The Digital Inclusion team at CS has been partnering with the Centre for Sociodigital Futures, part of the University of Bristol, for almost three years, working with local community groups to explore ideas of connection and examining feelings of ownership and empowerment, or the lack of, with digital tools.
The latest stage to our collaboration was to develop a chatbot tool, funded by the Department of Science and Technology, working alongside an artist collective from Stroud, Stand + Stare, and an AI engineer from Digital Wonderlab. We co-designed the tool through four design workshops with members of two community group in Stroud to shape the design, the interaction style and the ethics underpinning the process.
We named our tool Denizen, which means an inhabitant, resident or frequent visitor of a particular place. By facilitating conversation between the chatbot and local community members, we’ve explored how people feel about their communities, what they’d like to see in the future, and familiarised people with using digital tools for creative and community use. The chatbot produces a visual representation of the conversation, encompassing their wishes and dreams and presenting their vision to share with other members – we also provide an opportunity to use crafting with card and other materials to develop and share ideas. Participants overcome their initial caution, leading to thoughtful discussions around the issues and needs of each individual’s area – with some imaginative solutions and wild ideas!
On Saturday 20th June we were invited to attend the Futures Now showcase at the Undershed in Bristol to share Denizen alongside other projects including emotion sensing technologies, robotic futures, and a roleplaying game rooted in disabled experience about resisting big tech AI. It was the first time we had taken the tool outside our community spaces and it was great to see how people engaged with the process in a city setting, creating some imaginative futures for diverse communities and futuristic worlds. It was great too to catch up with some of the researchers who had started this journey with us three years ago!
We’re planning to take Denizen around more Gloucestershire based community spaces, engaging with local community groups and inviting along officers and members from local councils create futures together.
Contact us to find out more: denizenfutures.co.uk
