jv_communitysensing_0227

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Community

A community of people can spring up from any common interest or afiliation,

regardless of proximity. There are large communities based on things like on

geography, cultural background, religion and national afiliations. There are smaller

communities based on afiliations to institutions, extracurricular activities and

political causes. There are even smaller communities formed by individuals around

speciic niche interests. And then there are ever growing communities online that

cater to every type of interest or issue. While the causes and compositions of

communities will vary greatly, there is always some shared element that ties the

community members together.

The draw to be part of a community is a sense of belonging and being around otherpeople who share in your experience. Sometimes people choose to be actively

afiliated with communities, while others are just included by their mere presence.

As an individual may belong to multiple communities of multiple scales, a single

space has the potential to be activated by multiple different communities at any

time. A community can be lasting or leeting depending on the individuals involved.

Combining the affordances of digital technology and physical space we are seeing

new types of communities both emerge and disperse faster than ever. For instance,

the prevalence of lash mobs within the past few years is an example of how the

technology can mobilize and activate communities. With instantaneous communi-

cation channels, thousands of complete strangers are able to come together,forming a community within themselves and for the bystanders.

Community Sensing

Spring 2011 / Jayne Vidheecharoen

A Glee lashmob in Seattle


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Catalysts

Being physical & visual, design has the potential to facilitate both the creation and

destruction of communities. Design can provide a tangible element for people

to cluster around or rally against. It can raise questions or issues about hidden

elements within a community that affect the whole community.

In our irst project, Never Was, we looked at implications of and the potentials for

the Whitnall Utility Corridor. The combination of the physical scale of the site, thehistory of the sites original intended purpose, and the potential safety concerns

of being under high voltage power lines provided us with a complex set of interests

and issues to work with. While the power lines themselves support the public

infrastructure of the city, the physical scar it leaves on the landscape is never really

meant for public use. In our proposal we had three main objectives. We aimed to

celebrate the ghost highway that never came to be, ind new ways of interacting and

engaging peoples imagination with the physical structures on the site, and use the

affordances of the site to both celebrate and question the presence of the power

lines in the community.

Initial Proposed Events

Prototype launch

Whitnall Highway

Park South


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In our partial implementation we had two elements. A physical cloud we created

to temporarily exist in the Whitnall Highway Park South, and a formal application

and proposal to submit to Burbanks Parks and Recreation event permit depart-

ment. With the irst part we initially tried to enlist the help of the local lorist to

inlate our cloud. Upon seeing the scale of our object she called over her co-workers

to investigate it. While they were unable to inlate it for us I found the most inter-

esting part the part where they were all trying to make sense of it in its delatedform. One question they asked was Is this a science experiment? to which we

replied Well, yes and no. Its an experiment but not exactly a scientiic one. I

thought it was an interesting way to see how members of the local community

might be curious about and engage with our proposed objects if they were to be

deployed at full scale.

Unable to to inlate the cloud with helium (or the air from the gas station) we

went to the park and chose to inlate it using just the wind available on site,

which involved physically running around with it to catch enough air to inlate. In

the end this seemed to be a more interesting way to interact with the cloud as it

Formal application

Proposal Packet

Burbank Permit Ofice

Poster submitted as part of packet


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became a physical struggle to hold onto the cloud as it illed with air. Meanwhile,

people who were using the park for its scripted purposes (running and picnicking)

watched and talked amongst themselves as we danced with our cloud in the air.

When we took our application and proposal to Burbanks Parks & Recreation

department we were surprised to learn they didnt issue permits for the park we

wanted to use. I wondered about the implications of that fact. Did it mean that any

activities or festivals were allowed in the space without needing a permit? Or did

it mean no activities or festivals could be oficially sanctioned for the space? Whilethe woman at the desk was unable to answer those questions, she was helpfully

suggesting some other parks we might use instead. She asked some basic questions

about our proposed event (How many people? How will you advertise?) but for the

most part didnt seem to question the validity of it.

Park(ing) Day

Topographical Amnesia

Play me, Im yours


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Relecting back, one of the main themes Im interested in exploring as a designer is

temporarily re-appropriating underused spaces for the public to engage with.

By activating these unused spaces I would hope to engage the imagination of the

community, providing a catalyst for them to consider other potential uses for

the world around them. Some projects that also deal with the similar issues of

space and potential include the well known Park(ing) Day, Topographical Amnesia,

and Play me, Im yours. Park(ing) Day takes metered parking spaces and transforms

them into temporary public places. Topographical Amnesia uses the voids below

the city to create spaces for theaters, playgrounds, etc. Play me, Im yours injectscities with pianos, giving the citizens an opportunity to reclaim the urban environ -

ment as a new space for personal expression. In all three the projects utilize a space

for something other than its intended purpose to the beneit of the community

surrounding the space.

Sensing

Sensing can be about collecting quantitive data but it can also include using

intuition and curiosity to gather qualitative knowledge about our surroundings as

it relates to ourselves and others. For communities and families sensing could also

include the use of intuition and curiosity. People are able to take in informationabout their surroundings using their senses and convert this information into a

hunch, opinion, or new form of knowledge. Active sensing as an activity is different

from probing or knowing. Cultural probes seem to be more about the interaction

between the object and the person. Knowing seems to be about understanding

peoples intentions & motivations. Sensing on the other hand deals more with the

the discussion that arises from a person encountering an object in an environment,

and how that can bring attention to something in their environment.

The Art of Living in NoHo


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Proposal

In addition to the re-appropriation of spaces, Im interested in inding ways to

encourage people to collaborate and participate in the creative process publicly as

opposed to merely being consumers or spectators of creativity. I am also interested

in the communities surrounding areas designated for the arts, such as the NoHo

Arts District. Does identifying an area for the arts actually encourage or discour-

age community creativity and what impact does it have on cultural diversity? A

visit to NoHo quickly reveals a plethora of theaters and restaurants, in many ways

the creation of a scripted arts community seems to be more about consumption

rather than actual creation. Public art here feels more like a dusting of color in

an otherwise bland environment. Experiencing is presented as a one way sense

of tasting, touching, or seeing (and all for a price). But at the end of the day, after

consuming all this creative input, where are the opportunities for creative output?

It seems the ads for the condos and apartments are the only ones reminding that

I can be creative, even if my only in the form of my lifestyle choices. I propose to

experiment with new techniques for enabling people to contribute back into their

own community creatively outside of the standard transactional model.

Public Art?


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People watching

Lots of theaters

Documents

jv_communitysensing_0227