The idea machine
MA Practice Based Course
2021
semester
THE IDEA MACHINE // DIE IDEEN MASCHINE // LA MACCHINA DELLE IDEE
Eric Whyte & Chiara Sterzl
This playful tool has been designed for the context of localized South Tyrolean sustainable development, in partnership with South Tyrol’s Network for Sustainability.
The Idea Machine is an easy-to-use interactive tool which helps teams collaborate, self-organize, and find solutions for the concerns of their communities. Step by step, each team is empowered to identify a shared problem in their community and realize its solutions.
Spread across three phases, The Idea Machine leads each team through thirteen stages of project development which feel tailor-made to their community. Each phase prompts teams throughout their own project development experience, with the guidance of analogue tools like game cards, stones, and physical activities.
First, the Vision Phase inspires team building, topic finding and defining a common goal. Next, the Idea Phase fosters idea creation and its visualization through prototyping. Finally, the Action Phase guides the team through reflection of their project development process and ends in the creation of a clear Action Plan.
THE PROCESS
Our project started with the topic finding in the beginning of the semester. Besides our broad research, we used a lot of design methods like Stakeholder maps, User Journeys; and Interaction Flowcharts to inform our direction. Through shared brainstorming sessions as well as weekly meetings with our partner, we also exchanged a lot of thoughts, knowledge and expertise in between our group, which helped us to gain a lot of valuable information in a short time. Furthermore, a co-design workshop, we held together with our partners, was a really important turning point during our concept phase. The purpose of the workshop was the collaborative determination of our common project goal.
The ideation and prototyping phase, which was the main part, directly followed this. We went through multiple forms of iteration, as we journeyed through various ideas with our partner and overall research. As our initial focus was centred around igniting a spark or interest in the minds/hearts of the participants of the village tour, we began developing interactions/artefacts which would be used in the physical space, potentially inviting the participants to make a step of action in the first moments of each event. Some of these ideas included an interactive wall installation, a workshop table or an artefact which would prompt a physical response to a question. During our field ethnography on one event of the library tour, we discovered that our prototype was not working, due to the spacial-restrictions of corona. After that, we observed four further events to get a better understanding of the procedure and behavior of the participants. Following iterative concept development, due to critical internal reflection, as well as adjustments of user requirements, we landed on the concept of our card game.
The Idea Machine seeks to work as a self-sustaining resource system which may be played by any group of engaged individuals, in order to support and facilitate the work of the Network of Sustainability in South Tyrol.
SOCIAL ASPECTS
~ support for community development
~ encourage conversation & group work
POLITICAL ASPECTS
~ empowers sustainable change
~ encouraging locality
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
~ encourages political change on a local level
~ simplifying the process of action
