"The simple idea that people want to shape their future, and not be passive, is per se a great achievement, whether we reach it or not." (Ricardo Antonini)

Was it the seemingly seamless organisation? The vigour and quality of the workshops - many more than originally anticipated? The fact that the conference was structured in a way that made it very easy to meet people? The mix of people and their enthusiasm? Was it that we all got to play with lego bricks, and that some of us got to swim in the sea (in a wet suit or not)? Or was it the fact that "synergy" for once proved to be much more than just a fashionable word? Whatever the reasons, the Spring Days were a success. Here are a few of the highlights.

Memorable words Jakub Wejchert read from The Little Prince. Here’s the passage again, at the request of many: "If I have told you these details about the asteroid, and made a note of its number to you, it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways. Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies?" Instead they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him. If you were to say to the grown-ups: "I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof," they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would have to say to then: "I saw a house that cost $ 20,000." then they would exclaim: "Oh, what a pretty house that is!" Just so, you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep. If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists." And what good would it do to tell them that? They would shrug their shoulders, and treat you like a child. But if you said to them: "The planet he came from is Asteroid B-612," then they would be convinced, and leave you in peace from their questions. They are like that. One must not hold it against them. Children should always show great forbearance toward grown-up people." (Excerpt from THE LITTLE PRINCE by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, copyright 1943 and renewed 1971 by Harcourt Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Memorable pictures Marina Lundkvist gave us a glimpse of computers as seen through the eyes of young children. Marina presented details of her research on visual imagery and children’s learning at the workshop Perspective on Young Children’s Learning. She explained how she had asked a number of six-year-old children to make a drawing of what you can use a computer for, on two occasions: first at the beginning of the children’s pre-school year, and again six months later. Her purpose was to study whether the children’s understanding changed during that period of time. The research involved, amongst other things, interpreting the pictures, but another important part of it was listening to the children, who told Marina about their pictures and what they had been thinking about when they were drawing them.

What can you use a computer for? Jenni’s first drawing consists of two red hearts and a yellow string looped around them. Jenni’s drawing in response to the same question six months later. The drawing shows a girl (probably Jenni herself) sitting on a chair in front of the computer.

"What we really need to do is look at what are new ways of doing things; not just borrow from some existing model, but do something ourselves, something that has a chance of working in the future. And working with value, rather than just working." (Jakub Wejchert)

Memorable energy 17 children from the Barcelona International School attended the workshop Designing with children. Sessions at the workshop were 80% improvised, and Kidslab representative Lieselotte van Leeuwen admits it was "tough - but worthwhile. Having the kids ‘live’ catalysed the discussion, both within the KidsLab consortium and among the workshop participants, and pressing practical problems came to the surface." See also p30 for a review of Alison Druid’s book The Design of Children’s Technology.

"I really loved Phil (Ellis)’s work on CARESS. I want one, I want a Soundbeam! It’s such a great thing for young children, to get them to use their bodies and play with music." (Jeremy Rochell)

Memorable encounter ESE meets (the rest of) i3. The ESE (Experimental School Environments) projects entered i3 at a later stage than those in the CI (Connected Community and Inhabited Information Spaces ) research programme. The Spring Days, and particularly the poster session Get together with the ESE projects, provided the first real opportunity for those involved in the ESE research programme to meet with the i3 community at large, and vice versa. The result was a wave of lively discussions - at the poster exhibition, at workshops and just about everywhere else - between members of the ESE community and interested, and at times riveted, interlocutors. Marilyn Panayi, from the Today’s Stories project, comments: "We all had a vested interest in seeing what our colleagues had to offer, but the event as a whole was also pervaded by a real sense of fun. ESE Spring Days activities ranged from academic pursuits on the role of reflection in early learning, to questions of ethics and the physical challenge of building a ‘community memory’ with Lego bricks. We were invited to experience a train journey, interact with a wearable prototype, play with ‘magic boxes’ and make music with beams. Our imagination was challenged to explore the potential of digitally enhanced toys of the future - from soft puppets to eTui, reflective wearables, from zooming interfaces to interactive spaces... And whenever ESE people engaged in discussions, with each other or with other Spring Days participants, there was an almost audible hum of synergy!"

ESE at Sitges   "Addressing the issues of learning in the four-to-eight age range is in and of itself rich in potential for innovation, because it is virtually unique, and because that age group has such a high potential for exponential development of the learning process." (Patrick Purcell)

Memorable advice

Heike Huisken and John Preston of the IPR-Helpdesk in Luxembourg ran a workshop on issues surrounding commercialisation and intellectual property rights.

Robert Whelan, the workshop organiser, writes that "the legal details and the complexity of national, European and international IPR law can be daunting. But the need to establish a solid framework for protection of a research project’s work is paramount: without legal protection, a project’s work can be devalued, dissolved, or worse, stolen. In this context, the workshop showed that there is a real need amongst the i3 projects for a wide range different information about intellectual property and the laws of Europe. Everyone in the workshop had different, but very specific, questions.

One lesson from the workshop was that the best approach to IPR management is simply to find a patent professional. Aside from the fact that there are wide national, European and international divergences in legal frameworks, the new round of research projects launched in the Fifth Framework programme will involve new legal definitions, new legal concepts, a new organisation and new forms of legislation - and all this in an increasingly competitive commercial environment. The IPR Helpdesk is a good place to start looking for professional feedback: it offers comprehensive advice on everything you always wanted to know about intellectual property but didn’t know who to ask."

The IPR-Helpdesk is hosted on the Cordis website: www.cordis.lu/ipr-helpdesk

"The most important thing is that people come together and talk." (Marina Lundquist)

Memorable Party The Presence project held one of its Tea Parties. The Presence Tea Parties are "informal and intimate in character - hence the name - but not inconsequential. They explore the relationship between the formality and language of research practices and the more playful and visual approaches of designers of products and services. The objective is to build effective bridges between designers and researchers, and to explore ways in which each culture can inform the other to mutual benefit. The focus is on working with users, and the particular context is the Presence programme and its three test sites in Norway, Italy and The Netherlands - points at which research, design and the real world interface and interact. The Spring Days Tea Party continued this process by throwing the party open to other i3 projects as a way of both broadening the discussion and of show-casing some of the Presence partners and their specialist methods and approach." For a full report on the Presence Tea party, and for more information on Tea Parties, past and present, visit the Presence Discussion Forum: www.presenceweb.org

The Presence Tea Party at the start... ...and towards the end (but where is the tea?)

"What really leapt out was the energy and motivation to solve the problems, how exciting the activities are, how excited people are about pursuing them. The problems are complex and often there is a worry that they are insurmountable; but good research problems should be insurmountable." (Tom Rodden) "And dancing the lambada in a cheesy nightclub in downtown Sitges, oh gorgeous..." (Unidentified participant)

Workshop organizer Robert Whelan trying to interact with an "intelligent" interface.

Spring Days Arithmetic The Spring Days organisers had originally anticipated around 80 participants. As it was, about 270 people took part in the event. Of these 70% were people involved in i3 projects 25% were non-i3 workshop participants 5% were US participants 5% were outsiders with administrative tasks (reviewers, project officers, and so on) In addition to this, a group of about 25 children and teachers took part in the workshop Designing with children, and five people from the local press and citizen associations were there to report on the Spring Days.

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