**Everyone is Welcome**

IF YOU MISSED THE DEADLINE TO RSVP PLEASE JOIN US ANYWAY!

Workshop will be preceded by a KMDI Summer Networking Reception

Time: 5:30 -  6:30 (Reception), 6:30 - 8:30 (Workshop)

Location: Bissell 728

140 St. George Street

Claude T. Bissell Building (2nd Floor, North of Robarts library main building) 

“Making Representations Matter: The Practice of Shaping Participatory Media Artifacts” 

Abstract: The presentations and workshops focus on the theory and practice of working with groups to construct visual representations of issues, strategies, and missions. An element common to any method of facilitating such efforts is that the facilitator, or practitioner, is responsible for the clarity of the representations and for ensuring that participants get value out of them, as well as that the representations help achieve the goals of the overall project. Participants will discover how the aesthetics (the form given to visual representations) and the ethics (the effects of practitioner choices and moves) intertwine in the heat of the moment in actual facilitative practice. They will learn about a framework for analyzing and reflecting on practice and get the opportunity to apply it to their own practices.

The session is intended for both researchers and practitioners interested in how to think about facilitative work in terms of the coherence, engagement, and usefulness practitioners can foster for their clients and participants, as well as in a set of analytic and reflective techniques developed over the course of more than a decade's research.

Brief Bio:  Al Selvin is a Director in the Information Technology Group at Verizon Communications, USA, where he designs user experiences for the call centers supporting Verizon’s customers. He is an experienced facilitator and researcher in participatory design and related methods, currently preparing his doctoral thesis at the Knowledge Media Institute, Open University, UK. His research interests lie in understanding how to make visual representations help groups make sense of difficult problems. He was the original developer of the Compendium methodology and software in the 1990s and remains a member of its core design team at the Open University, helping to support a global user community. He also has a long-running collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership and their Visual Explorer approach. As a practitioner, Selvin has facilitated over 500 sessions for industry, academic, and public groups using a variety of approaches. Previously, he worked as a consultant, user interface designer, technical writer, researcher and musician. He has traveled widely by bicycle and foot in Asia, Europe, and North America. He received a B.A. in Film/Video Studies at the University of Michigan, and an M.A. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin. He resides in Dutchess County, New York, with his family.

For more information, please visit: http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/selvin and/or http://projects.kmi.open.ac.uk/hyperdiscourse/

see also recent publication:  http://www.humantechnology.jyu.fi/current/abstracts/selvin_buckingham-shum_aakhus10.html