Apocalypse thinking plan Monday 4th Sep 6-9pm

Materials needed

Materials for creating with (three x boxes for putting it in by the groups):

Cardboard, scissors, material, paddlepop sticks etc)

Pens

Laptop

Projector & screen

Chairs & tables

Chips

Cold water

Water glasses

Ipad for check-in

Camera

Devices with surveys on them

Music playing in the Edge space

White board & Pens

Preparation

Recommendations

Further learning

Design thinking links from APDL:

http://designonline.org.au/education/

http://www.designkit.org/case-studies/2

Introduction

In Fab Lab: (we maxed out with sign ups of 50 with a wait list online)

6-6.10pm| Introductions- introduce self (just name quickly around the room)

Intro: We are all here as we are all interested in some type of design - Whether it be sound design, set design, furniture design, performance and so on.

Tonight we are going to begin exploring ideas for taking over The Edge. The theme we are exploring is ‘Apocalypse’: revelation etc

6.10-6.30| Explore ideas

- Developing background understanding (discuss ideas on the spyder board and from the book club series)

Ask the group what could it be? (write it on the white board)

6:30- 7:00pm |Talk through apocalypse activation possibilities

Em- A library for the end of the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Clz4UKsYY

Dan- The quiet year & past take over zombie events at the edge.

7.00-7.30 | Choose 3-5 ideas to work with

1. Choose as a group the best ideas.

2. Break off into the group that you want to explore.

- Explain that the groups will be doing a prototype and also that they will need to pitch their idea to the rest of the group. Choose a box of making goodies to use and a packet of chips.

Pitching points (you will get 2 mins):

- Think big (don't drill down to small yet)

- Think The Edge space

- You need something to show us to experience

- Think mood (color, smell, touch, feel ) of the experience

7.30-8.15|Prototype- making stuff (cardboard (glue guns and cutters, paddle pops, paper, pens) (fab lab, mezzanine and innovation lab)

8.15 | Come back as a group and Pitch to the group (foyer)

pitch

8.30pm | Reflect-

- as a whole group share and reflect about the experience and ideas. Vote for favorites. Choose an idea to move forward with as a group. Note that the next session you will work on this idea and you can get us to purchase for your group one item. You will need to share this on the FB event by the 13th Sep so we can get it.

- Go back to your group. chat. share details.

9pm | Goodbyes

End

Have devices with surveys on them (as well as a follow up email the following day)

Mention to the group about the next session

Share that the idea that was chosen will be shared on the FB event page. You and your group will need to tell us what you want us to purchase in the FB event by the 13th Sep so that we have time to purchase it before the next meet up.

Reflection

The session began in the foyer with those who had arrived looking at the apocalypse board. A large number of people where late to arrive. We began around 6.10pm and let people in as they arrived.

Around 25 of the 50 who signed up came. People asked if they needed to check in (I did not have access to Kelisha's ipad for this session). A shame as it is nice to capture who actually came as well as for people to feel special and check in (we had filled the session and people knew this)

The brainstorming as a group to begin with went really well. Lots of ideas came up.

We then talked about the possibilities and did a tour of The Edge spaces and what has happened in past iterations in each space.

Then we came back and in groups they chose 2 ideas of interest from the initial brainstorming of ideas. Then we narrowed this down to 4 ideas.

The group broke off into 4 groups based on their interests in one of the ideas. They worked together to explore each idea:

1. Utopia

2. A.I

3. Environmental disaster

4. Solitude

They worked on a concept and then pitched the ideas. Some groups all got up and supported each other to pitch. Some groups only two got up together on behalf of the group. The Utopia group had a fully fledged idea and so to did the solitude group. The other two groups were still conceptual.

For Solitude- the last human on earth with a series of rooms (science lab, people stuck in computer games) little hints of another human

For Utopia- Silent disco with headphones on. App on phone. Music is played based on the words you like. everyone influences the music

For Natural event- The shock of the future. Brisbane is under water. Humans have brought this on. There are possibilities for you to change your choices in this, to choose your own adventure

For A.I- FB suggestions are controlling everyday decisions. There is a maze and you are confronted by fun tech but you slowly realise that it is taking control. It is messing with you

As a large group we reflected on the pitches and the ideas that we liked. This is what came up:

I did not feel like surveys were needed at the end of the session - That the email out in the morning would be OK. We had a few questions towards the end about how can we get involved in the upcoming process if we can't come to the Sunday session coming up. There were a fair amount of people new to The Edge in the group tonight. Many were there to meet new people and to explore ideas. Some were solely there to network.

There needs to be some thought on how we will make decisions on which ideas will be actioned moving forward.

Evaluation

Pre

50 people signed up online. We did not expect this to happen and we even had a wait list. If I had known it would be this amount I would have capped it much lower. We also accidently ended up having a wait list.

25 people turned up on the night, then two left early. (see other for their reason for leaving)

Community Development

34% first time

22% over 12 months been coming to the edge

12% 1-6mths

20% not at all connected

20% somewhat connected

Post

4 people completed the survey

Community Development

Do you feel connected to The Edge community?

50% somewhat connected

Cultural participation

Did you feel engaged by the night?

25% very much so

50% somewhat yes

Community Development

Did you have a conversation with someone new?

50% very much so

25% somewhat yes

Accessing Resources

75% very much so felt inclusive

Idea building

75% very much so had new ideas

Other

- I think the event could be more described for the new ones. I had a good time but I really didn't know what to expect. I thought it was a networking night :D

- As a first time attendee I was flying blind, but found the activities very engaging and fun. A little more explanation at the start about the entire package /aim would assist first timers. I will absolutely be engaging with this and can't wait to see the final concept brought to life in Dec. well done.

- Hi Emma, Firstly- sorry we bailed on you. I think it didn't quite come through the event blurb what it was going to be. I kind of expected a generic prototyping/idea generation workshop. After I understood the purpose it was really not very much of interest to me because of the time commitment needed for the project. I hope you get an amazing event going with some energetic young people! I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Apologies again for leaving.

- I found the whole experience interesting and enlivening but also frustrating. One of the greatest challenges in any collective design process is how to arrive at “good” ideas. A big danger is that consensus thinking often leads to a watering down to lowest-common-denominator usual and stale ideas, rather than looking for innovative, interesting, and implementable ideas that will lead to a valuable experience for participants rather than reflect the goals and agenda of the designers. There are various techniques used in design processes to try to achieve innovative solutions but it probably requires a different form of group interaction than what we used last night. So I hope that, as a group, we can make progress on something interesting, but if the progression is toward the consensus, the way the closing discussion was going, I fear that the outcome will just be more of the same in terms of these projects, and I'll have little interest and incentive in participating.

Other

Where to now? These were the favourite ideas last night after hearing all the pitches.

- Locally relevant content (to give it real world context) explored through bigger ideas like foreign fantastical creatures for example (Kafkaesque) Using visual metaphors

- Agency- are we really making decisions or are we being manipulated? Then, seeing the consequences of some of the decisions that you have made

- Using shock- seeing what the future could look like

- A maze or choose your own adventure style. That people experiencing get to make choices, input in some way

- Can you survive the utopia that you have chosen?

These ideas will be shared on the FB event and then a group will be formed. This way we can continue to chat about ideas. Also, we can purchase anything that we see we need for the next session (upon request from the community).

Photos