[visklek] – Playing with Games

Abstract

We live in an anxious world where there is a lack of trust in the communication in public places. A common way forward is to design against crime and thereby attempt to create a feeling of safety. We have chosen a different approach: to create a non-anxious system that puts trust in the user and allows her to act and to communicate. The project [visklek] aims at creating a public place that allows for social interaction and an exchange of personal stories between strangers in Växjö, Sweden. Trough the use of a traditional children’s game, network technologies and other channels of communication, we create an ambiguous and open system for user appropriation. Our conclusion is that there is a need for play, since while playing you can break the rules of the every day life, thereby become aware of norms and try to find your own tactics.