Communities

For the past ten years, I have been researching the media anthropology of technology and space and how this impacts the social engagement of the user. Through participatory observation, statistics, and deep ethnographic skills the researcher becomes the researched. Thus, the designer learns to navigate the communication message as the user ensuring the greatest possible exchange of information.

We do not believe that physical social networking is extinct. Instead, we strive to distinguish ourselves by integrating the physical and digital through comprehensive design so that each of these community aspects builds upon each others' strengths, so that the harmony of the physical matches the rhythm of the digital.

Yemen - Participatory Social Media from Cortlan McManus on Vimeo.

My event planning does not only take place at the physical event but is embraced by the digital infrastructure; my digital work doesn't ignore the physical interaction of user, machine and space which acts as the foundation for the digital building that may house an online community.

Is it simple enough to engage by being on Facebook and posting a few tweets each day/week. Does this have real and lasting relevance with which to re-engage participants time and time again? Is it no wonder that what is termed "social networking sites" come and go almost as quickly as turning forward the calendar? Since our work bringing the connection with technology and society with one of our first projects, "Divisions," in 1999, I have been researching and bridging the digital divide that not only exists for many without access to tools, but more essentially the divide that is an element of every digital project that does not include the physical.