Hybrid Ecology Framework Workshop
- Carl Smith Ravensbourne
Description
The materiality of digital technology and how it alters and transforms the physical world is rapidly increasing. Hybrid ecologies are being formed through the convergence of these physical and the digital realms. This workshop is concerned with the technological extension of the human condition through the investigation of the ethical use of emerging technologies to enhance human and cognitive capacities. The role that this evolving hybrid ecology plays in the construction and transformation of the socio-cognitive identity will be examined.
Timetable
The session will start with the exploration of Hybrid (VR and AR) technologies to enhance our perception and help us see, hear, and feel our environments in new and enriched ways. During the second half of the workshop we will create resources, collaborative processes and methodologies for the design of hybrid (analogue and digital) interventions.
Interaction
The core problem is how to (re)design a workable balance between digital and analogue modes of interaction. Without thoughtful design, digital interventions are simply distracting people away from meaningful engagement with the learning opportunities and social situations that they are actually designed to augment. This workshop will enable the exploration of potential methodologies, structures and actions between the participants. The overall intention is to use hybrid technologies, techniques and methodologies to deeply analyze how a Hybrid Ecology Framework can be developed.
Takeaway
The take away will include the Hybrid Ecology Framework which will evolve in relation to the following questions: How can we draw a structure, ethics and sustainability of interdisciplinary hybrid unification? How can hybrid technological devices, of often-prosthetic alienation, help us to reconnect to ourselves and to the surrounding environment? How can technology direct us to unify the body with the surrounding space, whether physical or virtual? How can we find an appropriate balance in this hybrid environment?
Outcomes
This workshop will look beyond augmented reality to the latest hybrid technologies and techniques that are enabling a new era of Sensory Augmentation, Perceptual Adaptation and Context Engineering. The ability to alter our senses and develop entirely new ones provides us with the possibility of creating new forms of pedagogy and knowledge. The outcomes of the session will be distributed amongst the participants and placed online.