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A new media lab is promoting research that examines the connection between technology and humans

 

How do you start a conversation with a robot? What does our refrigerator think about when it’s empty? And how can computer games improve mankind? Shenkar College is bringing the future to the present as it is entering an era of next generation technologies, experiences between human and machine, and outstanding creativity, all of this with a new ground breaking media lab. 

The media lab, a project that came to life thanks to the generous donation of Michal and Abraham Kadar, will focus on research, educational and practical interdisciplinary activity, bringing together researchers, lecturers and students from the design, arts and engineering departments at Shenkar.

A center for technology design and a play center will operate as part of the Kadar lab. Each one of them will offer a chance to develop projects, startups and collaborations in the space between man and technology.

The Kadar center for design and technology will focus on research and activities in the field of interaction design, analyzing the dialog created between people and technology. Using state of the art equipment, students and faculty will be able to build prototypes in no time and use them for research and practical experiments together with the research and entrepreneurship initiatives at Shenkar, as well as with faculty members, and other culture and industrial institutions in Israel and all over the world.

Michal Rinot is the head of the center. Rinot is a researcher and creator in the field of interaction design and she is also a senior faculty member at the Azrieli design faculty at Shenkar. In 2008 she established the first lab for design interactions in Israel at the HIT center in Holon and was head of the lab until 2015.

Going through the establishment of the Kadar paly center: 

The Kadar play center was established as part of a mission to strengthen and investigate the connection between play, joy and learning, as well as to encourage the development of games that link to the social and artistic worlds.

The center offers a variety of learning programs and training courses in game media development and design, and it is used as a home to experiments and research for various aspects in which games shape our society and culture. A collaboration with MIT recently launched with a games incubator for students of both schools. 

Dr. Vered Panuelli is the head of the center. Panuelli established the computer games development and design program at the external studies division at Shenkar. Panuelli is a design manager, lecturer and researcher and cultural investigator who is highly experienced in the digital field. 

Top of page: the new Meccano robots that joined the Kadar media lab (Photo: Ahikam Ben-Yosef)

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