Abstract:

In this paper we discuss the potential of visual communication and symbolic languages in the context of community-based interactivity. Our theoretical framework will be supported by practical examples of “StreetLab”, an ongoing project at the Design Research Lab of T-Labs and Technical University, Berlin, in which we conduct co-design workshops with young children and teenagers on different topics around the broad spectre of “general human communication”.

McKee claims that the notion of collaborative community [1] represents very different scenarios of living to how we live today [2]. Through ethnographic methods we seek to understand more about the potential of non-designers do collaborate with designers in anticipating future Information Communication Technology (ICT).

In a process oriented (instead of product oriented), interactive and participatory fieldwork approach, we seek to trigger the participants with different cultural perceptions and social codes, in order to explore cultural complexity through an experience in interaction.

The insights we gained in our 'designing for, with and from user experiences’ process will be shared and presented through visual as well as audio-visual examples.

References:

[1] Manzini, Ezio / Jegou, F., 2003. Sustainable everyday: scenarios of urban life. Milan: Edizioni Ambiante

[2] McKee, Lesley, 2009. Questions, Hypotheses & Conjectures; DRNetwork Pub.;
ISBN 978–3–16–148410

Keywords:

design research, human-computer-interaction (hci), social innovation.