News/Research

Artifacts from the Time of COVID-19

10 Jun, 2020

Artifacts from the Time of COVID-19

BCNM Professor Eric Paulos’s course, Critical Making (NWMEDIA C203)'s final showcase is now available to view!

From showcase:

On 9 March 2020 classes went online at UC Berkeley to protect the health and safety of the entire UC Berkeley community. Critical Making is a studio class that leverages team-based physical prototyping and design along with in-person critiques. We needed to rethink the course content to deliver the expected learning goals under these new constraints. Students were now scattered around the globe as they moved to safe locations to shelter in place. Teams could not meet in person. There were no shared resources in terms of materials, makerspaces, or prototyping equipment.

As an epilogue, we offered a final extra credit assignment, challenging students to select an artifact that they would recommend to a historian 100 years from now to be included in an exhibition in 2120 making the 100th anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak titled "COVID-100: Artifacts and Stories from the COVID-19 event of 2020". This exhibition is being curated to capture the experience of the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. Students collectively submitted short paragraphs and images of their recommendations for the exhibition in 2120. You can read them at the end of this webpage.


To view final provocations click here!