May,June 2010

project leader CHIARA DIANA, CLAUDIO MODERINI | tutor ROBERTA TASSI, RENZO GIUSTI

.IFINTERACTIVE FORMATS for Enhanced, Expanded and Extended Conferences

WS_4

what if

if Framework

if Context

if Objective

if Design Scenarios

OnAir.if

On-Going.if

OnTheGo.if

if Process

Design Teams

Research

System Definition

Interface Development

Synthesis

Table of Contents

What IF

_What .IF we could go beyond the definition of a conference as a ONE SHOT EVENT collocated in a specific time/space dimension that brings to a public a certain number of testimonials for embracing a more extensive interpretation of a conference as a CONTINUOS CONVERSATION between experts/stakeholders and a larger community?

What IF

_What .IF we exploit the opportunity of gathering people in a specific time/space unit as an opportunity for building a KNOWLEDGE DRIVEN PLATFORM that is both situated and distributed, synchronous and asynchronous, seamless and concentrated?

_What .IF we take the opportunity to investigate the contemporary nature of a digital enhanced experience based on culture as a way for creating a participatory, LIVING KNOWLEDGE BASE?

framework

Recent developments in digital communications, social networking and connectedness have dramatically affected the way people manage their presence, their attention and commitment to the objects of their interest. Consequently SyNCHRONICITy and CONTIGUITy seem no longer to be key preconditions to actual engagement in DISCUSSION and DEBATE.

FrameworkIF

This appears with staggering evidence for high-

level CULTURAL “PRODUCTS” (e.g. conferences, lectures,

symposia, etc...), whose momentousness and resilience

is less likely to fade in time.

People seem to have been greatly EMPOWERED, in

the pursuit of their interests and passions, by tools and

devices that are setting them free from the arbitrariness

of circumstances. Notwithstanding the actual geographic

position, one can direct her gaze and focus her attention

on stages that are distant thousands of miles. Similarly,

she can easily lend her ear to the fascination of a speech

that has been staged months, or maybe even years,

before the moment when is actually being listened.

The last decades of technological development

in the INTERACTIVE MEDIA domain have substantially

increased the ability for individuals to access content and

to participate in GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS, through online

conferences, blogs, podcasts, and social/collaborative

tools.

Such a substantial change entails a radical impact

on the individual learning strategies and at the same

time requires to UPDATE and INNOVATE the traditional

“teaching” formats: from a vertical/frontal model towards

richer and evolutionary LEARNING ECOLOGIES based on a

combination of methods, formats and tools.

A thorough reflection is required to identify and

analyse the critical aspects underlying established

practices in the use of tools and formats that are currently

supporting formal and informal activities —at the different

scales— related to the ACCESS, EDITING, CREATION and

SHARING of CULTURE-DRIVEN CONTENTS, both from final

USERS and content PROVIDERS point of views.

From the combined investigation of emerging

collaborative trends, media flexibility and pervasive

computing, considered in the light of current habits

and existing constraints, a whole new set of alternative

mixed media formats should arise. Such novel formats,

conceived and developed within the framework of

contemporary digital communication tools, would adopt

INTERACTIVITy as the driving paradigm for supporting

culture-driven conversations.

context

Partner and case study for the present investigation will be MEET THE MEDIA GURU (MTMG). MTMG is the leading initiative in digital knowledge dissemination for Milan and Northern Italy. With its conference cycles, the Event aims at bringing together prominent players in international innovation and digital culture. Every year the lectures programme is structured n order to appeal to the larger audience as well as to professionals.

ContextIF

Launched in 2005, MTMG has quickly become a

reliable and regular appointment for promoting the debate

with preeminent representatives of new media and

innovation. The event is nowadays the acknowledged

reference point for an ever-growing community, which

is eagerly on the lookout for avant-garde solutions and

fresh, authoritative visions.

_MTMG is the ideal stage where ideas and design-

driven thinking meet attendees attentive and sensitive to

upcoming technologies and their effects across different

domains. MTMG ’s Audience therefore, encompasses

Communication and New Media practitioners; designers;

fashion, arts and cinema professionals, as well as social

networks and social innovation activists.

