On Friday December 10th, the itDf project team met in person for the first time since January 2020. In that time, the team has expanded from seven members to thirteen and having the opportunity to finally meet new colleagues was the undoubted highlight of the gathering. We met in Studio Ordinary at the Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design in Dundee, the home of team members Graham Pullin, Katie Brown and Johanna Roehr and location for the ‘Prototyping Ordinary Communication Futures’ strand of the itDf research.
The Studio was the (suitably distanced) perfect setting to both reflect on the two years of the project and plan for the three years to come. Across a series of focused conversations (details of which we’ve learned from our diversity and inclusion training sessions) and a flurry of brainstormed connected Post-It notes, the team explored the enormous possibilities around disability design and future technologies, ranging from Japanese conceptions of time and space to posthumanist ideas of embodiment.
Central to our discussion were our plans for 2022 and beyond: academic events on science, speculative fiction, and phenomenology; public engagement centred on robotics; a special itDf programme at the next Leeds International Film Festival; and continuing work with partners across disability communities and the NHS. We’ll be detailing all of these from January onwards, so do make sure to keep checking the website for more information.