Hermeneutic Engineering: Material and Conceptual Tools for Open Systems

Abstract

In this dissertation, I argue that technological participation requires the parallel development of open technical systems and of interpretative practices that enable people to materially engage with, question, and reconfigure computational systems. Drawing from literary theory, textual studies, and the history of writing technologies, I present three case studies examining different modes of writing-with-machines. Imprimer, a computational notebook system for CNC milling, demonstrates how digital fabrication becomes interpretative when the system provides the space for engaging with complexity rather than abstracting it away. The Data Epics project transforms domestic IoT data into fiction, revealing how narrative modes of data representation made personal data simultaneously more and less legible. The Automated Writing Exercise inquires into text generation with large language models, exploring how automatic writing and algorithmic continuation create recursive spaces for material and interpretative engagement. Through an analysis and discussion of these three case studies, this dissertation suggests that participation in technical spaces does not come only from increased technical expertise but from interpretative openness, which can be enacted through 1) systems that scaffold complexity rather than hiding it, 2) modes of representation that materialize or visceralize computational artifacts, and 3) approaches that leverage the biases and glitches of systems as entry points into computational spaces. By positioning interpretation as a material practice, and engineering as always containing latent spaces for interpretative work, I propose hermeneutic engineering as an orientation that questions the fixity and opaqueness of computational systems, accessible only to experts. Hermeneutic engineering thus encourages a change of attitude towards computational systems, from fixed and definite entities to sites of ongoing inquiry, reconfiguration, and material exploration.