INDEX:CIID Summer Camp 2007
32 International students made their way to Copenhagen for the INDEX:CIID Summer Camp (August 10-31, 2007). The theme for the camp was Global Challenges and Intercultural Dialogue. The breadth of this topic was reflected by the participants, faculty and staff who came from 18 countries from 5 continents.
As part of the INDEX: 2007 events. the three week INDEX:CIID Summer Camp was held in order to encourage user-centered design (UCD) and innovation methodologies among future generations of designers. After one week of background and user research across 4 co-created categories: Awareness, Design for Society, Energy & Globalisation, the participants then divided themselves in to 7 project teams to concentrate on a brief of their own choice. While working in these groups, participants gained understanding of how to identify a problem, how to generate and test concepts, how to rapidly prototype solutions and how to best communicate their final concept to a relevant audience. Each team looked at a different issue on a macro/micro scale and tried to create solutions from a bottom up approach.
There are plenty of photos to look at on the INDEX: event flickr pool.
The official documentation will be available to download on Monday 17th October. In the meantime here are the original project proposals.
AAAA (Alternative And Amazing Accumulator)
GROUP MEMBERS:
Clara Christensen (Denmark)
Francesco Fraioli (Italy)
Leungo Tumedi (Botswana)
Tobias Toft (Denmark)
Energy from Movement or Flow
People move. We walk, we run, we exercise, play and have sex. Basic physics tell us that any kind of movement generates kinetic energy which can be transformed in to electrical energy. As individuals and in crowds we also move through space. Collecting the energy produced by the human body and the environment is a simple process. As a direct approach this could be a way for people to generate their own power. Designing/producing a series of simple devices could have a huge impact on power generation especially when these devices are used en masse. Via a guerrilla propaganda campaign, AAAA will raise awareness through a multiplication system – using the motion of opening doors or other activities that involve human interaction – illustrating how the energy from one simple action can be banked and as a result save power. By saving energy we save money which can be donated or traded for other products/services, like lighting, medicine or food - helping less fortunate parts of our global society to live a better life.
DING-DONG
GROUP MEMBERS:
Floor Borgonjen (The Netherlands)
Malene Bolvig Nielsen (Denmark)
Nicola Plaisant (Italy)
Phoebe Liu (Taiwan)
(Re)Connecting neighbors: a product/service that enhances a mutual understanding of each other’s lives
Within the scope of global challenges our perception is that the world is becoming smaller. Through instant access to international media, traveling to other countries or by contacting people on the Internet we have become familiar with people from other cultures. However, greeting our own neighbour seems to be forgotten. Why are we opening up to the outer world but closing ourselves to our immediate & daily environment? Lack of time is a reason given for not having relationships with our neighbours and the need for help is a justified reason for talking to each other. By initiating conversations Ding-Dong can act as a mediator for establishing trust, creating a platform for genuine social interactions. These interactions can be informational or emotional, for example signaling non-verbally to your neighbours that you are at home could allow for conversations to start over something as simple as asking to borrow a screwdriver. Through prototyping various ways of provoking or enabling implicit interactions Ding-Dong will act as a vehicle for conveying explicit messages or as a more subtle path to social engagements. By showing the presence of others, people cannot neglect the fact that they are living together in the same space and while they may not have similar schedules they have similar needs.
POWER BANK
GROUP MEMBERS:
Camilla Masala (Italy)
Isabel Ines Casasnovas (Spain)
Maria Foverskov (Denmark)
Mie Kongstad Søgaard (Denmark)
Trine Roed (Denmark)Take Action – Power Bank through Power Play
It’s simple: INPUT (energy collection) > POWERBANK (energy storage) = OUTPUT (reward)
Aimed at Tweens – our future citizens – Power Play is a game to educate and enable children to measure their own energy generation & consumption. By removing money from the energy equation Power Play involves children in the quest to save energy encouraging them to become aware and take action to prevent climate change. Power Play is a physical game encouraging tweens to collect energy from their environment. Systems that don’t use money as a transaction – such as The International Bank of Art Money & Critical Mass – are proven to transform awareness in to action. Rewards for the tweens could be school trips, a party, free sms and if a similar system was to be created for adults rewards could be public transportation, tickets for entertainment, donation to a good cause, energy bill discount, green conscience, or a symbolic green ranking symbol…
GIFLERNE
GROUP MEMBERS:
Dima Masoud (Canada/Jordan)
Emerson Velazquez (US)
Mikkel Proschowsky (Denmark)
Noor Ali (Jordan)
Robyn Penhall (South Africa)
Expanding social networks across geographical boundaries
Giflerne is a service aimed at immigrants to forge intercultural connections which will help people integrate in to new their new surroundings more quickly and easily. By creating a more accessible way to expand social networks across cultural boundaries these networks can provide a more genuine social experience. It seems there’s no real incentive to talk to strangers and the effort of keeping up long-distance acquaintances can be difficult. The idea is to eliminate negative perceptions, to inspire cultural curiosity and to provide a sense of belonging. It is much easier for people to integrate if they have a connection with people prior to their arrival in the new country so a 3rd party application that allows you to establish these connections would create positive experiences through existing connections like friends & family. Building on current systems and existing social software such as Facebook – Giflerne will increase the chances of meeting with relevant networks in the new country.
