ABSTRACT
This chapter places its emphasis on the role of the user in the production of custom goods. It addresses the role of the user in production in order to relate more effectively to existing literature which treats user involvement as separate from production. It outlines and evaluates claims made around mass-customized goods in relation to the benefits they are supposed to bring, or the problems they are supposed to solve for their purchasers. It asks: when does a mass-customized good become meaningfully custom for its user, and when is it simply a parametric extension of mass production that makes use of a new technology or process to leverage existing production infrastructure with the goal of increasing profit for its producer? It also highlights a key ambiguity in the popularization of mass customization, namely the different meanings of the word “custom,” and how customization, when attempted on a mass scale, is often highly parameterized. Finally, it contends that parametric customization, in basing its customizability on production infrastructure, often leaves little room for user agency.
