The workshop begins with choosing a frequently used app on smartphone and discussing the limitation of “total digitalisation”. Participants will come up with ideas on how to move away from that app, and perform the same tasks with ordinary IoT boxes. By sharing and blending different minds, they will be immersed in interesting physical box ideas.

After that, we refocus on technology. A set of successful cases will be demonstrated as inspirations. We will ask people to brainstorm and discuss how to use technology and Internet of Things to build the boxes they have envisioned.

At the end of the design workshop, we would like to see some great boxes ideas, which will be simple, real and with powerful technology inside.

Why we organise this workshop?

When technology continues expanding itself exponentially, we gradually fall into a precarious dilemma: a world full of “black boxes”. Even a specialist wouldn’t be able to fully grasp the technical details inside a smartphone. The more technology is developed, the more we feel abandoned subconsciously, and hence less and less room is left for an individual to make any difference back in her yard.

Inspired by Internet of Things, we see a big shift of technology nowadays towards DIY and hacking culture. In this sense, our design workshop aims at unfolding those “black boxes” and creatively make a shift to another paradigm. Participants are no longer passive consumers, but designers and builders.

How will the workshop run?

With our previous experience on organising a design workshop, we have prepared different brainstorming games for the design workshop. These game activities can efficiently facilitate idea exchanging and debating within small group or across different groups. We have also prepared social networking and hands on activities for people with different backgrounds and skill-sets to fully participate in our design workshop.

Participants will be grouped into small teams of 4-­5 people. Materials will be provided as needed, including sketching materials, cardboards, sensors, different electronic components, etc.

After each design workshop, new ideas along with pictures will be posted on our twitter timeline (with previous consent). At the end of festival, we expect to see lots of interesting box ideas, which will be shown on our giant whiteboard. Participants are free to take away their own creative work, including sketches and cardboard boxes they made.

More importantly, as a group of people who like researching, hacking and sharing, we would like to work with participants during and after the festival to make the box. Participants are more than welcome to get involved in our further creative design process. With our social network activity, we believe that we can gather more people with diverse skills to work on something together.