In this workshop we will break out of the prison of the attention economy, go beyond criticism and set out to create an alternative. To do this we need to challenge the metrics of time spent that got us into this mess and explore drawing as a method to visualise attention.
I will introduce the visual language I developed to note how people attend to or keep away from distractions. Visualising our attention provides a richer understanding of our attentional capacities than time spent. It’s also a fun drawing opportunity for all skill levels.
Takeaways:
- Our attentional capacities are not linear - certain activities increase, others decrease our mental energy
- Moving away from paying attention with seconds or minutes to attending breaks away from the power dynamic of the attention economy and opens up new possibilities for our digital landscape
With a tiny group, we could all work together and have direct conversations. With a larger audience, the exercises and questions would be done and discussed in small, rotating breakout groups who present their main points to the others.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:The next step would be to think about translating the connection-model of attention into a dominant and sustainable business model for digital media. If advertising won’t be the mainstream way to monetize new content, what can it be? And what kind of content can it be, if it breaks away from tracking and capturing eyeballs, and connects to its audience without hooking them?
Product designer, speaker, mentor, compulsive doodler and accidental polyglot.