The Workshop
In Vivo
The photographic exploration of subject framing through people & interactions
Workshop participants made their way into the space and begun to interact with the shared artefacts.
Robbie & Mathias begun the workshop. Introductions between the participants and the facilitators were made.
Robbie interacted with a found tennis ball, in a comforting way, throughout the introductions.
Technology Identification
Participants were asked to explore their local space to identify a technology that they wished to embody for the workshop.
Participants explored Monash University's G building.
Participants took photographs of the technology that they were to personify.
Participants then took photographs of what their technology "sees".
The workshop facilitators supported the participants' exploration and selection of technologies.
Participants organically discussed with one another, and the workshop facilitators, the technology they chose and how they conduced their selection process.
Participants checked in on one another's progress.
Participants engaged in personal conversations, outside of the workshop's direction.
The participants reentered the communal making space.
Speed Dating
Round 1
Participants were split into two groups. These groups then speed dated one another, in two minute time intervals. The participants were given 1 minute each to express the values, beliefs and behaviours of the technology their were embodying.
At the conclusion of the speed dating activity, participants were asked to rejoin as a group to share the technology the chose to embody / their experience of speed dating.
Some participants gave theatrical descriptions of their technology.
Some participants acknowledge their personal commonalities and differences to their chosen technology.
Some participants embodied other individuals who they believe best personify their chosen technology.
Speed Dating
Round 2
Participants were asked to couple up with another technology they felt compatible with. As a pair, the two participating technologies were tasked to build a mutual friend.
Participants autonomously formed pairs.
Participants were given snack and beverages by the workshop facilitators to establish an atmosphere of comfort.
The couples discussed the characteristics that they believed were appropriate for their mutual friend to posses.
The participants collaboratively explored and engaged with the array of making materials of offer.
Material appraisals were conducted independently and collaboratively by couples.
Technology couples made few interactions with other technology couples.
Participants regularly engaged with their couple counterpart to evaluate potential making materials.
Technology couples worked together to construct the physical and symbolic presence of their mutual friend.
Participants shared anecdotes and insights into their lives outside of the workshop.
The technology couples regularly engaged in physical interactions.
The workshop facilitators observed and probed participants to explore the materials, making techniques and meanings of the constructed companion.
Participants discussed with the workshop facilitators how their personal practices share a rapport with the experimental, playful design workshop.
The workshop facilitators then asked participants to document the name and attributes of their mutual friend.
The participants challenged themselves to engage in third-hand empathy (as they sought to emotionalise a theoretical being which is actualised through a personified technology).
Some technology couples engaged in evaluative discussions prior to listing the features of their mutual friend.
Some technology couples individually wrote down the companion attributes that they identified as important.
Presentation
The technology couples presented their mutual friend to the workshop cohort. The couples collaboratively shared each artefact through its name, its beliefs and the rationale for its material form. The workshop audience actively engaged with each technology couple's artefacts.
The final artefacts & their designers
Designed by Sean & Jacquie
Reflection
The workshop facilitators then prompted participants to reflect on their workshop experience. Once this conversation was ignited by Robbie & Mathias, the workshop participants led the discourse and made sense of their own personal experiences through each others insights.
The Residence
The workshop observations:
The workshop was attended by MADA researchers, Masters & PhD students and the general public.
It was estimated that participants spent 30% of the two hour workshop duration listening to the workshop facilitators, and 70% of the time in conversation.
The majority of the workshop was located at the central making space.
Once in pairs, the workshop participants focused their attention and conversation interests on to their partners.
The workshop facilitators offered prompts and generalised time frames for the workshop interests however, the discussions and making activities were led by the participants.
Technology couples engaged in indirect discussions regarding their personal values, which were advocated for and challenged by the mutual friend's proposed behaviours and beliefs.
The construction of the mutual friend's physical presence was predominantly developed secondarily to the traits the technology couples collaboratively identified.
The form of the mutual friend was symbolic of the similarities and differences shared between the technology couples.
The themes which emerged during the participants' workshop were:
The generative potential of physical artefacts and interactions
Relationship building through shared experiences
A willingness to be indirectly vulnerable
The themes which emerged during the participants' workshop reflection were:
Storytelling
Interconnectedness (between people through things and things through people)
An exploration of the past, present and future through liberated making
Participants were drawn to active, engaging technologies to personify themselves through
Playful materials allowed participants to indirectly reveal their essence of self
My reflection of the workshop:
I found the roleplaying activity to be incredibly insightful. In an extrospective sense, as I realised the interconnected potential of technologies, such as the IOT (internet of things), and in an introspective way, as I found myself personifying my principles and ambitions through the technology I roleplayed as. An aspect of the workshop that stood out to me was the success of the speed dating activity, which led to a rapid, explorative building of relationships between the participants. While most individuals entered the workshop as strangers, I believe, we all left as comfortable figures in one another's lives, from having discovered the deeply personal values of our collective group. I take with me the generative potential of physical making and play. I now hold a new regard for the revealing and problem-solving outcomes that these activities may yield.