End of Semester Plan

For the remainder of the semester, I’m working on a project about communication between generations.

Since the launch of the Person in Time project, I’ve been thinking about capturing something about my elders – specifically my grandfather. We’ve always lived on opposite sides of the country, and in the last couple years, he’s expressed a sort-of regret over not having been as active a presence in my life (we’ve also gotten quite a bit closer, so that might show some contrast to how things were when I was a kid).

my notes from last week’s brainstorm with Nica
The general frame is this: 
  • I think about the things he says like “I regret never getting to know you as well as I wish I could have”
  • I notice changes in him and changes in my dad (his son) over time.
  • Lately, I’m also wondering whether I will be able to see him again.
How might I close this gap that he is worried about? How might I remotely capture the passing of time & knowledge between these 3 generations?
1. To dive in more, I’ve been doing research on  ‘knowledge transfer’ methods to see what other people out there tend to say in very different disciplines.
  • “Objective” – corporate knowledge transfer methods —> would be weird, and maybe awesome to try and repurpose a stiff “corporate knowledge transfer machine” for hyper-personal use. So far, I’ve done quite a bit of reading and I have to say that the results are hilarious. :)
  • “Subjective” –
    • ‘knowledge as an heirloom’
    • indigenous knowledge transfer methods
2. Possible Capture Methods – this is an old list, I haven’t revisited yet since doing research above.
  • Mobility: walk cycles, motion capture
  • Storytelling, audio interviews
  • handwriting
  • Facetime – record audio & video from there
  • Diary study (via sms?)
  • Collaboration over an app (we all download the same one, and capture something about our lives)
  • We all capture ourselves doing the same thing (could use a fun app above)
  • “Leaving a trail” – Nina Katchadourian’s sorted books
3. Possible Output – also an old list
  • Generally, video with interview audio overlay
  • Family dinner —> do it live over some digital tool, or create a digital one via certain artifacts

I will have more to share about the research – but I want to post this for now! Sorry for the delay.