Communication process as a collective experience

Communication processas a collective experience

Silvia SchiauliniPhD candidate in Design sciences School of Doctorate StudiesIUAV University of Venice

[email protected] mail silvia_schia skypesilviaschiaulini linkedin

01.2011 | Research proposal


IndexResearch fieldContextOpen questionsResearch themeScientific hypothesisWorking hypothesisReferencesTiming

01.2011 | Research proposal

0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.

0. Research field

Communication design

1. Context

Communication design today:new directions and changes

1. Context


New media A lot has to be explored in the web 2.0 potentiality. Most of the contents are displayed in a traditional mise en page. We have to develop skills and tools that take advantage from this participatory new type of communi-cation, and we have to face it with awareness.

1. Context


Project characteristicsFew common characteristics have been emerging in communication de-sign projects in these last years:• self initiated project, in contrast to commissioned ones• the usage of a more local and politicallanguage opposed to a global one• base research, not commercial• collaboration as a key concept be-tween different studios, co-production• Open source and creative commons


1. Context




Call for responsibilityThe increasing number of manifestos could be seen as an evident conse-quence or answer to the call for re-sponsibility that is involving the com-munity.

At the same time the trend of new master degrees, workshops and sym-posiums is to focus on the theme of Design for the social change.

* 2000 First Things First update* 2000 Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth * 2001 AIAP, disegno etica e comunicazione* 2001 Socialist Designer’s Manifesto * 2002 First Declaration of the St. Moritz Design Summit* 2004 The Free Culture Manifesto* 2006 The Public Role of the Graphic Designer* 2006 Owner’s Manifesto, The Maker’s Bill of Rights* 2008 Metahaven, White Night Before A Manifesto* 2009 The Repair Manifesto from Platform21

1. Context



Professional blur and new opportunityAs boundaries between disciplines are more and more blur and profes-sionists are more and more hyperspe-cialization, few new figure are needed. These are the ones which had the abil-ity to keep a multidisciplinary project on going, coordinating authorities, professionists of the connection.


Call for responsibilityThe increasing number of manifestos could be seen as an evident conse-quence or answer to the call for re-sponsibility that is involving the com-munity.

At the same time the trend of new master degrees, workshops and sym-posiums is to focus on the theme of Design for the social change.

* 2000 First Things First update* 2000 Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth * 2001 AIAP, disegno etica e comunicazione* 2001 Socialist Designer’s Manifesto * 2002 First Declaration of the St. Moritz Design Summit* 2004 The Free Culture Manifesto* 2006 The Public Role of the Graphic Designer* 2006 Owner’s Manifesto, The Maker’s Bill of Rights* 2008 Metahaven, White Night Before A Manifesto* 2009 The Repair Manifesto from Platform21

2. Open questions

Should we consider the web as an enemy of vis-à-vis communication or as a tool of universal communication?

New media

2. Open questions


Creative commons: you are what you share or you loose what you share?

Project characteristicsNew media

2. Open questions

Will contemporary designers be the catalysers of changement?



Project characteristicsNew media Call for responsibility

2. Open questions

Will contemporary designers be the catalysers of changement?



Are we ready to share the designer authorship with the audience?

Project characteristics Professional blur and new opportunityNew media Call for responsibility

3. Research theme


We are living a key moment for communication design, these are just some of the questions we are supposed to answer in a short time. There’s a growing community on the web and on magazines who is busy in understanding where the future communication will lead us.

New moments of discussion are spreading also in other fields as in consumes, ecology, politics and administration. It seems we’re making a step away from passivity.

The possible error for designers is to believe their profession as a rescuer for our time.Nico Macdonald in a paper for New DesignRevue, asks himself Can de-signers save the world? (and should they try?) . One man or one profession will not change our reality in a better one, this could happen only by means of a common effort.

The communication process has a duality in its own nature. We have to go back to the initial conditions and do our work in responding to people needs again.

New and more significant ways in communication could be found by sharing the process itself.

Nico Macdonald,Can designers save the world? (and should they try?),New Design, n° 6, September/October 2001.

4. Scientific hypothesis

The elaboration process of communicative artefacts could take advantage form a participative design process.

5. Working hypothesis


Research section

Social communication tools and media Historical analysis of social communicationCollective communication projects: ‘60 in China and EuropeCase study (one for each decade 70/80/90)Analysis of UN Agenda21 action plan (2002)Strategies and form of activismWeb 2.0: the appearance of virtual participative communicationThe influence of new media on the collective thoughtOpen source and creative commonsDefinition of co-design and its techniquesContemporary case study

Experimental section

Research of funds and promoting boardDefinition of territorial areaCreation of a working groupDefinition of the themeDesign proposalsDevelopment of the projectExpanded group test Activity workbookPublication (on line/on street/on paper)

6. References

People: contacts to develop

Anna Carola FreschiAnna Carola Freschi is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Univer-sity of Bergamo and at the University of Florence where she teaches Infor-mation Society and Social Change. She also coordinates the Forms of the Political in the Network Society sec-tion of CIUSPO, the inter-university political sociology centre based in Florence. She has published books and articles on local governance, dig-ital movements and culture, and local institutional e- democracy initiatives.

La società dei saperi. Reti virtuali e partecipazione sociale, Roma, Carocci, 2002, pp. 197.

Democrazia elettronica e partecipazi-one al tempo del neoliberismo, in Testimonianze. Galassia Internet, n. 452, pp. 78-86, 2007.

