Enabling-Technologies in the Childhood¹

This project explores the sociotechnical and ethical implications of 3D-printed prostheses for children with limb differences. It examines Robotel Türkiye, the Turkish chapter of the global e-NABLE network. The analysis draws on three years of ethnographic fieldwork. It shows how children, families, makers, engineers, and healthcare professionals collectively shape assistive technologies in practice.

At its core, the project adopts a child-centered STS perspective that highlights children’s embodied experiences, everyday negotiations, and active role in the making and evaluation of prosthetic technologies. To support this approach, the project developed a socio-bio-technical probes kit (see figure 1) that enabled children to participate as co-researchers and to contribute to the methodological design of the study.

The project further explores the digital infrastructures behind open-source prosthetic production, including maker platforms, social media, and online design-sharing practices, and asks how they reshape ideas of disability, normality, care, and enhancement.

By treating children not merely as recipients of technology but as participants in knowledge production and innovation, the project contributes to debates on assistive technology, participation, and more inclusive futures of design. The project was awarded the 3rd Prize of the Citizen Science Award “Wissen der Vielen.”

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_{Figure 1: The socio-(bio-)technical probes kit, photo: Melike Şahinol, 2018}

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Related publications

Şahinol, M., & Stock, R. (2026). Beyond Hands: A Design Exploration of Hand Prostheses and Their Transformative Impact on Disability Perspectives. Design Issues, 42(1), 70–84. doi:10.1162/DESI.a.708

Şahinol M. (2025). Treat children as citizen co-researchers in health technology. Nature, 646(8087), 1060. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03501-x

Şahinol, M. (2026), “Üç boyutlu baskı ve toplumsal gücü: Olanak sağlamak, merkeziyetsizleştirme ve sosyo-teknik çözümler”, BMDergi, Retrieved from https://dergi.bmo.org.tr/genel/uc-boyutlu-baski-ve-toplumsal-gucu-olanak-saglamak-merkeziyetsizlestirme-ve-sosyo-teknik-cozumler

Şahinol, M. (2025). Soma-technische Erfahrungen: Ethnographische Gespräche mit Kindern mit Prothesen aus dem 3D-Drucker. In R. Stock, C. Meier zu Verl, M. Şahinol, M. Spöhrer, A. Volmar, A. Wagenknecht, & A.-L. Wiechern (Eds.), Dis/Ability und digitale Medien: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Technologien, Praktiken und Zugänglichkeiten (Kapitel 9). Springer Nature.

Stock, R., Meier zu Verl, C., Şahinol, M., Spöhrer, M., Volmar, A., Wagenknecht, A., & Wiechern, A.-L. (Eds.). (2025). Dis/Ability und digitale Medien. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf Technologien, Praktiken und Zugänglichkeiten. Springer Nature.

Şahinol, M. (2025). Bakımın Maddileşmesi: Çocuklar, 3D Baskılı Protezler ve Katılımcı Tasarım [The Materialization of Care: Children, 3D Printed Prostheses, and Participatory Design]. ODİTORYUM Eleştirel Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 4(6), 71-93. https://izlik.org/JA76WG53JU

*Şahinol, M. (2022), “3D printed children’s prostheses as enabling technology? The experience of children with upper limb body differences”, Journal of Enabling Technologies, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 204-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-02-2022-0017

*Bieling, T., Şahinol, M., Stock, R. and Wiechern, A. (2022), “Access and tinkering: designing assistive technologies as political practice–A discussion with Zeynep Karagöz, Thomas Miebach and Daniel Wessolek”, Journal of Enabling Technologies, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 231-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-01-2022-0005

Şahinol, M. (2020). Enabling-Technologien zwischen Normalität und Enhancement: 3D-gedruckte Prothesen für Kinder von Maker*innen. In M. C. Bauer & L. Deinzer (Eds.), Bessere Menschen? Technische und ethische Fragen in der transhumanistischen Zukunft (pp. 159-182). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-61570-6_9

Şahinol, M. “Eklemli Üretim: Çocuklukta Olanak Sağlaya Teknoloji (Turkish) / Additive Manufacturing: Enabling-Technologien in der Kindheit (German)”, Newsletter April/ Nisan 2017, Orient-Institut Istanbul

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Blog contributions & news

Şahinol, Melike, Impressions on the lecture “How to make a difference: Free 3D printed devices for earthquake victims“ given by Zeynep Karagöz (Robotel Türkiye), Orient-Institut Istanbul Blog, 3 April 2023, https://www.oiist.org/impressions-on-the-lecture-how-to-make-a-difference-free-3d-printed-devices-for-earthquake-victims-given-by-zeynep-karagoez-robotel-tuerkiye

