Interactive Media Workshop
Description
Instructor
Anijo Mathew
From a designer’s point of view, ubiquitous computing signals a paradigm shift in the design of place and product. As the technology matures from beyond computing laboratories, designers can now look at specifically situated problems and evaluate innovative solutions that weave together technology, place and product with specific intents in specific contexts. The Interactive Media Workshop will enable students to explore ubiquitous computing through both theoretical and constructive perspectives. Exploratory and evaluative methods will be used to prototype interactive interfaces; while emerging technologies and media will be used for the design of different levels of conceptual and developmental prototypes. This is a hands-on interaction design workshop. We will work on numerous hardware and sketch prototypes through the semester (so expect lots of coding and hardware prototyping).
At the end of the workshop, students are expected to come up with publication quality designs which examine the extension of physical architecture/physical artifacts as elements of connectivity that help users to mediate between the information world and everyday life.
The Fall 2009 iteration of IMW will be a plug in module for the Chicago Leaning Network (CLN) initiative at ID. Projects will focus on using the CITY as a learning environment. Specifically we are interested in the effects of pervasive/ubiquitous computing as it gets transposed on the fabric of the city as well as it’s effects on existing modules such as the Digital Youth Network, the Electronic Leaning Records, and ThinkeringSpace. Outcomes of the workshop will be used as prototypical cases for the extension of the CLN initiative at ID.
About the Chicago Learning Network (CLN):
The project is currently being underwritten by the MacArthur Foundation as part of their $50 million Digital Learning Initiative and will establish the general criteria and roadmap for the development of the Chicago Learning Network (CLN). The CLN will enable the Chicago Public Library, major museums and other institutions of informal learning to dramatically increase the availability and value of their content and expertise. Particular attention will be paid to how kids in Chicago’s public schools will have more relevant ways to interact with the institutions than presently available. The Chicago Learning Network is envisioned as an organization that provides a network and a set of standards that will enable different institutions to create experiences and information that can be shared and used by people in learning environments and on mobile devices. It builds upon the Digital Youth Media project led by Nichole Pinkard and the Electronic Learning Record (ELR) led by Patrick Whitney. It will also make use of the principles to do with the value of using both digital and physical spaces in learning as explored by the ThinkeringSpace project.
