Content Seeking Students

Site-and-Sound Bites as Participants in Ubiquitous Social Computing

Abstract

Discussion of digital, collaborative environments for architectural work often focuses on the structure of discourse, rather than upon its substance. An implied assumption is that the various means of electronic-based communication are suitable for any kind of subject matter, whether visual, sound-based, or text. Our project team has chosen to challenge this assumption by example: We have created new media artifacts for collaborative architectural education. Our project is an attempt to leverage on-going research concerning the efficacy of "ubiquitous social computing” (USC) for design-studio teaching. With a pilot project already put in place by one of our team's leaders, we have supplemented graphic and verbal communication among participants with purpose-crafted video for their use and exchange. Smart-screens, placed strategically within students' "social enclaves,” provide access to curated content. Our approach challenges traditional educational emphasis upon explicit types of architectural knowledge. The construction of tacit knowledge, usually derived from first-hand architectural experiences, is here effected by mediated, digital-based experiences. Nevertheless, the social dimension of the USC framework may be significant in negotiating the interface between immediate and mediated experiences.