_MTMG leads the path towards digital innovation

collecting contribution and inspirations coming from:

Digital Communication Emerging Models, Social

Networking and New Media, Interaction Design, Fashion

Design, Arts, Sciences, Entertainment, Environment,

Economics and Business…

http://www.meetthemediaguru.org

context

objective

The seminar aims at investigating the inherent paradigm-shifting potential of a whole new breed of resources brought in by digital technologies. NEW MEDIA LANGUAGES, NETWORKING ENVIRONMENTS, CONNECTED COMMUNITIES, INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND COLLABORATION/COOPERATION TOOLS, will all be attentively examined in the light of their potential for enhancing, across the space and time dimensions, the experience of participating in events like lectures, conferences, round-tables and symposia.

objectiveIF

Happenings and initiatives where the underlying fil

rouge is the goal to promote, share and disseminate

knowledge.

The primary objective of the seminar is to focus

on conceiving visual interfaces that events attendants

can tap into before, during, and after the event has

concluded. Ideally all participants, the on-site as well as

the remote ones, should be enabled to positively interfere

with the whole ongoing experience, and make it more

pervasive and resilient in terms of knowledge acquisition.

More specifically the Design Teams working to

develop the themes outlined in the brief should:

analyse and thoroughly understand how is the activity #organized, staged and performed, to identify hidden

potentialities and prevent yet unforeseen flaws.

investigate how to act and modify existing event #formats. How to take action in order to empower

real-time event management and direction. What do

technologies allow to do to improve —both real-time

and asynchronous— information management, as

well as attendees participation, customisation, and

engagement in the event.

determine and envision which tools —physical and #digital— are required to provide the audience with the

actual chance to act with the content and exert an

influence on how it is collected and then made openly

available to a larger public.

DESIGN SCENARIOS

REAL TIME

ENTERTAINMENT

DYNAMIC

KNOWLEDGE

COLLABORATIVE

STORYTELLING

design scenarios

Starting from MTMG experience three scales of potential innovation for CULTURE-DRIVEN EVENTS can be highlighted, both involving the design of innovative MEDIA FORMATS and TOOLS:

# ONAIR.IF | focus on REAL TIME ENTERTAINMENT # ON-GOING.IF | focus on DyNAMIC KNOWLEDGE # ONTHEROAD.IF | focus on COLLABORATIVE STORyTELLING

design scenariosIF

ONAIR.IF | focus on REAL TIME ENTERTAINMENT

Enhance the experience of PARTICIPATING LIVE to

the conference, both physically or remotely, integrating

back channel conversations within the official information

set. The primary aims are to foster interaction in lieu of

content presentation and to fully convey the richness of

the augmented web/mobile experience, interweaving it

into the global CHOREOGRAPHy of the event.

Rethink the event ATTENTION FLOWS, working on

pitches and pits, including waiting time, in-between

slots and empty interstitial moments. Solutions should

enable an effective management of possible intersections

between the institutional, on-site, information streams

and the informal conversations circulating through the

communication media.

Define the set of rules and tools required to manage

and organise the event DRAMATURGy by way of multi-

thread real-time information flows. Envision solutions for

representing effectively and give salience to the different

information strands interweaving on-site and through the

connected media space.

pluricentric audience

information choreography

adaptive rhythm

collaborative direction

ON-GOING.IF | focus on DyNAMIC KNOWLEDGE

Fill the gap between different events, building a

KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM for CONTINUOUS elaboration

and sharing of contents both as conference follow up

or briefing of future conferences and activities. Provide

tools, formats and communication channels to facilitate

an ongoing discussion on relevant topics, thus promoting

dynamics leading to innovative life-long learning practices.

Define and build the PALETTE OF TOOLS required to

support and promote information enrichment, multifaceted

collaboration, knowledge sedimentation, personalized

content editing and customised content packages (i.e

printed reports, slide presentatons etc…).

Set the rules for proactive event direction, in order to

minimize post-event editing, however, ensuring contents

smart archival and high effectiveness of the PUBLISHING

SySTEM. Facilitate the deployment of a multitude of

content access modalities and enable custom knowledge

exploration patterns.

contextualized communities

situated commenting

smart reading

custom broadcasting

ONTHEROAD.IF | focus on COLLABORATIVE

STORyTELLING

Make the event archive an accessible platform, a

dynamic and functional resources repository, not just

for storing contributions, but to facilitate the PROACTIVE

DISSEMINATION of “AROUND” THE EVENT contents. Identify

solution and strategies to expand the life-cycle of each

collected contribution.

