Anuradha Reddy
(dr. - she/her)

︎ Curriculum Vitae
︎ Publications
︎ Medium
︎ Fediverse
︎ Twitter


Hello! I’m an independent design researcher with a critical making practice via craftivisms, hardware hacks, and re-appropriation of data technologies.


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I am an independent design researcher with a critical making practice via craftivisms, hardware hacks and re-appropriations of data-driven technologies. 




Open Hardware Project: Moon-phases + Period tracking Calendar



Research Article: Artificial Everyday Creativity




Open Hardware Talk: Knotty Hardware


Research Workshop: Venetian Drawing Conversations

Research Pictorial: Drawing Conversations Mediated by AI



Research Pictorial: Exploring Kolam As An Ecofeminist Computational Art Practice



Open Hardware Project: BOOB-Factor Authentication in Banjara Embroidery



Open Hardware Project: Internet of Towels - Knotty Articulations




Open Hardware Project: Secure Your Home IoT with the CryptoCrochet-Key


Open Hardware Project: Make Your Own Resistor Cushion



Research Article: Making Everyday Things Talk


Research Workshop: More-Than-Human Design & AI


PhD Dissertation: Researching IoT Through Design

Research Workshop: Encountering Ethics In Data-Enabled IoT


Research Article: The Role of Participation in Designing For IoT


Book chapter: Feeling At Home with the Internet of Things


Research Article: Platform Ethics in Technology


Research Article: Where is the Interface?


Research Project: Thing (Data) Perspectives


Research Project: Ethnography of Open Street Mapping


Research Project: Living with a Smart Plug


Research Workshop: Subverting IoT Futures

B00B-Factor Authentication in Banjara Embroidery 🧵


B00b-factor Authentication (suggested pronounciation ‘bee-zero-zero-bee’ or ‘bewb’) is a project about intimacy and trust. It incorporates a bra with NFC (near-field communication)︎︎︎ technology embroidered around the nipple area. Two NFC tags, one for each b00b, permit two-factor authentication. The right tag leads to this password-protected project weblink, and the left one provides the password to that link. Suppose a person wishes to activate the message behind the bra. In that case, they will need to actively participate in conveying trust and intimacy with the bra’s wearer. In getting close to the maker-wearer’s body, the b00b-factor authentication bra materialises the discomfort of seeking intimacy and trust with others you barely know.

The project combines two ongoing research practices of mine — open hardware and heritage crafts. In my most recent talk titled ‘Knotty (Naughty) Hardware︎︎︎ at the Open Hardware Summit 2022, I ended it with a Call to Action for bringing the Open Hardware community closer to heritage craft communities as a move toward generative justice︎︎︎. In this project, I introduce a heritage craft called ‘Banjara Embroidery’, prominent in my hometown Hyderabad (Telangana) and many other parts of India. This style of embroidery is a women-led craft by the Banjara community, well-known for their extraordinary skills in creating vibrant and joyful embellishments on worn garments and apparel. These embellishments frequently include mirrors, coins, pom-poms, and cowrie shells stitched directly onto the fabric (red or indigo cloth). This project focuses on reappropriating mirrorwork by including different kinds of Open Hardware on fabric, like resistors, LEDs, RFID/NFCs, antennas.



Here’s how it works!



To continue reading and to learn more about the project’s historical context, approach, and making process, click here ︎︎︎ (right NFC). The password is ‘banjara’ (left NFC).