Memorializing the Mundane
Personal ownership in urban public space
Background
I wanted to explore the ways in which a sense of ownership can be instilled within the urban public spaces around us and empower people to leave their mark in a way that was visible, yet accommodating to the rest of the community.
I chose to explore this concept during my thesis project in the last semester of the Human Computer Interaction and Design Master’s program at Indiana University.
The result was a digital prototype dubbed “Trace” that explored the idea of memorializing and imbuing the spaces around us with everyday moments that, while insignificant in a grand sense, mean something to the people who mark the spots.
The Design
Trace is a digital product that blends the physicality of the public space with the daily rituals of public life we all experience. It is intended to encourage people to share the little things that helped brighten their day, and localize those moments in the frequented places around us. Trace serves to build a sense of ownership between people and their city, as well as heighten their awareness to the people in their community and vice versa.
When someone has a personally significant moment, they record a description of the moment and the location through the application, leaving a digital remnant of themselves and their experience. That moment marker now serves as a geographically situated pinpoint, telling others who pass by of the story that happened there.
This design is important to me because our digital spaces and physical spaces seem too detached from one another. We’re all leaving digital traces of ourselves on dozens of digital platforms every day, but rarely are they at all associated with the spaces we inhabit. This design is an initial step in blending the digital and physical aspects of our public lives and space in a way that is harmonious to the attributes of each.