Design

Oral History Project - Community Design

Remediating an object into a piece of digital media - Speculative Design

This speculative design project remediates the hot comb (or pressing comb) into a recording and listening device. The remediation of the hot comb converts a familiar object with its own historical and cultural complexity into a device that can explore that history among the people who participate in the project. The device invites participation and collaboration between the audience and the designer to create content for broader communal consumption. The device will expand the relationship between the maker and the institution and shorten the distance between the institution and participants/visitors.

This design also offers an expansive way to consume the design and the content created within the framework between designer, audience, and institution. The traditional relationship usually exists between the maker/designer and the institution; and then between the institution and the audience community.

In the more expansive model, the audience community participates with and as makers/designers. They can also consume the content in digital storytelling spaces without relying on a physical, institutional space. This expands the institution's borders by supporting designers and communal oral histories without having to come into the physical space. This ingratiates the institutions to communities; they feel more accessible, and the creations become more personal.