Discursive Research Tools
Let's get our hands DRT-y
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Discursive Research Tools are simple fun ways to aggregate sentiment and conduct City-Sized collaborative visioning processes through:
aspirational, interactive play oriented public art installations.
with a layer of technology embedded within them capable of aggregating instances of interaction
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These aggregations are compiled and synthesized in a digital environment by AI models such that they become a query-able database of public opinion to inform political priorities!
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A vox populi enabled by decentralized, inherently public, inherently fun art experiences
The First of Many
What do you think
they're thinking about...
Intro
Public engagement in Boston is busted. Who can make it to city council meetings at Noon on Wednesdays? How do you even comment on those things?
Everything about the way public engagement is done selects for the WORST POSSIBLE EXPERIENCE.
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Why doesn't public engagement extend to the public domain? Why isn't it fun to participate in the manifestation of our built and social environment? Why isn't engagement proportionally representative?
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What if it was fun instead?
The Challenge
Design some kind of fun, interesting way to get a proportionally representative group of people's opinions in front of public servants in City Hall.
Role and Approach
Design lead and project manager
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Lead and coordinate team around design, concept, content, and technological approach for this project to deliver a schedule scope, and budget for it's production and guide its design and production phases.
Technical Architecture
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Developed the appropriate technical architecture to interface custom software with the proprietary software driving the Center for Constructive Communication and Cortico's Fora tool.
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Coordinated across City of Boston's Office of Emerging Technology and the Fora dev team to test and prove design assumptions.
Design Research
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Gathered critical historically informed civic engagement context to interrogate modern engagement processes
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Identified and refined the problem
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Conceptualized multi-dimensional design iterations to address problem
Program Development
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Identified and secured grant funding to create a full time 2 year research affiliate position
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Developed marketing campaign to raise awareness of discursive research tools and their deployment
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Coordinated with site stakeholders to acquire appropriate permitting
Not only are people more relaxed in natural environments, these parks are where you're more likely to find proportionally representative samples
These are the people who participate in zoning board meetings in greater Boston -
Let's take it as a rough proxy of civic participation
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If you’re Boston and you wanted to get feedback on an ongoing basis from a representative sample of your constituents, what would you do?
This is Franklin Park (an Olmsted Project) and the neighborhoods that surround it:
Let’s look at the demographics of these neighborhoods:
This is the Arnold Arboretum (another Olmsted Project) and the neighborhoods that surround it:
Let’s look at the demographics of these neighborhoods:
