How can we connect the human, digital and material through research?

RMIT’s Professor Sarah Pink is one of the editors of Digital Materialities: Design and Anthropology, a book by scholars and practitioners working at the intersection between design and digital research in the UK, Spain, Australia and the USA.??

The book is co-edited with Elisenda Ardévol and Débora Lanzeni from the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona and was recently launched in Europe by RMIT Europe's Director of Research and Innovation Professor Jo Tacchi. ??

At the event, Pink described how Digital Materialities: Design and Anthropology featured an in-depth understanding of the digital-material world from both the social sciences and design, and the way this combined knowledge may advance capacity to design for the future.

“It moves from theoretical to practical: how different digital materialities are imagined and emerge; how new digital designs are sparked through collaborations between social scientists and designers; and finally, how digital design emerges from the insider work of everyday designers,” she said.

“It features ground-breaking research across twelve chapters for students and scholars of digital anthropology, ethnography, media and communication, and anyone interested in the future of digital design.”

Pink and her co-editors Ardévol and Lanzeni shared their insights on engaging with digital technologies to make meaningful decisions as part of the launch in Barcelona at RMIT Europe.

The event saw more than 60 attendees including researchers from the Open University of Catalonia, Pompeu Fabra University and Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain.

A researcher in RMIT's School of Media and Communication , Pink is also the Director of the University's Digital Ethnography Research Centre, an internationally leading centre focused on fostering cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and multi-sited research around this important field.

Digital Materialities: Design and Anthropology is published by Bloomsbury.

Story: Karen Matthews