Public lecture—Creativity as Survival: Mobile Networked Practices in Hybrid Spaces

In this talk, Professor Adriana de Souza e Silva (North Carolina State University) will give an overview of her research with focus on two theoretical frameworks: hybrid spaces and mobile networked creativity. 

Current ideas of innovation and creativity are normally based on western and colonial values that view creativity as an individual cognitive practice. However, creativity also happens in situations of hardship, where there is a lack of time, money and resources. When favela residents or forced migrants in makeshift dwellings repurpose technology to improve their living conditions, they are not only appropriating technology: they are both collectively recreating their relationship with technology and re-inventing themselves. This process not only changes how people and communities use technology; it also changes how they view themselves and experience the (hybrid) spaces around them. 

In this talk, Professor de Souza e Silva proposes a new understanding of creativity as a process that relies on networked resources and mobility within an environment that connects people and technologies. She will end with examples of how these these ideas are translated into practical applications and political action that can actually influence research, technology development, policy, and ultimately change human lives.

About Professor de Souza e Silva

Adriana de Souza e Silva is a Professor at the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and Director of the Networked Mobilities Lab. Dr. de Souza e Silva’s research focuses on the creative ways people appropriate mobile technologies, including location-based games and mobile media art. In particular, she investigates how mobile and locative interfaces shape urban mobility and people’s interactions with public spaces, primarily in the developing world. She is the author or co-author of 7 books, and almost 50 articles in peer-reviewed publications. Dr. de Souza e Silva is a NC State University Faculty Scholar and has twice won the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Researcher Award.