In May, 2011 we were in London to present our work and all the juicy behind the scenes thinking of our projects for the 2011 Narrative in Practice : Design Symposium – a day of presentations and discussion on the role narrative plays in our everyday practice, how we use it as a tool in our work, and the impact of stories on the experiences we create.

I’m off to Banff! I’ll be speaking and giving a workshop about some of our latest projects.

If you don’t yet have plans from the 16th – 20th August, how about a quick trip up to Canada for this year’s 2010 Banff Interactive Screen Conference – Beautiful Lives? It’s a chance to be around some great people who think about and practice in the area of new media. Events include presentations, workshops, round table discussions about current issues in new media practice. You can have a look at those topics and who’s attending here.

If you’ve got an interesting project, would like to attend the conference and get feedback, have a look at the scholarship scheme Banff offers, right here.

Workshop with MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments 2nd year students at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London

19 January 2010
A series of workshops exploring good participation. The aim is to support designers and organisations to have better conversations about engagement and ultimately, help provide a framework to create successful participation again and again.
What does your context for participation look like?
Students illustrated the context for the projects they were working on. Including project aims, audience, physical context, authors, makers, message.

Workshop with MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments 2nd year students at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London 9 December, 2009.

A series of workshops exploring good participation. The aim is to support designers and organisations to have better conversations about engagement and ultimately, help provide a framework to create successful participation again and again. What is Good Participation? These are student examples of when they experienced good participation, and what qualities made it good.

01
what it was:
an iphone application for manipulating sounds -
why it was good:
surprising, fun, visually pleasing, audibly pleasing, changes over time, feel part of a (virtual) community

02
what it was:
artistic project which rebuilt an allotment in Hackney -
why it was good:
respect for memory, what it did was very clear (people know from understanding of last time it was there), gave back identity to participants, filled a need for the community.

03
what it was:
laser dome game
why it was good:
people instinctively knew what it was, people did things they wouldn’t normally do, like: perform, be silly, they shared a common experience and it broke down social barriers.

04
what it was:
the good participation workshop
why it is good:
participants: decided to stay, consciously agree to follow instructions, understand what they are doing, individuals try to improve the quality of the group, try to replicate after

05
what it was:
theatre play in which the actors turned the audience into performers
why it was good:
people became actors in their own play, they were willing to change their role, participants had a strong reaction, good or bad

06
what it was:
an artistic installation with audio headsets. Participants moved around the space and when they hit a virtual wall, the headset beeped to let them know the virtual limitations of the space.
why it was good:
it changes your perception of what you see & feel

07
what it was:
Purple World at Cadbury’s. It was an interactive screen with raining chocolate. People didn’t always know how it worked. People who saw it first would then teach newcomers.
why it was good:
Participants cooperated and helped each other, participants taught others, makes a fantasy come true

08
what it is:
music concerts (in general)
why they are good:
it’s both a personal and collective experience, intense, participants pay attention, you own the moment, it’s your own experience of the song.

09
what it was:
community project which let people in a local area got to a web page and log their upcoming travel plans with starting point and end destination. People could then plan ahead to share rides.
why it was good:
it changes participant routine, what participants do has a bigger effect on their environment, participants do something they wouldn’t normally do

10
what it was:
Silent Disco on Carnaby Street, with headphones with different channels.
why it was good:
it was free to anyone, sharing an experience with strangers, build on each other’s energy.

11
what it was:
Fuerza Bruta performance – In part of the performance, women in very little clothing begin to crawl on the surface of the transparent ceiling. The ceiling descends to a distance very close to participants’ heads. Participants feel compelled to touch the ceiling but there is an obvious tension in touching the ceiling while also appearing to touch the semi-nude women. An announcer asks the audience to please respect the women.
why it was good:
it was not really participation but extreme engagement – engaging because of the qualities of the environment, it was so curious, tempting, shocking.