Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at development processes of three innovative technologies: ultrasound for tactile feedback, low-cost microcomputer, and inclusive indoor navigation technologies.

Paper long abstract:

Creating a new technology involves dealing with a number of risks. These include the risk that it won't work, that development will be too expensive, that there is too much competition in the market, or that there might be insufficient demand. To deal with these uncertainties, developers rely not only on their scientific knowledge and technical expertise. They also appeal to belief. Instinct, gut feeling, and believing strongly in one's idea are what makes engineers persist in their creative quests.

This paper discusses the ways of knowing, and of not knowing, that are employed in long-term processes of invention. We will also reflect on the challenges that working with engineers as epistemic partners (Marcus 2013) poses to the ethnographer, especially in developing empathy, and in questioning her own assumptions about forms of knowledge production in physical sciences.

This discussion draws upon the findings of a wider study on creativity in engineering design conducted with award-winning technologists in the UK. It will focus, specifically, on three case studies in computing: ultrasound for tactile feedback, low-cost microcomputer, and inclusive indoor navigation technologies.