The Blog

Have you worked on a project that connects people or communities, that facilitates dialogue and encourages communication and active participation? If so, it’s probably a great candidate for entry in our Connecting category. When we think about connecting, we’re not prescriptive about platform or channel — only about facilitating communication between people and communities.  In 2015, we honored five projects in this category, each with a different focus, a different mission and a different point of view.

100 Years of Design by Second Story created a living archive of design history that connects us with each other and with our past. The experience is educational and dynamic, encouraging visitors to contemplate and learn from the past, but also to engage in conversation about contemporary issues in design.

The Nike SB App by R/GA connects skateboarders with each other and with professionals so they can advance in the sport by learning new moves, competing in challenges and earning street cred with one another. It also allows them to capture their personal skate history and see their progress over time.

GreatSchools Local connects parents with the best schools in their area to insure their children are getting a great education. The site serves more than 1.5 million families in eight communities. It provides ratings and reviews as well as help in navigating the education system.

Sentiment News by Yahoo is a social rating system that allows news readers to express how news articles make them feel. The aggregated ratings allow readers to sort news stories by sentiment as well as by topic, creating an interesting and compelling new way to consume news. Need a pick me up? Read happy stories!

Our best in category award went to Skype in the Classroom by Made by Many. This brilliant use of technology allows teachers to connect their classes with other classes, with guest speakers who would otherwise be inaccessible, and it enables virtual field trips to far-away places. Skype in the Classroom brings the world to the classroom and it is enriching the lives of children in more than 100K classrooms in 240 countries around the world.

These are great examples of the power of connecting people and communities via interactive experiences. We know they represent only a fraction of the great work being done by the IxDA community. We can’t wait to see how you have been connecting people and communities in the last year.

Celebrate your great work and your success by entering the the 2016 Interaction Awards. Hurry. The deadline is September 13, 2015.