Alix Ducros

Alix Ducros, researcher from the #LyonTeam, is working on tracing the collaborative design process with the librarians of the Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon. Placed is central in this discussion. The collaborative workshops are carried away by the Music Department of the library and the discussion are based on the implementation of this platform on the library spaces. The focus of Alix is to understand how the acquisition of a digital tool as Placed, considering it as a merged version of Explore and Participate, can force librarians to think library spaces on a different way.  

The use of Explore is related to the additional implementation of cartography software; in other words, a digital map which describes the different spaces of the library. This software helps librarians to add inexistent graphical signs in the space and reimagine it on the public domain. The discussion ex-situ of the place is central to Alix Ducros research, interested on how collaborative design could be encouraged by the use of this kind of software, such as Placed.

This is not the first time this kind of workshops are carried out under the Placed framework. In 2018, Alix has directed a similar workshop in the Enssib library. On this occasion, the participants of this collaborative design process were not institutional librarians, but design students specially trained on this type of methodology. This represents a high contrast with the workshops organized at the BML because of the contextual variables control and the implementation of fictional scenarios. Furthermore, the extent of individual methodology appropriation is highly likely more attained due to the students’ educational background. In contrast, the BML workshops are widely different as the results of these workshops will be going to be implemented in the public space.  

Librarians in the BML are highly interested in the possibilities Placed prototypes can have on their daily work. The Music Department sees in Placed and their prototypes a way to dynamise the appropriation of the music collection and to expand the outreach of the local scene one. Alix, on his behalf, is strengthening his vision of how behaviors can be categorized by using technical tool. The conception process is at the core of his concerns.

The liaison between Participate and Explore are strongly connected to Alix and BML librarians’ interests. It is a matter of interest of not only the Musical Department, but the upcoming events of the library, such as the Alimentation Workshops which will be carried away next December.

Daisy Yoo

Daisy Yoo, our research from the #AarhusTeam, works in KREA in the DOOK1 Library in the Danish city of Aarhus. She continues trying to adapt the platform based on the needs of the librarians, as well as testing the new version of the prototype. She is also trying to develop the prototype in different contexts, events and formats, in order to explore the different usages, the consequences and the behaviors related to this hardware tools.