Focus Inside: An ethical tech design hackathon
Focus Inside: An ethical tech design hackathon how we use our devices.
When: Thursday, 19 April 2018, 11.00am - 6.00 pm, followed by a panel discussion
Where: 35-37 Church Street NW8 8ES London (nearest tube: Edgware Road, Marylebone)
Designing lives of future generations
Idea:
Focus Inside is a unique pop-up event that explores our relationships with our devices and how they are changing us. As part of it, we are organizing a hackathon about how and what we design to make a positive impact.
It’s our phone, not our partner or children, that we touch first thing when we wake up and the last thing before going to sleep. We are becoming ever dependent on technology, but does it make us better humans? Do our smart devices make us smarter? With opportunities to connect with anyone, did we become more compassionate and attentive to others? With the abundance of information at our fingertips, are we more knowledgeable?
Designers are responsible for how millions of people will behave on a daily basis. The boundary between a useful service and an addictive, time consuming black hole, is very fragile. Lately we’ve seen this responsibility often abused, when users are encouraged to stay online longer hours and mindlessly click on links and videos.
We would like to see technology designed in a more sustainable, mindful way. So that instead of making a user addicted, it empowers her. Could we use design to make us better people, and not steal human time and attention? Could we find a suitable business model?
Some of the questions we want to find answers to during this hackathon are:
- How could we have more tech to help people get back to real lives, not lose their time and attention online?
- What could new business models in the economy of distraction look like?
- How can we redefine KPIs, if we don’t design anymore for time spent online?
- What does a balanced use of devices look like from a designer viewpoint? What should and shouldn’t we optimize for?
The project is supported by Westminster Council and Create Church Street Fund and is part of Focus Inside mindful tech festival (more info at www.focus-inside.com).
Are you feeling passionate about changing how our relationships with technology redefine our lives? Are you concerned about its impact on others? Do you think that it could help us be more human? Do you have background in design, arts, programming, project or product management, online business and advertising, or just have some fresh ideas about how this could be done?
Then we’d love to see you at the hackathon!
It’s a unique opportunity to work with like-minded passionate people and create something that can truly enable change. Best ideas will be featured on www.consciously-digital.com website and in the national press.
Facilitators:
Bill Tribble is a user experience design team leader, General Assembly design instructor, and musician. He's been working in design, education, and technology for over 2 decades, with everything from big companies (Canon, Discovery) to tiny startups. He's just back from working in Japan for a couple of years, and keen to make an impact on making technology more humane (and start a new band!)
Aleks Melnikova is an experience design director bringing the power of connected disciplines into design, research and team management. Being trained in arts and service design is a combination that enables her to make any project her playground by creating new tools and approaches, frequently challenging the existing structures. Working both client side and agency side, in the last 10 years she has led and successfully delivered experiences for clients like VISA, SKY, Aviva, VSO, GSK, BA and others. When not at work, she collaborates with a few UK universities, organizes UX events and writes about the connections between literature, art and design.
Location
Dates
to 19th April 2018 - 06:00 PM