This session will explore how we can make the impact of political decisions and social issues more tangible in people’s everyday lives. How can we use the physical interfaces people encounter and use most often - from smartphones to bus shelters - to reach out to an increasingly disengaged populace, directly showing them the impact not just of their local political representatives but their own choices as well. Although we often see the impact of cuts in spending or shutting down public services, it is often at a point that’s too late to do anything about - perhaps there is a way, through accessible interactive data visualisations, audio-visual projections, haptic enabled interfaces that can help us all better connect the dots.
Agenda
The workshop will begin with an introduction to the problem of political and social engagement faced in many regions of the UK, using case studies from small towns like Warwick and Leamington Spa and also larger cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham. I hope to show that although there is an issue with engagement with mainstream politics amongst some segments of the population, more often people are already engaged on a local level but distrustful of national politics. I’ll be looking at some precedents set by ‘TheyWorkForYou’ (www.theyworkforyou.com), ‘ThePublicWhip’ (www.publicwhip.org.uk) and examples from activist groups further afield in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Kenya and Zimbabwe who are using technology to empower and engage the general populace. After the presentation, we’ll get into a design jam where we can discuss, plan and build a prototype to demonstrate jow we could make this happen in our cities and communities.
Participants
For a small group (say 3 to 10), I would turn the presentation into more of a freeform discussion, using the slides as springboards for the conversation. I would generally expect the workshop to be more discussion based, with our design session to be more focussed on creating paper prototypes and a storyboard. For a medium sized to larger group, the presentation will be a bit more formal and the group will be split into two teams, one focussing on the user journeys and the other on creating a prototype, with a break for the two groups to check with each other and provide feedback.
Outcome
Firstly, I’d like to think we’ll have found a group of like minded people interested in finding practical solutions to quite difficult problems. Certainly I would like to keep the project going as it’s something I’m passionate about and I wouldn’t want people’s hard work and generosity to go to waste! Even if it’s only a paper prototype and an unfinished user journey, there will be something to test out and improve upon with input from focus groups and fellow creatives back in Birmingham and Manchester. I’ll also set up a slack group/forum/blog to keep the conversation alive and encourage people to contribute ideas… and test them out! Ultimately, it would be great to open source our ‘Social Justice Pervasive Computing Network’ (I’m working on the name) so people can find out if it might help them in their locality, provide more feedback and keep the project evolving and improving!
cubicgarden
commented
7 years ago
[ ID ] 655436fb-578c-46f8-b108-8df3912b476f
[ Submitter's Name ] Florence Okoye [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] AfroFutures_UK [ Submitter's Twitter ] @AfroFutures_UK/@FINOkoye
[ Space ] cities [ Secondary Space ] localisation
[ Format ] learning-lab
Description
This session will explore how we can make the impact of political decisions and social issues more tangible in people’s everyday lives. How can we use the physical interfaces people encounter and use most often - from smartphones to bus shelters - to reach out to an increasingly disengaged populace, directly showing them the impact not just of their local political representatives but their own choices as well. Although we often see the impact of cuts in spending or shutting down public services, it is often at a point that’s too late to do anything about - perhaps there is a way, through accessible interactive data visualisations, audio-visual projections, haptic enabled interfaces that can help us all better connect the dots.
Agenda
The workshop will begin with an introduction to the problem of political and social engagement faced in many regions of the UK, using case studies from small towns like Warwick and Leamington Spa and also larger cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham. I hope to show that although there is an issue with engagement with mainstream politics amongst some segments of the population, more often people are already engaged on a local level but distrustful of national politics. I’ll be looking at some precedents set by ‘TheyWorkForYou’ (www.theyworkforyou.com), ‘ThePublicWhip’ (www.publicwhip.org.uk) and examples from activist groups further afield in countries like Mexico, Brazil, Kenya and Zimbabwe who are using technology to empower and engage the general populace. After the presentation, we’ll get into a design jam where we can discuss, plan and build a prototype to demonstrate jow we could make this happen in our cities and communities.
Participants
For a small group (say 3 to 10), I would turn the presentation into more of a freeform discussion, using the slides as springboards for the conversation. I would generally expect the workshop to be more discussion based, with our design session to be more focussed on creating paper prototypes and a storyboard. For a medium sized to larger group, the presentation will be a bit more formal and the group will be split into two teams, one focussing on the user journeys and the other on creating a prototype, with a break for the two groups to check with each other and provide feedback.
Outcome
Firstly, I’d like to think we’ll have found a group of like minded people interested in finding practical solutions to quite difficult problems. Certainly I would like to keep the project going as it’s something I’m passionate about and I wouldn’t want people’s hard work and generosity to go to waste! Even if it’s only a paper prototype and an unfinished user journey, there will be something to test out and improve upon with input from focus groups and fellow creatives back in Birmingham and Manchester. I’ll also set up a slack group/forum/blog to keep the conversation alive and encourage people to contribute ideas… and test them out! Ultimately, it would be great to open source our ‘Social Justice Pervasive Computing Network’ (I’m working on the name) so people can find out if it might help them in their locality, provide more feedback and keep the project evolving and improving!