Creating Technology for Social Change

Introducing the Creative Industries Prototyping Lab

Do you know innovators in Latin America? Next month in Lima, Peru, I’ll be co-hosting a three-day workshop for entrepreneurs in the creative industries, focused on design thinking, product development and fundraising.

It’s an exciting project called Creative Industries Prototyping Lab, and applications to attend the workshop are open now. We’re looking for entrepreneurs who already have the germ of a product or service idea, but are looking to refine their thinking and learn more about how to bring it to market.

Is that you? Get in touch now.

My five collaborators, EduardoEricaJasonJulieLing and I are interdisciplinary folks drawn from disciplines such as interactive design, research, UX, video games and educational technology, but one of the areas I’m most excited to talk about is alternative fundraising strategies. As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve written often about the risks associated with crowdfunding, success rates and ways that entrepreneurs are trying to turn ad-hoc fundraising into a sustainable income stream. Entrepreneurs in emerging creative industries need to be aware of these issues and possible approaches as they navigate the best way to bring a product to market.

Over the course of the three days we’ll be holding a series of collaborative and interdisciplinary lectures, workshops and design sessions that lead participants through the potentials and challenges of working in the digital creative industries, and work through a process of critical technology design. Our goal is to produce prototypes of tools, media and processes that allow groups and communities to share creative visions – and to help participants develop the knowledge and skills they need to build audiences, manage community interactions, make an impact on social issues, and develop sustainable creative ventures.

CIPL will culminate in a public showcase ahead of the HASTAC conference, where you’ll also find several of us giving presentations and papers related to our independent projects. Hope to see you there!