In Control By Design - a fascinating collaboration

Julien Carponcy describes this intriguing and very unusual project involving members of our Branch and other people with Parkinson's, together with a diverse and hugely stimulating group of other participants:

In Control By Design

This project is a collaboration between people living with Parkinson's, researchers at Oxford University's MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and the Pitt Rivers Museum. The aim is to work together to try and create one or more objects that could be helpful in coping with some of the everyday challenges of living with Parkinson's. A key part of this project is about empowering those affected by Parkinson's to guide decisions on the objects created together, based on their interests and knowledge, as well as on the skills of the researchers, Museum staff and a project artist/designer.

Is this a Research Project?

No. This is a collaborative project which aims to explore a different kind of engagement between researchers and communities, one that none of the participants have tried before. We hope that we will design together object(s) which people find helpful, but this project is as much about the process as it is about the result.

Why the Museum?

The Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum of comparative technology, showing technological solutions to myriad and seemingly universal problems faced by people from across the globe and throughout time. In this project, we will use the museum's collections to reflect with participants on design solutions that adapt movement and aid health from other cultures and from other time periods. We'll use these explorations of 'alternative' technological solutions to health issues to stimulate discussion, new ideas, and inspire us...