Lab 10 - Gamify democracy

8 November 2016 -14.00/16.00 - palais de l'Europe - Room 2 - Interpretation: FR/EN

The lab will examine the impact of off-line games and immersive digital technologies for democracy learning, and the interface which can be created with formal learning environments.

initiative 1

GAMIFY-Democracy, The Young Republic, Sweden

"GAMIFY- Democracy" is an interactive and unique experimental learning experience: a series of half-a-day events gather young people from different backgrounds living in the same city to game, meet and share while exploring democracy-related themes. The methodology is based on a combination of non-formal education and gamification to create a unique diverse environment where young people experiment democracy-related situations, develop their democratic-competencies, and explore possibilities to work together and build a plural, thus strongerdemocracy. GAMIFY is open to public, presented as an entertainment weekend event, and works for democracy beyond the Game itself, through building personal connections, bridges and social cohesion.

Presenter(s)

Mohammed ALSAUD

Chairman of The Young Republic

Syria/Sweden

Mohammed is a Syrian activist who has been working for the last 8 years for democracy and human rights in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Mohammed is a co-founder and the chairman of The Young Republic organization which aims to empower young Syrians in the diaspora to foster their democratic participation, civic engagement and inclusion in their host communities, and, in the long run, prepare them to build a new democratic republic in post-war Syria.

initiative 2

Immersive Lab, Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Italy

The Immersive Lab is an Advanced Educational Laboratory, equipped with next-gen technologies of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. It was created thanks to a Google.org funding, it’s hosted inside Fondazione Mondo Digitale of Rome, and offers introductory courses on Immersive Technologies for public school students, and weekly workshops of ‘Immersive Design & Storytelling’, for unemployed youth, NEETs and school dropouts. Currently, a team of former students is developing a unique Immersive Educational Experience - “Project Newtopia” - to teach kids 8-12 both Soft Skills and Critical Thinking, plus a new perspective on the Destiny of Humankind.

Presenter(s)

Domenico ZUNGRI

Supervisor of the Immersive Lab

Italy

Domenico Zungri is an Immersive Designer, specialized in the development of Immersive Simulations. He earned a Master Degree in Digital Entertainment at the Virtual Reality & MultiMedia Park of Turin, worked as Game & Narrative Designer for Milestone in Milan, and collaborates with EON Reality. In 2011, the International Social Innovation Competition awarded him for an educational project, about engaging at-risk and dropout kids through Immersive Technologies. Currently, Domenico is Supervisor of the IMMERSIVE LAB: a Google-funded experimental laboratory, where he develops Immersive Educational Experiences, teaches the workshop “Immersive Design & Storytelling”, mentors talented youth and advises innovative startups.

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

Vanessa LISTON

Co-founder and CEO of CiviQ

Ireland

Dr. Vanessa Liston is co-founder and CEO of CiviQ, a company delivering innovations in public participation and deliberation. CiviQ’s mission is the creation of an open data source on public opinion and changes in social perspectives to help respond to complex social and environmental challenges. Vanessa holds a PhD in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where she was a Government of Ireland Scholar. She publishes regularly in international journals on development issues, deliberative democracy, Web 2.0 technologies, and political system innovation. Vanessa also has a background in international development and a management consulting career in Accenture and Cambridge Technology Partners. In 2014 she was listed by TechnologyVoice as one of Ireland’s Talented 38 Technology Women.

Jorge SALDIVAR

Informatic Engineer, PhD candidate at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento (Italy) and Research Assistant at the Department of Electronic and Informatic, Catholic University “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción” (Paraguay)

Paraguay

Jorge Saldivar is a Paraguayan Ph.D. candidate in Information Technology at the University of Trento, Italy and at the Catholic University “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay. His research interests include crowdsourcing, citizen engagement, and democratic innovations.

moderator

Maria Esther RABASA GRAU

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Andorra to the Council of Europe

Andorra

Maria Esther Rabasa Grau is Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Andorra to the Council of Europe since 2015. She has extensive experience in the field of education, having, for example, been Director of the Andorran School of Massana, Ministry of Education (2009-2015), Director of the Department of Professional Training and Educational Development, Ministry of Education (2005-2009), and Head of Service of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, as well as member of the monitoring group of the Bologna Process (2001-2004). From 1999-2001, she was Minister counsellor in the embassy of the Principality of Andorra in France and Deputy Permanent Delegate in Unesco.