The talking poles public art based in social design

Abstract

This case study provides insights for artists, designers, and technologists working with community-generated media in the domain of public art. The authors document their recent public artwork, the Talking Poles, and discuss the adaptation of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design methods to the project. Community-generated public art has a direct relationship to the field of HCI through the technology that underlies both social computing and quotidian digital documentation. When acknowledging 'citizen action' as a component of public art, consideration must also be given to preservation of the work as representative of an emergent and shared digital world culture.

Contemporary governance discourse and digital media: convergences, prospects and problems for the ‘Big Society’ agenda

“…It was also celebrated for being a networked museum or repository for audio, written and visual recordings of current and past memories, narratives, works and ideas of local residents and others in the diaspora. While these benefits of community-generated digital art have been observed elsewhere (Moulder et al, 2011), the totem pole moved beyond its aesthetic and archival value to have a symbolic relevance to Wester Hailes as a community with historic problems of marginalisation. The general feeling among residents was that the totem pole served a symbolic function -that of community resilience and regeneration.…”

“…The community/human agency was also possible because the process of designing and producing the digital totem pole depended on the input of residents. As Moulder et al (2011: 2) observed during their 'Talking Poles' project, most public artwork that incorporate digital technology and produced by non-professional artists tended to exclude people from the final stages of the creative process. Our work, as with Moulder at al.…”

“…In addition, by developing a system for networking, our project moves beyond a 'read only' dimension, to creating an opportunity for 'writing back' into a community-generated digital platform. Hitherto, digital media platforms tended to focus on read only social media components as an instrument for empowering communities (Moulder et al, 2011). Much of the interactive component of community-based digital art occurs on the Internet web sites by which individuals contribute text (Bowie and Fels, 2009;Andreyev, 2010;Moulder et al, 2011).…”

“…Hitherto, digital media platforms tended to focus on read only social media components as an instrument for empowering communities (Moulder et al, 2011). Much of the interactive component of community-based digital art occurs on the Internet web sites by which individuals contribute text (Bowie and Fels, 2009;Andreyev, 2010;Moulder et al, 2011).…”

“…The digital totem pole also suggests that co-production of a public artwork is a process that incorporates a mix of approaches to enable social connections, human interactions and networking (Tacchi et al, 2003, Moulder et al, 2011. The community/human agency was also possible because the process of designing and producing the digital totem pole depended on the input of residents.…”