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From MediaFranca
Thesis Paper
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From Connectivity to Collectivity:
Designing for Increased Social Agency
Aims of the Project
This paper addresses the question: Does enhanced connectivity -provided by the new emergent technologies- enhance our collective engagement and social agency? Robert Putnam [1995-2000] has documented a steady decline is the social capital since 1960. Can design reverse these trends?
Methodology
- Initial Approach (conceptual model)
- The Record as a space for design (idea 1)
- Define the structure of the argument (discussed as a Template in our Thesis meeting sessions)
- Thesis Paper Problem aka the western paradox
- Connectivity v/s Collectivity: Designing for Governance (then, social agency)
- General References
Thesis Project
MediaFranca:
Strengthening Civic Connection and Social Agency
(about the Thesis Project)
Project Brief
Networking technology strives for maximizing the possibilities of connection among people; however, communication technology also promotes atomistic individualism in narrow communities of interest. Today’s youths experience this paradox as the increasing emergence of mobile communication technology and networked devices contribute to a steady decline of social capital.
Initial research explored opportunities for using ubiquitous computing and location-based media in order to develop design strategies for engaging young adults in the issues of their communities.
This project defines a platform that supports public authoring in a symmetrical fashion among community members, connecting people, places and issues; and shaping their relevancy according to individual’s perspectives and democratic principles.
The decline of civic connection has been well documented over the last 40 years in Western societies. Special attention has been drawn to information and communication technologies [ICTs] in order to understand the role they have been playing in this crisis. Recent dissemination of social software through the Internet is not necessary bringing people closer: enhanced connectivity doesn't necessarily mean enhanced collectivity. Problems in this area seem to be particularly concentrated among youth, who appear less cohesive and disengaged than earlier generations. MediaFranca explores interaction opportunities for leveraging stronger relations among teenagers and young adults.
Aims
MediaFranca is about empowering young adults and teenagers to express their point of view in an egalitarian conversational environment. A key goal is to impress upon teenagers their inherent civic presence as active stakeholders of their communities. MediaFranca is also focused in generating more creative and collaborative enterprises over passive and consumptive ones.
Inquiry
- How can we help teens be aware of their potential agency?
- How can we help them understand the relationships they have with others and how can we strengthen those connections?
- How can we design an interaction that can support the plasticity, open-endedness and organic nature of collaborative communication?
- How can we transcend the digital realm and bring interactions into the physical?
User Research
Research inquiry is focused in understanding teenagers' needs and motivations as well as their current use of networking technology. Initial research studied perceptions, patterns and behaviors around knowledge representation in adolescents in order to identify design opportunities for the development of visual tools for the Semantic Web. Initial interviews and Participatory Design Sessions focused in understanding their current level of engagement as well as the nature and quality of relationships among themselves. Another focus is how teenagers are using existing web applications, such as social software, collaborative filtering tools, among others. The idea is to understand this population in order to design an adequate visual metaphor that can represent knowledge models that can be applied into a web-based agent.
Teenagers & Young Adults
Preliminary literature review focused on the cognitive development of teenagers and understanding communication dynamics within youth movements. Later, two workshops were conducted in different settings, one with school students (13-16 yrs.) and another with CMU freshmen (17-18 yrs.). Students were asked to build posters with a given set of icons to depict their social networks, their trusted sources of information and the role technology is playing in the construction of their information milieu. As a separate activity, they were asked to depict their daily routines in relation with their immediate surroundings and their community.
Project Roadmap
- Territory Map
- Thesis Project Problem
- Research Protocol
- Social Interaction
- Personas & Scenarios of Use
- DPPI07 Paper - Work peresented at the DPPI conference at Helsinki (TAIK) 2007
- Mobile Device (mockups)
- Information Architecture
- Wireframes & Interface Design
- Product Testing
- Project Presentation
- General References
- Related Projects
- Conclusions
