COSICOSA is an educational research project that focuses on awaken creativity and critical thinking through design and technology. Together with Laura Malinverni, Cristina Valero and Isabel García de la Cruz, I initiated the project in summer 2018.
After years of working and researching in the context of educational technologies, we have seen that very often the proposed activities tend to focus on tools and technical know-how, leaving little space to enhance creative development and the ability to critically reflect on the design and use of new technologies as a means of expression and knowledge. New technologies are transforming all areas of society and our daily lives, leading to very complex ethical and social challenges. 42% of girls and boys between 5 and 7 years old have their own tablet and 70% between 12 and 15 years old have a profile on social networks. However, the way technology is taught to young people does not respond to how it is used or how it affects society. That is why at COSICOSA, we design and carry out educational programs for children, teenagers and educators that allow us to explore the ethical and social implications of emerging technologies and their impact on our lives. We work with creative, participatory and reflective methodologies that promote a critical and committed view to train future generations as reflective users and responsible designers.
Since 2018 we have worked in different projects related to non-formal education with technologies in different schools, art centres and national libraries. In 2019, the foundation Cibervoluntarios published an interview with us about our innovative project in “Innovadoras TIC – Emprendedoras referentes del Siglo XXI” in which we talked about our experiences as female entrepreneurs, our future ambitions and the gender perspective in ICT. Our projects have received both local and national funding. Among others, 2020 we were supported by the Program Preincubació, Barcelona Activa as one of the emerging startup projects of the city and received in 2020 the national grant FECYT for the project “Exposición Iterante: La ética de la máquina” and the Premis Barcelona 2020 for the project “L’ètica de les màquines: jocs crítics.”
In 2022, we published the educational book for children “Entre Máquinas Intelligentes” about the impact of technologies on our everyday life (Editorial Flamboyant, Barcelona, IBSN: 9788418304255). The book has been presented at national and international events (e.g. Feria International del Libro 2024 in Bogotá, Colombia). It has been translated into several languages among others in Catalan, Spanish, English, German, Portuguese and Chinese.
Related Publications:
Laura Malinverni, Cristina Valero, Marie-Monique Schaper and Isabel García de la Cruz. (2021). Educational Robotics as a boundary object: Toward a research agenda. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction. 29, 100305 (September 2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.100305
Laura Malinverni, Marie-Monique Schaper, and Cristina Valero. (2020). Relating to materials in digital fabrication: Transform materials to transform yourself. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction.7, 5-15. DOI=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2020.100166
Marie-Monique Schaper, Laura Malinverni, and Cristina Valero. (2020). Robot Presidents: Who should rule the world? Teaching Critical Thinking in AI through Reflections upon Food Traditions. In Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society (NordiCHI ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 110, 1–4. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420085
Vicky Charisi, Laura Malinverni, Elisa Rubegni, and Marie-Monique Schaper. (2020). Empowering Children’s Critical Reflections on AI, Robotics and Other Intelligent Technologies. In Proceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society (NordiCHI ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 128, 1–4. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3419249.3420090
Vicky Charisi, Laura Malinverni, Marie-Monique Schaper, and Elisa Rubegni. (2020). Creating opportunities for children’s critical reflections on AI, robotics and other intelligent technologies. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference: Extended Abstracts (IDC ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 89–95. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3397617.3398063