The State of EindhovenThe State of Eindhoven

In the DATAstudio, part of the State of Eindhoven project, available data and technological possibilities are married with the reality of life in the city and local residents' needs. What can the smart city do to enhance social life in a neighbourhood? And how might technology help to encourage citizen participation?

The DATAstudio is active in the working-class Eindhoven neighbourhoods of Woenselse Heide and De Tempel. During the project, a vintage bus is serving as a distinctive meeting point, interview room and office. The DATAstudio will carry out a growing number of its own projects and several joint ones. All of them will centre on dialogue - specifically, conversations around citizens' experiences and desires and whether and how they relate to available data.

The DATAstudio's functions are to invite and encourage citizen participation, to question and investigate the use of data, and to bring together existing initiatives. It is a place where residents, experts, city officials, students, employees of housing corporations and social organisations, and other interested parties can work together.

Preparations for the programme of the DATAstudio are in full swing; a joint project with Eindhoven University of Technology has taken place and the results were presented 23 June. The DataStudio is also contributing to existing programmes run by the city of Eindhoven. Other projects will commence in July 2016 and beyond. Activities in development for the summer and autumn include:

Who are the people behind the data, and what are their stories? This summer, "data reporters" will spend a few days interviewing residents of Woenselse Heide and De Tempel, using the bus as a base. The reporters - fellow local citizens, including students and professionals - will receive training from Kennisland.

The interviews will take place in July and will focus on the topics of technology and citizen participation. The collected stories and photographs will be published in a "story bank" on the DATAstudio website. Its contents will be compared with existing data from the neighbourhoods. The data reporters will present the stories and outcomes at a follow-up day in September. Relevant bodies, such as housing corporations and the municipality, will be notified of problems and issues so that they may take action.

11 - 16 July 2016

Tsjalling Swierstra, a professor of the philosophy of technology, will give a series of accessible public lectures for those interested in knowing more about what kind of data are and are not being collected, where they can be found, how they can be used, and what the privacy implications are. Lectures will take place in, around and from the parked bus.

22 September, 6 October and 3 November 2016,_ 4pm and 7.30pm_

Designer Anab Jain of Superflux will work with local children to map the area in walks and workshops. Children experience neighbourhoods very differently than adults do, and they have access to very different kinds of information. Jain and the children will record this information to create a totally new kind of neighbourhood map. The DATAstudio is collaborating with local primary schools on the project. It may be repeated in other parts of town in the future.

Autumn 2016

Read more about the DATAstudio and its activities (in Dutch).