Serious Play Tech Talk in Cambridge

Do you work in the field of digital public art, either as a practitioner, company or researcher? Nesta, Arts Council England, Arts & Humanities Research Council and Cambridge Junction would like to invite you to the Serious Play Tech Talk.

Taking place on Thursday, 3 December from 10:30-15:00 at the Cambridge Junction, the event will bring together projects from the Digital R&D Fund for Arts portfolio along with others using serious play in order to create a robust R&D process that is creative, useful and rewarding for all those involved. This is designed to share the learning that has been developed during the lifetime of the Fund and to learn from those working in the ‘digital space’.

Serious Play encourages innovative practice utilising hands-on/experiential learning that uses experimentation to get to the end result. Many R&D projects use serious play when developing their end product and this session will explore the challenges and benefits of this methodology, looking at:

• The balance between open ended enquiry and coming away with a vigorously tested product
• How to set up user testing for audience engagement - how to ensure that user testing is playful
• The ethics of user testing - how to ensure participants aren’t experimented on
• How to make risk comfortable

The Tech Talk will include presentations from organisations using serious play in their work, a panel discussion and opportunities to network with other organisations working in the field. Organisations confirmed so far include:

• Heart n Soul
• Sonic Pi
• Metal
• Unlimited Theatre
• Orphans of the Storm
• Dr Rob Toulson, Director, Culture of the Digital Economy Research Institute, Anglia Ruskin University

The day will be chaired by Daniel Brine, Director of Cambridge Junction. If you have any questions about the event or about registering please email digital-rnd@nesta.org.uk and see the Eventbrite page.