The past 2.5 weeks have been a big blur over here at MediaLAB. In between making towers made of spaghetti and marshmallows (don’t ask) and perfecting the art of paper airplanes (contact us if you need the template), we’ve gotten to know each member of our team, gotten our hands dirty with some film production, learned the basics of SCRUM, went to a conference, met our stakeholders and other key players, and have started tweeting.
Avatars. Just to clarify. We’re real people too.
To start, we’ve got a wicked team. International, interdisciplinary; we’ve got our bases covered (or so we hope). From left to right, meet:
Nikhil. Technical engineer from India. Also really good at raising one eyebrow. Atossa. Dutch researcher and media and culture expert who has an obsession with sticky notes and to do lists. Shreya. Indian product designer with a serious user experience mindset. Bridging language barriers between the coders and designers since day one. Orlando. Our architect and urban planner from Mexico. He sometimes wears giraffe costumes. Lisanne. Graphic designer from Toronto. The one with the USB.
One of the first things that we did as a team – after laying out our backgrounds, from a cultural perspective and technical point of view – was understand our personalities through a Belbin test. We’re all part Explorers or Innovators, and we’ve also got Chairmen, Completers and Team Players. Side note: some of us have characteristics such as “impatient” and “impulsive”.
Lights, camera, action.
Our first team project was the creation of a User Scene, where we set out to make sense of our research question from the user’s perspective. As a team, we agreed on making a short film, which we shot at the Volkshotel (who is one of our stakeholders). You can view the video here. Fun fact: The night before the deadline of the project, we stayed at the studio til 23:00. We’ve been nicknamed the owls of MediaLab. Translation: working on time management skills is a must-do.
Scrumboard, take one.
During the very first week, we had a SCRUM workshop with Alexander. We learned the backbones of the method and how we would be implementing it over the next twenty weeks. Actually using SCRUM, however, was super challenging for our team; we got a bit stuck in the ideation process and had trouble deciphering the definition of the different components of the SCRUM board.
Mission Impossible-esque.
Interacting with paintings.
Phoenix-like.
During the first full week at the studio, we went to Integrated Systems Europe 2015. We were able to check out the latest screen technologies and some of Europe’s most influential futurist business masterminds. Nikhil – being good at raising one eyebrow, and ultimately, the smooth-talker of the group – was able to make several connections while the rest of us stumbled around, wide-eyed and giddy (see above) with all of the exciting developments that are being made today.
Barber shop chairs & exposed ceilings: Welcome to the Volks.
The new OBA Linnaeusstraat.
We’ve also had three stakeholder meetings, one with the Volkshotel and two with OBA, which were full of information and insight. At the Volks, we chatted with the owner and other key players over coffee about the history of the space, the different events that they host and the types of resources that our available to our team for our project. At OBA, we got to understand the issues that the library as an entity is facing in today’s tech-heavy world, and how OBA is working to transform itself into a cultural center. Oh, and did we mention that the Volkshotel wants us to stay at the hotel for a night to become better acquainted with all that they have to offer? Yes. Yes, please.
Beyond our stakeholders, we’ve met with creatives such as Marcel Bolton (take away: “Never ask people what they want, they’ll refer to something they already know”, and had workshops that ranged from helping us communicate visually to how to become database search experts. Score.
Finally, we’ve also set up a Twitter account at @iscrnmedialab15. So follow us for frequent updates on articles we’re reading, brainstorms we’re doing and bagels virginities we’re taking. It’s all on there.