Natural disasters which create humanitarian crises are increasing globally in large part due to climate change. These disasters are global, wicked, inter-connected problems but are also events that affect the lives of individual people, who often lose their homes or are forced to migrate. For many years we’ve known that the climate crisis was coming but very little action has been taken by most governments. The development of social media and the internet gives the potential for a more democratic, bottom up form of connectivity and activism. Individuals are increasingly working with technology to find smarter ways forward for our planet. The interactive application integrates news and opinions about border issues and climate change in an intense, involving, and direct way. Live tweet mapping gives a chance to understand where exactly the opinion/information comes from. The crisis hot-spots also have audio narration that adjust in loudness the closer to the hot spot that one gets. The project also postulates on future smart infrastructure requirements to ensure that this device and other similar devices can continue to keep working if there are events that create power and internet outages. Hypothesizing on what our networks or decentralized systems need to become to be more resilient in the future.
Studio Professors: Susannah Dickinson, Aletheia Ida