Designing for Participation

Presented in collaboration with Eyebeam Art & Technology Center (http://www.eyebeam.org/). Attendees will also be able to visit Eyebeam's summer exhibition, Biorhythm: Music and the Body (http://www.eyebeam.org/events/biorhythm-music-and-the-body) , curated by Science Gallery (http://www.sciencegallery.com/) and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

In today’s participatory culture, users are rarely content with playing a passive role. Instead, we look for opportunities to respond to and impact our surrounding environment, as well as the experiences housed within it.

But how does one plan and design for participation? Whether it’s for the purposes of a product, an interactive art installation, civic engagement, or a collaborative project, designers need to consider the kind of participatory experiences they want to elicit and how they might attempt to tap into their user’s internal motivations.

In this meetup, we’ll hear from a distinguished panel of experts on the methods, theories and applications of designing for participation.

Schedule:

7:00pm – Doors Open

7:15pm – Talks begin, 15 min each

8:00 – Panel discussion and Q&A

8:30-10:00pm – Socializing over drinks

Speakers:

Tom Igoe teaches courses in physical computing and networking, exploring ways to allow digital technologies to sense and respond to a wider range of human physical expression. Coming from a background in theatre, his work has centered on physical interaction related to live performance and public space. His current research focuses on ecologically sustainable practices in technology development. Along with Dan O'Sullivan, he co-authored the book "Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers," which has been adopted by numerous digital art and design programs around the world. He is a contributor to MAKE magazine and a collaborator on the Arduino open source microcontroller project. http://tigoe.net/

Taeyoon Choi is an upcoming Creator, new media and performance artist. His work has appeared in Leonardo journal and his collection of writings, ‘Urban Programming 101: Stage directions,’ was published by Mediabus. Choi has lead classes and workshops at Parsons School of Design, Interactivos? and continues to facilitate open platforms for learning as a committee member of the Public School New York and Temporary Seoul, a residency for cultural producers. As a fellow at EYEBEAM, Taeyoon is working on 'INVISIBLE_____,' artistic research about urban space, structural violence and collective behavior, and representation of reality in the mass media. He is creating site-specific interventions and participatory experiences in collaboration with community and activist groups. He is planning solo shows at EYEBEAM in July and Spanien19c, Aarhus, Denmark in December of 2011. http://taeyoonchoi.com/

Paola Antonelli is Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture & Design of The Museum of Modern Art. Through her exhibitions --among them Design and the Elastic Mind in 2008 –- teachings and writing, Paola strives to promote a deeper understanding of design’s transformative and constructive influence on the world. She is very proud of some recent acquisitions into MoMA’s Collection: the @ sign and 23 digital typefaces. She is working on several exhibitions -- including the upcoming Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects, opening July 24th -- and on the book Design Bites, about basic foods taken as examples of outstanding design. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1080 .