In the media

Een gesprek naar aanleiding van het verschijnen van het boek The Civic Empowerment Toolbox met Ben Schouten, Martijn de Waal, Sabine Niederer en anderen.

WO 18 JAN, 20.00. GROTE ZAAL Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam

GRATIS

https://dezwijger.nl/programma/the-civic-empowerment-toolbox

De complexiteit van problemen waarmee wij heden ten dage worden geconfronteerd – van COVID-19 tot sociale onrechtvaardigheid tot de klimaatcrisis – vereisen aanpassingen naar een onvoorspelbare toekomst. Het lijkt steeds moeilijker om lange termijn strategieën te ontwikkelen en tegelijkertijd voeling te houden met het dagelijks leven.

In het boek Citizen Empowerment Toolbox, Action Design for Urban Futures, richten de auteurs zich liever niet op de steeds populairder wordende agenda van slimme steden, maar juist op de slimme burgers die regie nemen over dingen die voor hen belangrijk zijn, vertrouwend op zelforganisatie en eigenaarschap. Het omarmen van diversiteit, de natuur en de culturele verschillen staan centraal in het boek zodat iedereen wordt aangemoedigd, gehoord en ondersteund.

Deze avond bespreken we deze strategieën en burgerinitiatieven vanuit 4 verschillende invalshoeken: Praktijk, Theorie, Onderwijs en Media. Waarbij wetenschappers, ontwerpers en collega’s vanuit de praktijk, betrokken burgermanschap vanuit hun bijdrage aan het boek belichten.

MET:

Ben Schouten, Emiritus Professor Playful Interaction, Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Sabine Niederer, Onderzoeker Visual Methodologies bij de Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Eleonoor Jap Sam, Founder and director at JAPSAM Books

Willem van de Ven, Vormgever

Silvia Cazacu, PhD Researcher at KU Leuven

Saskia Beer, oprichter/directeur Transformcity

DE MODERATOR VAN DIT PROGRAMMA IS

Martijn de Waal, Professor Civic Interaction Design Research Group Hogeschool van Amsterdam

You can order it at www.japsambooks.nl

On Friday the 15th of April, Foreland Studios presented their current findings in their project “Hydromax”. The project explores the opportunities that hydrogen, currently important for the energy transition, can have for modern day society. Ben Schouten was a presenter at this event.

Foreland Studios is an independent research group that focuses on the human side of technological innovations. They take into consideration the societal implications of such technologies. They examine and advise how technological innovations can become visible, tangible and more human for the future. In their practice they work in close collaboration with the technical and creative industries.

In his brand new book Playful Civic Empowerment, Professor Ben Schouten combines his work as scientist with the hacker and artist within himself. He shows that change is created through imagination and that shaking things up can lead to new opportunities. The work convincingly presents that the world of design and technology should expand to include humanities, which allows for a new field to rise. Through practical examples this new vision is convincingly presented and enriched with theory, models and its context.

Read more

In collaboration with the Digital Design master program of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and Archis we published a cahier on civic design education. Its goal is to create an understanding and operationalize the role of digital media technologies and social media platforms, big data and serious games in empowering citizens. This is done by both discussing the role of the designer as a change agent and the urgency to vehemently explore strategies that could bring us closer to an alternative future from an educational perspective.

The cahier contains contributions from Ben Schouten, Marcus Foth, Madeleine Maaskant, Oscar Tomico, Kees Dorst and Eric Gordon. Download the PDF for free.

Wednesday 30 June 2021, 15:00

In a Livecast of Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, we talked about how integral planning and designing of cities can be influenced by Networks of Games. These networks are formed by a family of interrelated games and an interconnected infrastructure. It influences how cities learn, plan and decide. The event is available for watching by clicking this link and contains an open call for city and game developers!

This event’s guests consist of Ben Schouten, Dr. Ekim Tan, Anubhuti Chandna, Anthony Duckworth, Flavio Janches, Mark Bouman

Anytime Anyplace is THE yearly online talkshow about media that poses a new question with interesting hosts every day. Through minicolleges scientists, experts and famous media makers make you think about your own use of media and your place in this world. Among them this year was professor Ben Schouten that talks about the question: Does playing games make you a better human?

Click to read more

Knappe Koppen / 8 apr 2020

Gregory Sedoc answers burning questions from viewers with the help of experts. This episode he invited Professor Ben Schouten to answer the question from Merijn; he wonders if gaming is useful?

Watch the episode for the answer!