Ann Thorpe Ann Thorpe is pursuing research on cultural aspects of sustainable design, underpinned by theories of human needs, sustainable consumption and design process and practice. Her work grows out of research she conducted for her book The Designer’s Atlas of Sustainability and embraces economic and cultural elements of sustainabil-ity, along with ecological ones. She is particularly interested design activism and in the role of digital economies and information networks in sustain-able design.

http://designactivism.net

Anne Bush

Susan Szenasy

John Thackara

Alastair Fuad-Luke

Charles Leadbeater

BGV Nightschool

Michael Bierut

William Drenttel

Jessica Helfand

François Jégou

Liz SandersLiz Sanders is the founder of Make-Tools, a company that explores new spaces in the emerging design land-scapes. She has practiced co-design-ing across all the design disciplines. Her current focus is on bringing par-ticipatory, human-centered design thinking and co-creation practices to the challenges we face for the future. Sanders speaks about and offers learning experiences in human-cen-tered design research and innovation for clients, colleagues and students around the world. She has a Ph.D. in Experimental and Quantitative Psy-chology and a B.A. in both Psychology and in Anthropology.

http://maketools.com

6. References

Revue and website

RevueDesign Issues Aiga Journal of Graphic Design EyePrintBaselineDesign quarterlyProgetto graficoInformation Design Journal BlueprintItem AdbustersGood Magazine

Website and bloghttp://designobserver.comhttp://opencollaboration.wordpress.comhttp://notesondesign.nethttp://dextersinister.orghttp://interactions.acm.orghttp://designactivism.nethttp://maketools.comhttp://sustainable-everyday.nethttp://collaborativeconsumption.comhttp://good.is/departments/transparency http://poptech.orghttp://livinglabproject.org http://instructables.comhttp://owela.vtt.fihttp://propublica.orghttp://massivechange.comhttp://slowdesign.org http://socialdesignsite.comhttp://threetreesdontmakeaforest.org

6. References

Today bibliography

Eternally Yours Time in Design, 010 Publisher, Rotterdam 2004

susitainability, long now, future scenario, objects life, consumption, future, nostalgia

Umberto Eco, Opera aperta, Bompiani, Milano 1962.

indeterminazione, arte contemporanea, apertura al pubblico, interazione, importanza del fruitore, casualità, linguaggi, esperienza

Gianfranco Morelli, L’amara vittoria del situazionismo, BSF Edizioni, Pisa 1996.

Internationale Lettriste:[...] un lavoro collettivo aperto a più gente possibile che nella ricerca artistica trovi l’espressione atta a cambiare le abitudini degli uomini.

Yona Friedman,Utopie realizzabili, Quodlibet, Macerata 2003.

L’ipotesi del gruppo critico come punto di partenza per un’ecologia sociale.

L’utopia come antiutopia, la comunicazione generalizzata come anticomunicazione sono, forse i segni distintivi della nostra epoca.

Manuel Castells (da una lezione di),Saperi e poteri, Informazione e cultura nella network society,Egea, Milano 2008.

comunicazione e potere, mezzi di autocomunicazione di mas-sa, mass media, rete libera, media come spazio

Anna Carola Freschi,La società dei saperi, Reti virtuali e partecipazione sociale, Carrocci, Roma 2002.

reti civiche e partecipazione sociale, nuove reti e partecipazione virtuale, nuove tecnologie disuguaglianze e opportunità, impegno civile, nuove forme di mobilitazione

Naomi Kelin, No Logo, Bur, Milano 2010.

comunicazione politica, campagna Obama, ripresa dello spazio pubblico, interferenze culturali, attivismo antiaziendale, antimarketing

David B. Berman,Do good design, how design can change the world,AIGA design press, 2009.

communication design, female image in ad, brand literacy, overconsumption, manifesto, social responsability.

Jaques AttalÍ,Breve storia del futuro, Fazi editore, Roma 2007.

Previsioni del futuro: all’iperimpero e all’iperconflitto seguirà l’iperdemocrazia basata su una nuova economia detta relazionale. Si creerà un rapporto nuovo con la proprietà intellettuale, che non potrà più essere assoluta ma dovrà essere condivisa con il complesso dell’umanità, in quanto necessaria alla creatività di ciascuno.

Pekka Himanen,L’etica hacker e lo spirito dell’età dell’informazione,Feltrinelli, Milano 2001.

concezione del lavoro come attività gratificante, gratuità della condivisione del sapere, collaborazione, sopravvivenza - vita sociale - intrattenimento

Steven Heller, Véronique Vienne,Citizen Designer, Persperctives on design responsability,Allworth press, New York 2003.

design philosophy, social aspects, design history, responsability,interview

Alastair Fuad-Luke,Design activism, beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world,Earthscan, London 2009.

activism strategies, history of design, co-design, eco-design, mapping the discipline, innovation, product design, design exploration

AAVV,Did someone say participate?An atlas of spacial practice,Mit Press, Cambridge 2006.

relationship professionist/amateur, new disciplines, new media, audience participation, design critics,

7. Timing

I wish I…next steps.

February-March

Opening a blog on my thesis project.

Call for paper for The 2011 Design History Society International Confe-rence on Design activism (From the tazebao to youtube).

Historical research (start)Documentation and interview on the lettrist and situationist work in the ‘70 in Paris. Interview to some of the members of the collective Grapus and Robert Massin.

April-May

Historical research (continuation)Public utility design and the First grafic design biennal in Italy. People: Giovanni Lussu, Gianfranco Torri, Elena Green, Elisabetta Ognibe-ne, Albe Stainer.

June-July

Contemporary research

Interview to:Bethnal Green Ventures Nightschool project Bethnal Green Ventures is a practical school for people who want to use the web and mobile technology to change stuff that really matters: from health care and education to employment and energy creation.

Thinkpublic social design agency Thinkpublic are an agency focused on using design to improve service experiences in the public sector. They achieve this by working with service providers and the general public to gain understanding of how their services and experiences could be improved.

September >

Rielaboration of the collected materials.

Future step definition and starting point for the experimental phase.

. The end

Thanks for your attention.