A civic experience responding to the city of Glasgow, soon to be welcoming a large number of tourists on the occasion of the Commonwealth Games.
Aim of the project is connecting residents to visitors, the first ones to live in a more involved way the presence of the guests, by recommending them their favourite places, the second ones to get to a better understanding of the city and its dynamics.
Aim of the project is connecting residents to visitors, the first ones to live in a more involved way the presence of the guests, by recommending them their favourite places, the second ones to get to a better understanding of the city and its dynamics.
What allows the connection, it is an alternative signage system which makes the knowledge of the locals available in the streets. It consists of simple artefacts which have a name and a number written on them: texting the number written on the artefact, the user will get the correspondent local’s recommendation as a reply.
‘‘Hey! At the bottom of this lane you’ ll find a record shop called Volcanic Tongue. It is the best place for weird sounds and you will be surrounded by unique records. I strongly recommend a talk with the owner, the man is a real music genius!’’
The tourist will also be able to text back the number to leave a comment that will be posted on a web portal.
On the web portal of the initiative, locals can create a profile and submit their recommendations, this way they will receive the correspondant artefacts to place nearby their suggestions.
Thanks to the website, those tourists who do online research before the holiday and end up visiting the website can start familiarizing with the locals who recommended places and their preferences. Similarly, once back home, they can look for the locals whose messages they found, add comments or check other people’s ones.
The experience itself investigates the inexplicit expectations triggered by the 'game': the feelings and hopes experienced by the visitors with regards to the locals whose recommendations they come across. ‘How does he/she look like? Will I find one of his/her raccomendations again?’
Back home, the texts are the proof of what happened. Reading them, the tourists go through all the places they visited. On the website, they live their holiday again, comparing their impressions with the ones of the other people who stumbled upon the same messages.
Back home, the texts are the proof of what happened. Reading them, the tourists go through all the places they visited. On the website, they live their holiday again, comparing their impressions with the ones of the other people who stumbled upon the same messages.
THANK YOU!
