People, things, ecologies:alienation as a driver for change in media

liesbeth.huybrechts@mda.khlim.be - niels.hendriks@mda.khlim.be

news not (only) covered by large news corporations

but blogs, visual material and video clips made by individuals

Lonelygirl15 – online video series three unsuccesful story writers Beckett, Flinders

& Goodfried YouTube-Channel has approx. 1,5 billion viewers

Back To Iraq embedded vs independent journalism funded by his readers

dichotomy – “new” media vs mainstream media “new” media = participatory/democratic/critical?

does not automatically lead to more democracy or a public forum 2.0

Lovink: “identity circus of self promotion” opportunities for “dispersed” creativity, more

participation opportunities for questioning the existing media

ecology

“strange” methods to get beyond the dichotomy

Joselit – get a more nuanced view on media by handling it as a Readymade

Duchamp – Making the obvious strange an ecology of people and tools pops up!

Media & Design Academy Experience Design lab, Social Space Group

experience design = participatory design participatory design = design process that

includes end-users as full participants (Greenbaum & Kyng, 1991; Muller & Kuhn, 1993)

+ strange teams!

“the strange” reveals people and things in changing constellations:

ethnography: observing existing relations people (elderly) and tools (tv, frame), how people (re)design the world (and their media) in an informal way

Design ethnography: changing constellations (recycle people and tools)

how? participatory mapping, design games, performance or role playing,...

ecological (metaphorically and literally... recycle) view on media

“strange” methods that adress informal cultures (like lonelygirl15,...)

predict potential media design by users