4-SIGHT:FORESIGHT
GROUP MEMBERS:
Alejandro Rey-Stolle (Spain)
Jeongeun Kim (South Korea)
Jihyun Park (South Korea)
Yeonoo Shin (South Korea)
Keeping memories for blind people in emotional way
4-Sight are proposing a number of ideas. Looking at abilities, feelings, surroundings and needs, and comparing blind and non-blind people the idea is to design a product & service for blind people, with blind people, about blind people. Inspired by “Dialogue in the dark”, an exhibition where in total darkness you experience an adventure to see and understand your surroundings with other eyes, these concepts range from an album for the blind, to a way for experiencing darkness on the web. By using other senses (smell, touch, hearing) these concepts can also enhance the life of a person with 20:20 vision. This will encourage interaction between those that can see with their eyes and those who see the world in a very different way.
HELLO GRANDMA ; )
GROUP MEMBERS :
David Salazar Masip (Spain)
Julie Phanstiel (US)
Marie Hugsted (Denmark)
Martijn The (The Netherlands)
Sarasiff Kjærgård (Denmark)
Connecting the Elderly
By addressing the conditions of the lives of the elderly, Hello Grandma connects the old with the young. The aim of this project is to develop adapters between the connective tools we use (internet, telephony, SMS, chat etc) and the elderly( TV, phone, snail mail). Simplifying devices for the elderly and increasing convenience for connective technology users will facilitate more frequent and better quality interactions. The aim is to increase the presence of family and friends in the lives of the elderly. There will be a parallel suite of services offered, some targeted toward us as primary users and some toward the elderly. Slow SMS Postcard is a service which would convert texts or emails to a standard postcard message delivered to the door of the recipient. The second product, The Window, is a portal that allows elderly people to access standard communication technology in a user friendly manner. It could be a wood framed or customized screen that lives within the visual vernacular and environment of the elderly’s homes. Possible functions are a simplified video phone, that makes is possible for instance to have dinner with your family, media receiver that allows family members to send images and music, with a zooming in function that allows the elderly to see that media. All of these things become possible when the interface is simplified and content is presented in a fool proof way. When this concept was experience prototyped and tested on elderly people the reaction was: ‘I think I am dreaming. Where can I buy that and how much does it cost?’
TEAM SQUAT
GROUP MEMBERS:
Anders Thogersen (Denmark)
Freddie Eksteen (South Africa)
Justin Johnsen (US)
Nayla Almulla (Qatar)
Sylvia Holthen (Denmark)
Cities of the future in the developing world
Located on the outskirts of many major cities where the inhabitants usually don’t have permission to live, “squatter cities” are urban centers, thriving with life and community. Global population is expanding, and these cities are home to many of the new residents. Many solutions have been designed for situations like this but how can we ensure that these are communicated and implemented? While many people living there are poor, others live there through choice. Looking specifically at Rio de Janeiro as an example, the squatter city is built on a hill. The higher up the hill you go, the poorer the people are as it’s difficult to carry building materials and supplies to the top. There are many issues affecting these communities: sanitation, stealing power, danger of death, violence, hygiene, waste and water shortage are just a few of the situations that occur in daily life. Is there a way to devise and communicate solutions that are not arrogant and will genuinely benefit what is in some ways an efficient place for so many people to live. These communities are fierce about recycling and optimising the materials available to them. The idea for Team Squat is to deliver possibilities/solutions/strategies to attack real problems through a bottom up approach i.e helping people to help themselves. The overall idea is to build a data bank of small interventions > e.g how to hack in to the water system without wastage. One proposal is to create a product from existing materials that can both collect and transport water using the same object.