Block 1 – Foundations
Block 1 – Foundations
Friday 9th August, 9am – 5pm in CB11.05.102+104
We will cover:
- Introductions and what matters to you
- Power, knowledge and difference
- Fictional worlds
- Storyboarding your research
- Key approaches and structuring themes
Here are details of the pre-class work for each part of Block 1.
Introductions
1.Find an image online that relates in some way to your research. Share it online in the B1 – Visual Introductions Topic [in Teams] and explain its relevance. See How to… for instructions on how to copy the image URL and embed it in your reply.
2. Use the Your own trajectories template to reflect on where you come from and where you are going in your research. Bring the completed version with you to Block 1.
Half way in and it’s going well – vignettes
3. Imagine yourself in the middle of gathering/making data for your project, write and post a 150 words vignette about it in the B1 Vignettes topic [in Teams]. What are you doing (perhaps today, this week)? How do you feel? How do you know it is going well? Consider: what you need to find out, how you are going to do it, who is involved, where it is going to happen, which steps do you need to take to make to happen. Anticipate future needs, use whatever information you have to make your plan, expect the unexpected, think long term as well as short term, imagine freely. You might find this article on Design Fiction useful.
Key approaches
4. Watch this short video. Bring notes with you on your key learning points and any questions that come up for you.
Introductions
If you’re waiting for us to start, check out the Block 1 Teams Channel.
Explore and share your trajectories
Power, knowledge and difference
We will explore some of the practical approaches to questions of power, knowledge and difference in research, considering what we might learn from recent developments in Indigenous and De-Colonising research.
Gawaian’s slides from his introduction to Indigenous methodologies and methods might be useful.
Fictional Worlds and Imagination
Describe research to others, developing scenarios and imagining the evolution (or set backs) of a research project step by step. It will involve a mix of group and individual work. Here are the DR Lab 2019 B1 fictional worlds slides.
Lunch
Storyboarding your research
Building on the speculative exercise in the previous session and the prep article in this session you will start storyboarding your research step by step, and identify which is the thing you need to do next to progress your project.
Key approaches
Q&A (15 mins) You will fill out the 4 parts template as they currently apply; 2 mins to tell another.
A first look at different methods. Method cards will be distributed randomly: What would your project look like if you were to follow the method given to you? Explain in small groups. This exercise is important to imagine possible directions.
After Block 1
Don’t forget Assessment 1 is due Friday 17th August. Lots of the work we did in Block 1 will help you with this. You submit Assessment 1 through the submission box on the Assessment 1 page.
Remember to complete the preparation for Block 2.
Please feel free to continue the Block 1 Conversation Topic. Ilaria and Nick will read all the comments you put there, no matter when, and we are keen to keep the conversations going.
If you are interested in speculative exercises you can watch Fiona Raby talking about Dunne & Raby’s work ‘Not Here, Not Now’ in the exhibitions Future Fictions, or read Chapter 5 of Dunne, A. & Raby, F. 2013, Speculative everything: Design, fiction and social dreaming, The MIT Press, Cambridge MASS and London.