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Amsterdam Hackable Metropolis

The idea of hackable city making is to involve citizens in the process of the development of the city. With Fietsersbond Herontwerp, citizens can actively participate in the process of redesigning the streets. This tool makes it possible for cyclists to hack the design proposals of the municipality and collaboratively create the best solutions for local traffic situations.

Contact person: Margreet Riphagen

Onderwijsconferentie 2014

The MediaLAB provided this year’s visual design of the education conference. The theme of the conference was Excellence. MediaLAB created engagement among students and staff to think about this topic, and join the conversations around the conference.

Preceding the conference, participants(students and staff) were challenged to excite their excellence; to be engaged in excellence-promoting, self-improvement activities, and experience what “excellence” might mean for employees and students. These activities generated a very large variety of possible perspectives of the discussion, even the more unorthodox. Small challenges – to be executed in between regular work and study tasks – were posted to a Facebook group. Such as: “Find an item you are planning to throw away and repurpose it for your (grand)parents’ home.” These challenges call upon participants to step outside their comfort zone in surprising ways, and to show in which ways they are able to self-consciously engage with the theme of excellence.

The challenges are based on the five profile attributes HvA has described as characteristics of excellence; interdisciplinary teamwork, innovativity, craftsmanship, drivenness and reflective ability.

Participants were asked to document their experiences through reports, photos, videos, gifs etc. This documentation was used as input to visually support the morning session of the conference and to collect stimulating quotes from the HvA population to show the breadth and depth of opinions that live across the organisation.

During the conference, the MediaLAB set up a photo booth and presentation of the clashes raises at the entrance of Carré. In the photo booth the visitors got a chance to capture their own vision of excellence on film to be shown upon entrance to the theater.

For pictures of the conference click here

Games 4 Health

Sedentary behavior is a common problem in today’s society, relating to several health issues. Desk jobs often cause employees to sit behind their computer for hours on end, without getting the active breaks that they need. To turn this around, the LumiMate was developed. It is an ambient interactive LED screen, connected to a sensor in the chair, that suggests the employee to take a break. Using the principle of intrinsic motivation and autonomy, the light does not force employees to take a break, but is merely an indication for how low long the employee has been seated. Game modes have been included for a more social interaction.

Contact person: project coach Marco van Hout