Today was my first class in the IMFA (Interactive Master of Fine Arts) program.
Designing Innovation is being taught by Professor Lien Tran and we were presented with a design brief titled, Designing the Anti “Social” Network. This will be our first project.
Project Objective
We currently live in an era in which we spend more time connecting via technology, social media, and social networks and more time physically away from each other than with each other. One might say that technology and social networks has made us artificially or superficially connected to each other rather than allowing us to genuinely connect as an authentic community or to develop authentic relationships with people. Ironically, technology and social platforms in general have made us more antisocial. Youth are more comfortable communicating via apps than they are talking to someone IRL (in real life).
Assuming the role of a designer, your objective for this assignment is work in small teams to research and analyze existing “social” networks and related products/features and to propose the design of a new system (or new feature to an existing system) to:
- enhance an existing community;
- enhance social interactions;
- create a new community; and/or
- enhance “how people weave together within communities and wider society as a whole” (CHI 2019 SDC)
First Exercise: Identities and Communities
This exercise was incredibly fun and a first step in the process of defining a problem to address for our first project. While we learned about each other and our interests (I’m among kindred spirits!), we also learned how we identify ourselves but also how others might self-identify and in the broader sense, how we belong to communities within communities within communities and so on. It’s a fascinating way to look at how we relate to each other and the world in which we live.
This is Part 1 in a series documenting my learning experiences developing a solution to address food deserts, food security, health literacy, and health for populations. This project is part of our Designing Innovation course with Professor Lien Tran at the University of Miami, School of Communication. I am an IMFA (Interactive Media Master of Fine Arts) candidate.