Define an ideal matrix of ADVANCED CULTURAL PRODUCTS

that could be spawned by every single contribution. Products

that are meant to facilitate other activities originated or

inspired by the debate around a conference or symposium

themes, such as .a speech, a presentation, a lecture.

Set a proper framework of RULES AND TOOLS to

augment a new products breed (similar to semi-finished

goods) such as inspirational cards, support materials for

workshops and training sessions. Outline original MEDIA

FORMATS that allow to translate in action the insight conveyed

by authoritative lecturers.Conceive a set of portable tools, a

KIT, to stage ad-hoc mini conference sessions, or to animate

and moderate a debate around a specific topic.

play the archive

re-experience

engaging tools

participated editing

17=3x=6+5+6

process

The Workshop will follow a multi-layered process that will wave together successive phases of divergence and convergence. This structure will therefore promote an interplay between individual work, group tasks and collective sharing to address specific requirements and complete the FOUR planned PHASES: RESEARCH; SySTEM DEFINITION; INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT and SyNTHESIS.

processIF

This strategy has the ultimate objective to activate a

process of analysis and knowledge sharing that will lead

to shaping a seamless, organic solution encompassing

all three illustrated scenarios: ONAIR.IF, ON-GOING.IF and

ONTHEROAD.IF.

3 TEAMS will be created by balancing members

competencies and skills on the basis of three ATTITUDE

PROFILES: ORGANIZER (strategic/management),

VISUALIZER (visual/expressive), IMPLEMENTER (tactic/

operative).

Each team will be responsible for the management,

elaboration and synthesis of one among the three

proposed DESIGN SCENARIOS.

VISUAL DESIGNER

name

VISUAL DESIGNER

name

VISUAL DESIGNER

name

DEVELOPER

name

STRATEGIST

name

?

VISUALIZER

name name

IMPLEMENTER

name

ORGANIZER

ROADMAP design profiles

roadmap

RESEARCH: [individual with team wrap-up] an initial

moment of individual research and analysis.

At the Workshop outset Students will be asked to

engage in an extensive investigation activity. In order to

maximize the resources, the RESEARCH phase will be

carried out individually. While collecting evidences of

applications and existing best practices, students should

analyse and thoroughly understand how, before, during,

after and around a cultural event the activity is organized,

staged and performed.

At the phase conclusion, findings will be shared

and coherently mapped against a set of identified core

activities.

SySTEM DEFINITION: [team activity] “macro group”

activity to outline the concept main features.

Teams will be divided into sub-teams with the

objective to envision a number of different design

concepts that at the end of the phase will be integrated in

a unified coherent proposal.

During this stage, information sharing and cross-team

communication will be playing a key role. The teams, in

fact, will have to work in concert in order to devise an

overall common set of system elements catering to the

needs and the requirements emerging in each scenario.

Every design team, then, will arrange and orchestrate

an original configurations of the system elements. The

configurations conceived will enable to address specific

issues and innovate established practices pertaining to

each scenario.

INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT: [task-group activity] an

operative phase to develop the visual interface of the

proposed features.

During the INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT stage the

smaller sub-teams will work autonomously addressing

key issues concerning: the system elements organisation

and their relation to the activities to be performed (flow

definition); the actual visual language of the elements;

the technological implementation and deployment of a

functional solution. In order to ensure the consistency

of the solution with the system devised in the previous

stage (SySTEM DEFINITION), it is of the utmost importance

that the sub-teams keep constant track of the project

development along its three main layers: the strategic one,

the visual one and the technologic one.

Final stage SyNTHESIS: [collective] a synchronization

effort to grant the overall consistency of the solution.

During the very last stage of the Workshop process,

the teams will be addressing critical finalization issues.

All the concepts conceived and the solutions outlined

will be considered in the light of their possible seamless

integration. The SyNTHESIS stage will focus on defining

each proposal as a modular element responding to

specific activity needs. Consequently particular attention

will be paid in ensuring that all elements are, functionally

and visually, recognizable as parts of a same over-arching

system architecture.

Domus Academy | Master in I-Design 2010| http://projects.domusacademy.net/IF