Discussions in Space
Abstract
Discussions in Space is a project offering an additional, experimental channel to engage with Brisbane residents as part of the River City Blueprint Smart City Master Plan consultation phase. The project facilitates a public civic discussion and opinion forum through the installation of a large public screen, which passers-by can interact with using their mobile phone’s SMS, Bluetooth, camera and Internet capabilities.
The installation promotes civic topics, issues or questions about the Master Plan and invites Brisbane residents to submit their opinion directly to the publicly visible screen via SMS, twitter or the website. Within only a few seconds after texting, these short messages appear on the screen in an animated way for other residents to read. Therefore, the system provides a platform for collective expression and public discourse amongst residents. The short texted and fast paced nature of the system is aimed to be particularly effective to engage with demographics that the council finds more difficult to reach out to, such as younger, transient residents, who are not as emotionally attached to their city, or professionals, who simply don’t have the time to visit community events or the council’s website. The system’s embedded editing and censoring capabilities ensure that the content reflects the norms and values of the installation providers, QUT and BCC.
The project provides and investigates forms of in-place digital augmentation, which refer to the ability to enhance the experiences of citizens in physical spaces through digital technologies that are directly accessible within that space. This can take place in many forms and ways, predominantly through location-aware applications running on the individuals’ portable devices, such as mobile phones, or through large static devices, such as public displays, which are located within the augmented space and accessible by everyone.
Discussion in Space: Saving City Hall animation
Team
- Ronald Schroeter (PhD Candidate)
- Assoc. Prof. Marcus Foth (Principal Supervisor)
- Prof. Paul Roe (Associate Supervisor)
- Dr Christine Satchell (Associate Supervisor)
Partners
Publications
Schroeter, R., & Houghton, K. (2011, Mar 6-9). Neo-planning: Location-based social media to engage Australia’s new digital locals. In Proceedings of the Planning Institute of Australia National Conference 2011. Hobart, Australia. (eprints >)
Schroeter, R., & Foth, M. (2009, Nov 23-27). Discussions in Space. In J. Kjeldskov, J. Paay & S. Viller (Eds.), Proceedings OZCHI 2009 (pp. 381-384). Melbourne, VIC: The University of Melbourne. (eprints >)
