Session 1:
Integrating arts, engineering and interaction design: Requirements Gathering and Novel Approaches
The WorldWide Web and the increasing ubiquity of computing has allowed us to make many positive changes in our society and environment, for example through social networking and e‐publishing, but it also presents problems, by its very nature. There is now so much information being spread so quickly that it is becoming impossible for individuals to be aware of enough of it, or to take full advantage of it. Existing search tools allow us to find information by directly matching the keywords that we search for. This is clearly useful, but its down side is that we are less likely than before to notice peripheral or tangential things, situations, knowledge or people who are relevant to us. Serendipity, otherwise known as a “happy accident”, has a long history of being instrumental in great scientific discovery – how can we harness the potential of the vast store of data now available, but still allow serendipitous thoughts, ideas and inspirations to emerge? Digital publishing and archiving, partly because we are more narrowly focused in the way we use digital searches, and partly because the search systems we use are very literal and unimaginative, can potentially reduce the opportunities for serendipity to which we are exposed. SerenA, is concerned with the design and implementation of state‐of‐the‐art technology, and the situations and environments, which will enable knowledge and connections, relating research and people within their local environment to promote things that users did not know they needed to know. This session will explore the implications of design and digital approaches to creating such ‘technologies’ and spaces and will encompass the potential implications of integrating novel approaches and methods. Interactive activities will ask participants to explore how technologies can support serendipity and in what contexts serendipity is most likely to occur.
Session 2:
Mediating Role of Technologies: Networked Memories
The association of immaterial data such as memories and stories with artefacts is an intrinsic attribute of the emerging cultural phenomenon known as the Internet of Things. As society begins to adopt the technology to access more and more immaterial data that is associated with objects through the use of networked technologies such as smart phones, we will begin to see how an Internet of Things will take shape and how memories of the past will begin affecting our lives in the present. A crucial aspect of an Internet of Things is that every object will be networked and consequently so will every memory recorded in those objects. An aspect of this technology that the TOTeM project is particularly interested in, is what happens when objects with memories begin to talk to other objects about their memories across these networks. What are the implications for memories that are affected by other memories? How will this ‘network of memories’ affect people who are able to read the stories? This forecast is for just one attribute of the Internet of Things and is dependent upon a series of societal shifts: 1. People feel comfortable ‘reading’ objects. 2. People feel comfortable ‘writing’ on to an object. 3. Objects are allowed to talk to other objects. This workshop will explore the implications of networked memories and the potential implications of a true Internet of Things. Discussion is expected to cover issues surrounding the integrity of memories, storytelling and questions of agency. It is hoped that the workshop will feature practical demonstrations that explore the subjects raised.
Session 3:
Implications for interaction & collaboration: Social Memory and Heritage
The Patina project is specifically interested in developing technologies that will provide the means to capture, record, and replay individual and shared experiences and link content to historical artefacts. Crumley defined social memory as “the means by which information is transmitted among individuals and groups and from one generation to another” (C.L. Crumley, 2002:39‐52). Social memory fulfills pivotal functions in human activities that influence how and what we learn, work practices and informs social relations. The objects with which we surround us often provoke personal emotions, make us think, are constitutive of identity and can be part of cognitive systems that are socially and temporally distributed that mediate cultural human practices. The three projects PATINA, SerenA and Tales of Things explore in differing ways, the relationship of artefacts and memories, and aim to provide a context and a mechanism for enabling individuals and communities to share stories, information, narratives and ideas through digital media. This workshop will explore the potential for social computing, including tagging technologies, to support new frameworks for developing social connections and heritage.
Mediating Connections 