City Bug Report

Henrik Korsgaard and Martin Brynskov: City Bug Report: Urban Prototyping as Participatory Process and Practice

Part of Paper Session 2: DIY and Participation

City Bug Report was the main outdoor installation of the last Media Architecture Biennale in 2012 - and it's the design case, when Martin Brynskov and Henrik Korsgaard discuss (photo: Media Architecture Biennale / Rasmus Steengaard)

City Bug Report was the main outdoor installation of the last Media Architecture Biennale in 2012 – and it’s the design case, when Martin Brynskov and Henrik Korsgaard discuss digital policy and changes in city administration (photo: Media Architecture Biennale / Rasmus Steengaard).

Abstract: This paper explores the wider contexts of digital policy, transparency, digitisation and how this changes city administration and the role of the (digital) publics, using City Bug Report as a design case. Employing a mix between design research and action research, the authors exemplify and analyze elements of both the design process, the organizational, the political and technological contexts. They point to the role of researchers and designers in exploring and understanding digital elements of public space as not merely registering structures but also actively engaging in public discourse, providing critique and alternatives as much as solutions. Further research and challenges are discussed.

Martin Brynskov is an Associate Professor at the Department of Aesthetics and Communication, Aarhus University – and General Chair of MAB14. Read more about him on the university’s website

Henrik Korsgaard is a PhD Student at the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University. Read more on the university’s website

Paper Session 2: DIY and Participation
This session takes place in the afternoon of November 21. It features four talks:

Nemanja Memarovic, Marc Langheinrich and Ava Fatah gen. Schieck: Community Is the Message: Viewing Networked Public Displays Through McLuhan’s Lens of Figure and Ground

Dave Colangelo: The Empire State Building and the Roles of Low-Resolution Media Façades in a Data Society

Glenda Amayo Caldwell and Marcus Foth: DIY Media Architecture: Open and Participatory Approaches to Community Engagement

Henrik Korsgaard and Martin Brynskov: City Bug Report: Urban Prototyping as Participatory Process and Practice