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About : Social Tapestries was a programme of projects run by Proboscis between 2004 to 2008, and followed on from the Urban Tapestries project. This eBook provides an overview of our aims and objectives as well as some of the key projects which we undertook, including Snout, Robotic Feral Public Authoring, Conversations and Connections, Everyday Archaeology and Experiencing Democracy.

This publication coincides with the Digital Cities: London's Future exhibition at the Building Centre in London (21 Nov 2008-17 Jan 2009).

Published November 2008

Giles Lane is an artist, researcher and teacher. He founded and is co-director of Proboscis, a non-profit creative studio based in London where, since 1994, he has led projects such as Urban Tapestries; Snout; Mapping Perception; Experiencing Democracy; Everyday Archaeology; and Private Reveries, Public Spaces. Giles is a Visiting Tutor on the MA Design Critical Practice at Goldsmiths College (University of London) and is a Research Associate of the Media and Communications Department at London School of Economics. Giles was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2008 for his contribution to community development through creative practice.

Download the Activity and Evaluation Report (PDF 3.7Mb) on our week long workshop with Year 4 at the Jenny Hammond Primary School in July 2007.

– Public Authoring, Education & Learning
– Neighbourhoods & Communities
– Urban Tapestries public authoring in the wireless city
– Urban Tapestries version 2
– Robotic Feral Public Authoring

Printed versions are still available to buy from the Proboscis Store

our daily life is characterised by encounters, some are fleeting and ephemeral and others are more enduring and grounded exchanges. We will investigate the potential for technologies to enable shared interactions that can re-inhabit the place-based social networks of the city.

A bound version is available to buy from the Proboscis Store for £5.00 plus postage and packing.

TakeAway Festival
Dana Centre, Science Museum London May 10th 6pm
Giles will be giving a presentation on our concept of scavenging for public authoring at the DIY media festival.

Futuresonic Social Technologies Summit
Contact Theatre, Manchester May 11th 10am-6pm
Giles will be giving a keynote on 'Collaboration as Ethos' in the Collaborating Across Boundaries session, chaired by Anne Galloway.

New Media Scotland Poker Club
Beehive Inn, 18-20 Grassmarket, Edinburgh May 22nd 6pm
Future City with Giles Lane in conversation with Constance Fleuriot

The Creativity Conversation
Institute of Creative Technology, De Montfort University, Leicester June 11-12
Giles will discuss Proboscis' work and ethos within the context of collaborative and transdisciplinary practices.

Proboscis Public Authoring Zone @ Enter photoset

Interwoven into the conference proceedings, Proboscis will create a meta-narrative of the debates and dialogues by inviting conference delegates to create DIFFUSION eBooks (using the prototype DIFFUSION eBook Generator) as well as an evolving 'landscape' of the conference themes, using Proboscis' StoryCubes format.

Update: We have created a Flickr Group for participants to share their photos of the event.

The site shows the sensors readings collected during the performance today together with a variety of other public data and services designed to make connections and give context to pollution in our environments. The site has been developed by Karen Martin and is built using ning.com – a free online service providing templates for building social networking sites with little or no programming ability. Woven into the ning site are mapping technologies from Google, photofeeds from Flickr, RSS feeds, ward level statistics (Census 2001) from National Statistics and links to other services such as writetothem.com, upmystreet conversations and local organic food delivery.

Update Kevin Harris of Local Level has blogged his impressions of the performance and forum, speculating on the role of this kind of public intervention in defusing community tension.

Chris Hand has also blogged the event and posted his photos on Flickr.

Andrew Curry has also blogged the event on his site looking at futures and emerging trends.

Snout aims to create conversations about the health of our local communities and environments through physical interventions in public space, and by the collection, collation and aggregation of data – environmental, statistical, social & cultural – about the places we inhabit. By exploring the human and natural ecologies of the world around us we become aware of our own impact on our environment. Picturing what we know, and discussing it with others offers an opportunity to change what we do, why we do it and what kind of future we wish to grow into.

Snout uses the theme of carnival and two specific characters, Mr Punch and the Plague Doctor, to suggest fun and engaging ways to collect data about the environment (through sensors in the costumes) and to start conversations with friends, neighbours and other people around us as part of popular events and festivals.

The Snout costumes are instrumented with four sensors (Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Benzene & Noise) and LED displays. Snout proposes ‘participatory sensing’ as a lively addition to the popular artform of carnival costume design, engaging the community in an investigation of its own environment, something usually done by local authorities and state agencies.

Scavenging – a recipe for public authoring
To enable online conversations as a pivot for wider community engagement, Proboscis is developing a scavenged web interface using free mapping and sharing technologies. Through this kind of guerilla public authoring communities can gather and visualise local environmental evidence, which can then become the basis for participating in or initiating local action. Snout is a model for social and cultural action that could be adopted by schools, carnival clubs or other community groups.
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Venue: Cargo, 83 Rivington St, Kingsland Viaduct, London, EC2A 3AY
The performance will start at Cargo and the route will include Hoxton
Square and Hoxton Market
Dates/Times: Tuesday 10 April, Performance 10am, Conference 1.30-5pm.
Tube: Old St, Liverpool St
Admission: Free, but booking is essential (via inIVA)
Access: Limited, please call in advance for details
Information: +44 (0)20 7729 9616, www.iniva.org, institute@iniva.org
Supported by Arts Council England & Esmée Fairbairn
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