Hybrid Reality and Culture
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Design and Research Challenge
In the context of socio-technical environments, how can the design process and design thinking advance or bridge our social/cultural capital?
The CMIR core research stream ‘Hybrid Reality and Culture’ leads for UWE on work in the European research project Learning Layers (http://learning-layers.eu/) which is aimed at enhancing practices surrounding professional learning (i.e. Healthcare domain in North England) and linking this to theories on informal learning. Our approach shows how we employ empirical and design work and a Participatory Pattern Design method to move from (kernel) theories via Design Principles and prototypes to social machines articulating the notion of a Hybrid Social Learning Network or HSLN. We illustrate this approach with the example of tools, in particular through the development of Confer.
Design and Research Challenge
In the context of socio-technical environments, how can the design process and design thinking advance or bridge our social/cultural capital?
The CMIR core research stream ‘Hybrid Reality and Culture’ leads for UWE on work in the European research project Learning Layers (http://learning-layers.eu/) which is aimed at enhancing practices surrounding professional learning (i.e. Healthcare domain in North England) and linking this to theories on informal learning. Our approach shows how we employ empirical and design work and a Participatory Pattern Design method to move from (kernel) theories via Design Principles and prototypes to social machines articulating the notion of a Hybrid Social Learning Network or HSLN. We illustrate this approach with the example of tools, in particular through the development of Confer.
Hybrid Social Learning Networks
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Hybrid Social Learning Networks (HSLN) is a concept describing socio-technical systems that enable Zones of Possibility (ZoP) to emerge when people and artifacts interact and engage in social positioning practices while learning in informal workplace learning situations. The ZoP enables hybrid professional practice to dynamically emerge jointly through social positioning. As part of our Design Based Research approach the Learning Layers project has developed a meta-design principles to design Hybrid Social Learning Networks (HSLN design approach). In order to establish a clear pathway between kernel theories/empirical evidence/experience and design narratives we have applied Participatory Pattern Design (PPD) method. PPD method includes design principles (and meta-design principles) as boundary objects translating theory into practice, and agile user stories as boundary objects bridging the Design Based Research language with that of software engineering. The resulted meta-design principles are: Respect Learners' Zone of Possibility, Support Knowledge Building Discourse, and Aim for a "50-50 partnership". The outcomes from the PPD methodology have been used to develop the Confer tool based on Agile User Stories developed as part of the co-design with users in England. Confer (http://confer.zone/) provides online collaboration spaces for working groups that can be used both synchronously as well as asynchronously. Confer supports work groups to collaborate on a task or project; helping groups to keep the work focused and flowing, recording the discussions and reasoning along the way and producing a final summary output that can become the first draft of your report or recommendations. |
In an attempt to address this challenge, as well as the work on Confer, we want to explore further scenarios and possibilities to spin out our Learning Layers outcomes (i.e. Hybrid Social Learning Network, PPD, Design Principles and Design Patterns) as well as other outcomes created by partners in this project (e.g. Ach So! where users record short videos, add text-based annotations to them and share the annotated videos with their collaborators. See: Virnes, Purma, Bauters, & Leinonen, 2015).
Our 2016 plans include:
- Hybrid Stokes Croft (in collaboration with U-Soap Media): is a digital public space where “community reporters” from the inner city neighbourhood of Stokes Croft in Bristol can share their stories of creating opportunity and urban regeneration through using social resilience and culture. These stories will be in the form of video, audio, image and text. A HSC website (cloud based and optimized for mobile devices) will use these stories to give insights that aim to influence and inform people and organisations locally and globally. Users may consume the media, comment on it or make their own media to develop an argument or propose an idea.
- Hybrid Cinefest-Zone of Possibility app 2016: and adapted version of the Ach So app will be used to annotate the videos of the 2015 Cinefest as a first stage. A local cloud based solution will be implemented to allow the public (e.g. students/earlier career, Cinematography people, etc) to capture, annotate and share their own video clips during Cinefest 2016. See: http://www.cinefest.co.uk/
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Contact Details:
Prof. John Cook
Publications Available at UWE Research Repository: http://goo.gl/sya0fM
Dr. Patricia Santos
Publications available in UWE Research Repository: http://goo.gl/7a7YCN