diversification of minds - conversation in processes
design for communities
Tokyo, 07.10 - 09.10 1999
Job Rutgers, Phillips Design, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Approach
At Philips Design, our approach to Design Research is based on the study of people, as defined by where they live, the places they inhabit, their social and cultural milieu, and the way they communicate through shared, symbolic languages.
Global versus local, local =physical and virtual
Whereas the old interaction paradigm implies the interaction between one person and a virtual or modeled world inside a computer, the new interaction paradigm needs to integrate the real (physical) world with the virtual and involve different persons interacting with each other, individually or collectively, with the world of information.
Such integration is difficult to achieve at the global level and it is likely to be far more effective and efficient to tackle the problem at the level of the local community because the real world is physical and is, by definition, experienced locally.
Living Memory project
In one of our projects Living Memory we are focusing on developing new tools that will promote the sharing of knowledge and experience between people in local communities or neighborhoods. Living memory is a project funded by the EC which addresses the research domain of intelligent information interfaces.
Goal
Living Memory will provide members of this community with a means to capture, share and explore their collective memory with the aim to interpret and preserve the richness and complexity of local culture. Living Memory will create concepts to support the communication of local history, local news and the sharing of personal experiences and memory in multiple media, accessible via innovative, intuitive interfaces that are integrated in people's homes or in public space.
Territory as interface
The physical environment, or territory of the community will be considered as the space for interaction. This emphasises the need for new forms of interactivity in public spaces, on interfaces that can be accessed and used collectively, or interfaces for private or mobile use.
Community as database
The community of people living in a particular geographic area often have the richest and most relevant local information. The "live" information generated by local people can often be more relevant and immediately useful, than centralised, standardised factual information. Research concentrates on sharing and accessing the information which is present in the minds of local people. For example, a "living database" facilitates the exchange of opinion and points of view, through to the recording of traces and memories, and could allow the ageing of information. In such a database, it is the people themselves who form an integral part of the information process - they are "agents" providing creation and quality filtering of information.
searching the vp7 database, you may find more about Job Rutgers:
The vp7 site database contains not only all published material related to the conference but as well an extensive list of references to issues of information design.
download the vp7 Sherlock PlugIn for MacOS 8.5x.