Outside-In
OutsideIn
/ ˈaʊtsʌɪd/ /ɪn/
noun
A decentralized ThinkIn for members to be present without being present.
Tortoise, a start-up company that produces “slow news”, a way in which they inform the news they produce is their Think Ins. We were asked to create a new In and think how this In could bring thousands of people into their journalism taking place as part of the Tate Exchange. Our ‘In’ is titled “OutsideIn” which we defined as “a decentralized ThinkIn for members to be present without being present”.
We chose to look at the idea of urban and rural and the ways they communicate their news, to look into facilitating Tortoise’s access to reach rural areas and have the rural people voice their opinion. We aimed to give voice to rural dwellers inside the tortoise ThinkIn and spec- ulate where their voice is placed within the hierarchy of these forums. We chose to look at the idea of urban and rural occupants and look into the accessibility of the centralised ThinkIns, especially in today’s limitations.
In addition, Tortoise also asked us to come up with a proposal for their residency at Tate Modern to have the opportunity for our project proposal to be displayed there. .
We designed two objects in order to achieve our aim. Each one of these responds to a concept and works along with a new feature in the app.
Our first concept involves a network system whereby each member acts as an individual node to collectively create an online ThinkIn.
The CB recorder works with the tortoise chatter, (in the Tortoise app) where a topic of the week is displayed, along with a question and the option to record a response. In turn, members can listen to the responses of other members.
For the second concept, ThinkIns take place across many different contexts and can take place anywhere, as these discussions are already happening in other communities and these ‘ThinkIns’ don’t have to be started by Tortoise. In order to connect these discussions back into the Tortoise network, the model consists in a way of recording these discussions in all kinds of different spaces, to be archived and used as a source to generate news and articles. Thus, we created the Host Recorder, a phone stand that enables its users to host and record their own ThinkIns independently.
Tortoise x Tate Proposal
What we envision for the Tortoise residency at Tate is a way for these products we’ve produced to be introduced to the Tortoise community and also, to conduct our first real OutsideIn, to introduce other local communities to the Tortoise Network.
For this, we are proposing to draw a parallel between the space of the Tate exchange and spaces we encountered in our site-specific research. By drawing this parallel we aim to not make the residency less centralised, but in the process questions of power and the urban-rural hierarchy can be explored too.
The plan was to place the recorder stands within the space, allowing members and community members to mess around with how it works and try out the app and the stand. This also plays on the theme of power, as the product generally serves smaller groups as opposed to big groups, promoting grassroots and giving importance to small organizations and discussions. This allows many discussions to happen in the place at once.
We designed a piece of technology resembling an old radio, to represent and perform the same function as the Tortoise chatter within the spaces. By installing one of these in the Tate exchange, and another in Sudbury Institute, we draw a parallel between these places, and connect them in the tortoise network. By doing this, we connect to the real rural sites we researched and show how this technology can be used to decentralize the ThinkIn and therefore the newsroom, collecting responses from both Tate and Sudbury to create a decentralized ThinkIn that takes place across the course of the residency, and extending its reach and scope beyond just the Tate.