THATCamp Canberra

This session is for discussing the use of traditional disciplinary techniques, methods, methodologies, theories to approach digital texts, digital objects and digital subjects.

It is a collaborative session to observe what disciplinary exciting digital texts exist, and observe what potential research projects look like.  In part it will observe some of the failures of previous research in this area.

The National Museum’s kSpace is almost 10 years old, and we have a new director who’s keen to take the Museum into the future. It’s surely only a matter of time before we are invited to reimagine this techno space for kids. THATCampers, I would love for us to devise a killer plan for a new kSpace.

I have emanated a few hazy ideas to that end…

Rather than proposing a space dedicated to any single activity, it makes good sense to design a platform that could host an evolving range of activities.

How about an alternate reality game that involves venturing out to the otherwise strange and somewhat isolated Garden of Australian Dreams, which is just outside the door to this space, and then draws people back in for the resolution?

Or a networked, sensate grid that could transform a group of, say, 121 people into a cellular automaton?

Some parameters we might like to bear in mind – to raise some issues, not to reduce the field of possibility:

• works for groups of between 15 and 120 people
• engages school-aged kids at every level
• relates to Australian culture / history / environment
• involves a challenge of some kind – not entirely shallow
• is non-prescriptive – so the experience is engaging and variable for repeat visitors
• can be enjoyed in as little as 12 minutes

Educators, designers of all kinds (interaction, experience, game, built environment, digital), historians, and anyone else – are you interested? Please use the comment box to express!