Background 

Media in Transit (MIT) develops specific media formats for selected mobility routes in the model region St. Pölten and addresses ways of transmitting these formats. St. Pölten is both centre and surrounding area, a region of differently networked areas of urban and rural living spaces. Connecting these zones with each other, but also with their potential and actual visitors, is one of the most important challenges. 

Project objective

The project focuses on the everyday use of media and the experience of cultural content in transit (i.e. during the journey to and through the region), its possible connections to cultural and artistic communities and local added value. The aim is to develop formats for selected regional and supra-regional transport links that focus on aspects of regionality and function as a means of creating a regional identity and interface between virtual and real spaces of ideas, markets and art. 
Survey among occupational and educational commuters 
In a first step, everyday experiences and practices of commuters during transit to and from St. Pölten are recorded. Analysis focuses on the relationship between mobility and media use. In addition, the connection to everyday experiences and the perception of St. Pölten as a cultural region is recorded. For this purpose, employees and students of the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences are interviewed using an online questionnaire and a guideline interview. The survey is conducted by researchers of the Institute of Media Economics. Members of the Media Creation research group conduct video interviews with a selection of the interviewees.

Encounter with "the region”

In a second step, the potential of the interactive and participatory integration of the specific milieu of commuters into the regional cultural offer is explored within the framework of an artistic intervention. Staff and students of St. Pölten UAS are an ideal research object with regard to these questions: They often experience the city from the perspective of commuters and as a rule are only loosely connected the local and regional offers. In addition, they tend to have highly mobile and media-related biographies. 
The need for an encounter at the interface of physical and digital space, in which the local can present itself and meet interested parties is clear. Depending on the results of the survey, different scenarios are possible. This might mean concrete artistic intervention in the aesthetic perception of everyday life or using a means of transport to show already existing content and observing reactions and interactions. 

Result 

MIT delivers results on two levels:
Social science study: The study offers knowledge of media use behaviour in transit contexts and insights into the relationship of a specific group of people commuting for work and education to the city and cultural region of St.Pölten.
Documentary: Results from the study are presented in the form of interviews and accompanying short videos