Living means doing actions. As soon as we’re doing something in our environment we’re not only acting in it, but also interacting with it. But what does the word “inter” add to the term, that describes our field of study. In the following paragraph, i want to think about, how others took action through interaction, but also what describes my very personal connection to it.
The call to take action
When multiple individuals want to follow a common goal, they often need to join forces in order to have an impact. More people means more power and therefore equals in more impact on a society. When such a mechanism happens one can speak of a movement. While researching, i came upon two movements, that seem interesting to me, because they show very well, how broad interaction can be understood.
MAD – Make a Difference
Make a difference is a non-profit organisation, which follows the goal of ensuring equitable outcomes for children in India. The organisation adresses the need of 35 million children, who are in need of care and protection, especially orphans in shelter homes. (makeadiff.in). To make aware of this need, the organisation call for a peaceful protest called back-a-thon in multiple cities across india. As the name already mentions, all protesters are supposed to walk backwards.
I think it is very interesting to see, how such simple rule in a protest can form a feeling of community of the protesters. Also it is a nice way, to create an individual protest, that can be separated from others through such action.
Streetparade 92′
A more local movement from Zurich I stumbled over in my research is the streetparade, a demonstration for love, peace, liberty, generosity and tolerance. This event was organised along the lines of the loveparade, that was initiated three months before in Berlin, Germany. Three years after the fall of the Berlin wall, people wanted to celebrate more unity and diversity. Electronic Music was a big part of the parades and still is. The Zurich streeparade is till now a yearly event and is nowadays, besides the city fesitval, one of the biggest events in the city of zurich.
This event shows very well to me, that people can also protest in a very peaceful way by just taking action together. I think it is a nice way to actively demonstrate and propose solutions to other people, instead of blaming them aggressively. Though, one can ask how big the influence such an event has to a society, especially since the event has gained many commercial aspects over time.
Personal intersectionality to Interaction
[work in progress]
Why do I act, where do I create intersections? What is my very individual mindset, that leads me to the way i take actions, and therefore interact?
Interaction Design Blog 