when I last saw it.

Son of Users and Yarn

Among the most interesting users of Weaving Today are those who have no local weaving community available to them, but who feel the need to reach out and connect with others involved in the same craft.  Several of these are from overseas, and at least a few are unable to participate in local guilds because of access issues (transportation or disability) or because there are no guilds close enough to them.  These users may post from time to time when they have a question or when they know the answer to someone else's question.  The latter is less frequent, likely because the Weaving Today staff answer questions when no one else answers, and nobody wants to argue with Madelyn.  I went looking for a few of these users to prepare this project.  One is a specialist in a particular weave structure (huck lace) and the other is a generalist who is an occasional weaver.  Each has over a dozen posts, a large number for users of this site (average is just over two if professional users aren't considered).

Lynn is a huck lace specialist.  She weighs in on most conversations in the huck forum, including technical discussions about reading drafts and designing huck. On her "about me" page, she lists only her age (60) and gender, and lists her "favorites" as the huck forum.

Kaaren is a generalist, with comments on five different threads.  Her "about me" page is unusually complete for Weaving Today users.  She has a short biography, including a description of her weaving practice.

These two users stand out by virtue of their length of use and number of posts.  These "front pew" users are recognized as experts of sorts in the Weaving Today community.  Even so, 16 posts over two years hardly qualifies as the kind of use most affinity spaces boast.  Although these users are not typical, they do illustrate a type of use that underscores the differing practice of older users.  Both of these women ask technical questions and answer the questions of others.  This is a fairly typical post:

I want to weave a scarf using sock yarn with stripes of plain weave alternating with stripes of three thread huck in the warp. In the past when I've tried to have a plain weave border on huck lace the tensions are so different that the plain weave section ripples. I only have one warp beam. Any tips on avoiding the ripple?
Margaret

• Filed under: huck

Posts 35

Lynn Tedder wrote

on 9 Aug 2010 5:34 PM

• Report Abuse

Hi Margaret,
When stripes of huck lace alternate with stripes of plain weave, ripples such as you describe are a definite possibility because the threads in the lace areas interlace less frequently than those in the plain weave areas, and the plain weave areas take up more than the lace areas. Particularly if you are weaving with inelastic fibers like linen, the longer the piece is woven (as for example, several scarves woven on the same warp), the more likely it is that the warps in the lace areas will also lose tension and droop into the shed because their interlacement uses less warp.
The elasticity of the the yarn being used has a lot to do with rippling and drooping problems, too. Was the project that rippled of sock yarn, too? I'm thinking that with sock yarn, which is even more elastic than wools for weaving, you might have less of a problem with rippling (and certainly less drooping) than would occur with tencel or cotton, or less elastic fibers. However, not having used them much for weaving, I can't say for sure.
If you do encounter rippling or drooping warps, there are two commonly used solutions. The first one is to add tension to the warps weaving the lace stripes separately from those weaving the plain weave. With a single warp beam, you slip a dowel under only those warp threads weaving the lace and then weight the dowel so the extra length of those warps isn't woven into the web. The other option (especially if you are having problems with drooping warps and are weaving multiple pieces on the same warp) is to add extra warp so that you can cut each piece off as it is woven and then re-tension the warp when you tie on. (If you do both of these things, be sure to remove the weights and the dowel before you cut the warp, though!)
Hope this helps.
Lynn

Lynn shows her expertise in her chosen specialty, providing specific advice for the problem posed, in a straightforward manner.  As is usual for Weaving Today users, the post is fairly short and to the point.

Bride of Math Mess

Many of the readings for this term have emphasized the role of digital environments in developing identity and agency in digitally native users.  My assumption in approaching the Weaving Today community is that, in a community of adult "immigrant" users, identity formation is less important.  Adult users might be more likely to use an affinity space to create or maintain personal affiliations, or as a resource to find answers to specific content-related questions. During the time when I was working with the site, some changes were made in how information about users was presented, including showing the number of posts for each user next to their avatar.  This allowed me to more easily assess the amount of activity of each participant, and bore out the original assumption that users of this site do not spend a great deal of time using it.


My method for working with the Weaving Today website began with reading through the forums provided.  I noted the number of posts in each thread, and the types of interactions (whether a single user posted frequently to the same or different threads, whether interaction was call-and-response or involved more chatting, etc.)  I then read through the blogs, noting how frequently posts were made and the type of material addressed by each contributor.

Having gathered an idea of how the site's users were engaged, I started looking for the ways in which individuals interacted with the site.  This mostly involved reading through posts to see if there were patterns of use that could be helpful in understanding how weavers were using the site in their work.  Because the site includes an individual's number of posts next to their avatar, this was fairly easy to track.  I looked closely at those who had large numbers of posts but who were not employees of the site's magazine, attempting to find any "super-users" who spent large amounts of time in the space (there weren't any). I also went to the site frequently to see which users were signed in.  Once a day or so, I signed in myself.

Once I had determined a general pattern of use, I made my first post.  It was to the "introduce yourself" thread, one that does not get a lot of traffic.  I identified myself as a student and a weaver, and asked for information about how weavers use digital resources.  I received only one answer, from the "queen bee" of the website, who provided a summary of digital weaving resources:


     For all that weavers use tools and methods that have changed very little for hundreds of 
     years, we also use an amazing number of digital products and processes. We communicate
      on this website, for one thing, and on others, including mainstream social networking sites. 
     We create and use electronic books. We use special weaving software to generate designs,
      plan colors, manipulate weave structures, and even to drive some looms. We depend on 
     digital photography and share videos and process photos in ways that speed up our learning
     and improve our woven cloth.
Although an individual weaver may use any of these resources, it is by no means necessary to use any of them for the art and craft of weaving.  Assuming that the users of Weaving Today have some facility in digital environments, it seems reasonable to assume that they may be more likely to avail themselves of other digital resources as well.

My method in examining this website has been neither systematic nor exhaustive.  What I have found is a discernible pattern of light use, much of which occurs "under the radar," that is, without signing in.  This may be because the majority of users don't actually sign up, or because they need not sign in only if they want to make a post (all other aspects of the site are available without signing in).  I have yet to receive any additional answers to my digital resource post.  Perhaps this is because the participants are too busy trying to figure out how much yarn they need for their next project.