Şahinol, M. “Enabling-Technologien in der Kindheit“. Themenportal „Resilienz und Innovation“ / “Technologische und gesellschaftliche Umbrüche“, Max Weber Stiftung. 4.8.2022. https://www.maxweberstiftung.de/themenportal/beitraege/enabling-technologien-in-der-kindheit.html   

Kerem’e GS temalı Robotel Melike Şahinol’dan

Kerem, #Robotel kardeşimiz. Sarı kırmızı eli gönüllülerimizden Melike Şahinol liderliğinde Maker Atölye’de yapıldı.

#MWSLieblingsorte – Das MakerLab in Istanbul, Max Weber Stiftung (15.10.2019)

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Related presentations

September 9, 2022: “When children with 3D printed prosthesis feel like super heroes”, STS conference “Doğa ve Kültür Ayrımının Ötesinde” (engl. “Beyond the Nature and Culture Dichotomy”), Türk-Alman Üniversitesi, Istanbul (Turkey).

February 24, 2022: “Das Soziale und das Technische gemeinsam denken: 3D gedruckte Prothesen für Kinder als Enabler?”, Soziologie-Gesprächsreihe, Institut für Soziologie, Türkisch-Deutsche Universität Istanbul (online).

January 21, 2020: “3-D printed prostheses and empowerment in the childhood”, Workshop: Technology and the Body: Care, Empowerment and the Fluidity of Bodies, Orient-Institut Istanbul (Turkey).

October 13, 2019: Science Fiction Becomes Reality – Human Augmentation und Enhancement durch 3D-gedruckte Prothesen?, turmdersinne-Symposium 2019: Bessere Menschen? Technische und ethische Fragen in der transhumanistischen Zukunft, October 11-13, 2019, Nürnberg (Germany).

September 5, 2019: Crippling the Transition to the Extraordinary? Enabling Technologies and Extra_Ordinarity, 4S Annual Meeting “Innovations, Interruptions, Regenerations”, September 4-7, 2019, New Orleans (Louisiana).

September 11, 2018 “Teknolojik Gelişme ve Hassas Gruplar. Tasarım ve Sosyoloji Perspektifinden 3 Boyutlu Yazıcıdan Protezli Çocuklarla Görüşmek –Bir Disiplinler Arası Yaklaşım”, STS TURKEY conference (Middle East Technical University, Ankara), together with Zeynep Karagöz (Robotel Türkiye), Melis Dursun (Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi)

April 18, 2018: Enhancement und Vulnerabilität. Die Befragung von Kindern mit Prothesen aus dem 3D-Drucker, Kick-Off Meeting „Digitale Selbstvermessung zwischen Empowerment und neuen Barrieren“ of the project “Digitale Vulnerabilität zwischen Inklusion und sozialer Robustheit”, Hochschule Furtwangen University & Schrader Stiftung (Darmstadt, Germany)

July 7, 2017: CRISPR.kitchen Berlin German biohacker and maker gathering (presentation of 3D printed hand prothesis) (Berlin, Germany)

June 20, 2017: 360°-Envisioning Workshop,  European Parliament /Science and Technology Options Assessment Brussels, on additive bio-manufacturing: 3D printing for medical recovery and human enhancement (invited as expert) (Brussels, Belgium)

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Related (Thematic) Interviews

Radiointerview: Melike Şahinol: Toplum 5.0 ve Sağlık Sektörünün Geleceği (Society 5.0 and the Future of the Health Sector), von Yıldız Tuğba Kurtuluş Kara, ST Endüstri Radyo (29.10.2020)

GiD Lab: Interviewreihe – Melike Şahinol stellt sich vor: https://gid.hypotheses.org/2733, Videointerview: https://gid.hypotheses.org/2475, Max Weber Stiftung: Geisteswissenschaft im Dialog(22.09.2020)

#MWSLieblingsorte – Das MakerLab in Istanbul, Max Weber Stiftung (15.10.2019)

Fünf Fragen an Melike Şahinol, Research Fellow, Orient-Institut Istanbul. In: TATuP – Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis, TATuP 1/2018, (http://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/105/159)

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1. developed in the context of the DFG-funded research network Dis-/Abilities – Disability and Non-Disability in the Context of Digital Media (2020–2024, Project ID: 439948242), with the project being associated through the network membership of Melike Şahinol. While not directly funded by the DFG, the project was informed by and contributed to the network’s ongoing discussions and collaborative exchanges. ↩︎