Playful Research

This Session we were talking about how we could / want to design our research process and to think about the different methodologies that could suit the topic we want to tackle. Therefore we started discussing the papers we read by pointing out our interests in them and later on grouped together with a person following similar ambitions topic wise to talk about the possible research methods.

Thoughts on my upcoming research process

What I will definitely need to do is to prepare a template for documenting my thoughts and ideas on the bachelor thesis and to make myself a timetable in the following weeks so that I motivate myself to keep track of what I’m doing. I also see great benefits from working in this manner as for being able to look back on decisions one took in the early stages and to be able to reflect on them from a different point view in a more advanced stage of the process.

I also enjoyed the input of thinking about the documentation as a book you want to share and therefore thinking about how you want to format it, how text and images should play together but also how you want to make it accessible and how it will be presented.

Stay joyful but rigorous

We further discussed how we can make our research playful and joyful by still staying rigorous and creating something of seriousness at the same time. What we came up with:

• Isolation is a danger - find ways to discuss and exchange on a daily basis. Research partner is nice
• Active brainstorming
• Lean into the work. Look at it as a performance. You try to live it as if it was a normal setup but it isn’t.
• Milestones and goals can help to keep focus and sense in the process.
• Be open for different methods! Use a list and pick a different method for once for example.
• Try to appreciate being lost.

What could be joyful tools in my research regarding the topic of a post-growth society?

If I will tackle this topic it’s going to be of crucial importance to externalise all of my thoughts and ideas all the time and to discuss them with the people that will be affected by the design I come up with. As in my case the design should specifically address a community / people, it’s even of higher importance than it should already be.

Tools I think I should integrate:

Workbook, Interdisciplinary work, Co-Creation with hands-on tools, Post-its & Big Visualisations in the room your working in, Project Plan (Analogue in the room as well), Externalising in various forms => Conversations, Sketches, Objects, etc.., Staying in dialogue with people making something similar, Interviewing, Workshops

Contribution?

We also discussed the term contribution again, as we felt like it’s putting to much pressure on us in the early stage, where we should actually focus on enjoying the exploration of a topic and see what we come up with. So it turned out that we should understand the question of how we’d like to contribute to something more in a way of where we can place our creativity in and which innovative thoughts we can add during the process.

Workshop?

Last but not least – If we think about doing a workshop with other people involved we should really think of what we want to get out of it in order for interesting insights to emerge. So be organised, be prepared and think of how to reward the participants, because it should mainly be about them!