Workshop:betwixt
betwixt: technology and transitional spaces
Location: University of California, Irvine
Date: September 16, 2006
We frequently encounter transitional spaces in our everyday lives. Sidewalks, highways, lifts, buses, tunnels, stairwells, bike paths, parking lots, lobbies, airports, waiting rooms, train stations, and drive-thrus. But we do more than just pass through these spaces, by acting in and reacting to each of these "non-places" they acquire a character of their own - they become places. A particularly high curb becomes a skater's favorite haunt. A traffic jam on the 405 gives you the chance to read your newspaper and drink a coffee. The path cut through the sandy beach attracts groups of rollerbladers. How can we begin to design technologies that recognize the richness of these transitional spaces? Why aren't these places valued in their own right?
This workshop will explore the transitional spaces of Orange County and consider how they are shaped by cultural practices, values, and attitudes. Designers, architects, artists, computer and social scientists are invited to undertake an investigation into how technology can enrich or subvert the multiple uses of transitional spaces through a day of collaborative fieldwork and design.
Following on from our recent workshop on waiting, Why Wait?, this workshop intends to deepen our inquiry into the topic of "in-between-ness" - what is it, and is it really in-between? While Why Wait began its examination by looking at the ways in which waiting contributed to being in-between from an activity-oriented perspective, Betwixt will center around the more spatial aspects of in-between-ness.
Submissions should be sent to johannab@ics.uci.edu.
Organizers:
Arianna Bassoli ( The London School of Economics )
Johanna Brewer ( University of California, Irvine )
Karen Martin ( Bartlett School of Graduate Studies )
Location: University of California, Irvine
Date: September 16, 2006
We frequently encounter transitional spaces in our everyday lives. Sidewalks, highways, lifts, buses, tunnels, stairwells, bike paths, parking lots, lobbies, airports, waiting rooms, train stations, and drive-thrus. But we do more than just pass through these spaces, by acting in and reacting to each of these "non-places" they acquire a character of their own - they become places. A particularly high curb becomes a skater's favorite haunt. A traffic jam on the 405 gives you the chance to read your newspaper and drink a coffee. The path cut through the sandy beach attracts groups of rollerbladers. How can we begin to design technologies that recognize the richness of these transitional spaces? Why aren't these places valued in their own right?
This workshop will explore the transitional spaces of Orange County and consider how they are shaped by cultural practices, values, and attitudes. Designers, architects, artists, computer and social scientists are invited to undertake an investigation into how technology can enrich or subvert the multiple uses of transitional spaces through a day of collaborative fieldwork and design.
Following on from our recent workshop on waiting, Why Wait?, this workshop intends to deepen our inquiry into the topic of "in-between-ness" - what is it, and is it really in-between? While Why Wait began its examination by looking at the ways in which waiting contributed to being in-between from an activity-oriented perspective, Betwixt will center around the more spatial aspects of in-between-ness.
Submissions should be sent to johannab@ics.uci.edu.
Organizers:
Arianna Bassoli ( The London School of Economics )
Johanna Brewer ( University of California, Irvine )
Karen Martin ( Bartlett School of Graduate Studies )