MIT Media Lab’s Sandra Y. RIchter visits f. & co
Montréal – f. & co hosted a breakfast conversation with MIT Media Lab marketing scientist Sandra Y. Richter on October 24. The event was the first public manifestation in our new, unfinished offices. The penthouse suite of a historic building on Notre-Dame, in Old Montréal, still has the air of a construction site, but we thought that inviting people would make them "part of the process" of moving in, rather than mere spectators of finished façade.
The August event of CreativeMornings/Montréal, with Louise Guay on #URBANISM had sparked a sharp interest around the ideas of participative governance, so we teamed up with the Living Lab de Montréal to host a small, human-scale but thought-provoking event.
From people using technology in order to mobilize citizens around common goals and projects to people selling the tech infrastructure that is meant to transform through data and incentives, not forgetting the startup entrepreneurs in the middle that try to bridge available technologies and emerging needs through innovative value propositions, we had brought together for the occasion a rainbow coalition of curious minds.
This includes, of course, our special guest Sandra Y. Richter herself, member of the Changing Places group at MIT Media Lab. Everyone introduced themselves briefly before Sandra gave a brief overview of her thrilling work at the Media Lab. This served as a basis for an informal, sometimes passionate discussion on the future of the city and on the role and face of transportation.
Through persuasive design — design that aims to change people’s behaviour without having to repeatedly blare the same message at them — researchers like Sandra Richter hope they can convince people to make better choices, for themselves and for the common good. Research, in this case, is as technological as it is sociological and psychological. The city shall not be changed by engineers alone.
Change by design. Design for change. Here’s just another thread of the several conversations we participate in and help weave in our quest for a deeper understanding of how collaboration can help us come up with a better life for ourselves, collectively.
And since we don't really keep anything for ourselves, it’s something we want to share with friends and clients. That way we can all keep on the edge of the latest knowledge and the finest people. Stay tuned for more pop-up events like this over the next little while.