Project ECHO: Design's contribution

Description of research project

The ECHO project (https://eco.ipca.pt/) aims to identify, document, interpret and disseminate current self-regulated community practices in social housing neighborhoods in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. We argue that COVID-19 pandemic regulations have had a significant impact on the nature and viability of these practices. Therefore, the proposal to document and disseminate these practices aims to strengthen mechanisms of empathy and social solidarity among the population.

Through the use of Design research, we aim to disseminate these community practices to other socially disadvantaged communities. We also want to encourage the development of these type of practices in these communities, showing them that it's possible to both be successful and learn how to communicate about it. There is therefore a mission that is not only social and inclusive, but also educational. Through Design research, we aim to provide means of access to knowledge and active citizenship.

In this seminar we present the work process, the methodologies and the results of the project after almost 2 years of work.

One of the publications from the ECHO project:

Martins, N., Brandão, D., Guimarães, L., Penedos-Santiago, E., & Brandão, E. (2023). The Importance of Communication Design in the Process of Disseminating Community Practices in Social Neighbourhoods: The Balteiro. In: Comunicação E Sociedade, 43, e023010. Bilingual
https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.43(2023).4455
(English: https://revistacomsoc.pt/index.php/revistacomsoc/article/view/4455/5347)

Nuno Martins

PhD in Digital Media (2013) at the University of Porto, as doctoral fellow of the UT Austin-Portugal Program of the Foundation for Science and Technology; post-doctoral degree in Design (2020); research focus: Design for digital media with particular interest in digital solutions for the citizen and community networks and practices; MA in Multimedia Art (2007) and a BA in Communication Design (2003) at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.

Current position: Coordinator Professor (area of Communication Design) at the School of Design (ESD) of the Polytechnic of Cávado and Ave (IPCA), Portugal, and Director of the MA in Digital Design. He is an Integrated Researcher of the Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture (ID+).
Principal Investigator (PI) of the project “ECHO – Echoing the Communal Self: designing the dissemination and replication of self-initiated practices in underprivileged urban communities in a post-pandemic world”, funded by FCT (EXPL/ART-DAQ/0037/2021)

Daniel Brandão

PhD in digital media (2014) at the University of Porto, in the domain of audiovisual and interactive content creation, where he developed the project Museum of Ransom (www.museudoresgate.org), a participatory archive and website that collects videos made by citizens about the city’s daily life, legitimizing their vocation for documentation of cultural heritage; co-coordinated the project Citadocs: creation of collaborative mini-documentaries, born in Future Places Medialab for Citizenship; MA in Multimedia Art (2008) and a BA in Communication Design (2004) at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.

Current position: assistant professor at the Department of Communication Sciences at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal; integrated researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre.

Co-principle investigator of the project bYou: Study on Children and Young People’s Experiences and Expressions of the Media (PTDC/COM-OUT/3004/2020), and integrates the team of the research project ECHO: Echoing the Communal Self (EXPL/ART-DAQ/0037/2021).