Design research as a social change process
This talk explores how design research practice and protocols might shift, change or be challenged when the focus is to deliver community-led social change outcomes. The presentation draws on experiments and experiences in recent place based social innovation initiatives in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Increasingly in NZ, public health, public service and not for profit teams are using design approaches to enable social outcomes and social innovation in community settings. Whilst many of our conventional design research processes apply, there are also some norms and assumptions about practice that are challenged within this context.
This talk will explore how our design research priorities and protocols might change when local community social outcomes are the priority, and how design research activities such as interviews and workshops are opportunities for intervention that can result in change or community capability building in and of themselves - rather than just activities that sets us up for change down the track.
Trends, challenges or changes we will explore include:
- Managing design research within our own communities
- Focusing on relationships, connections and building community ownership as well as design insights and knowledge
- Privileging impact and opportunities for change over robust research data
- Design research as capability building for the community
- Ethics of complexity and proximity
Given the number of opportunities we now have as design researchers to influence social change, it’s worth rethinking whether some of our earlier assumptions about “good work” and what we “should” be doing in design research is serving our communities in the best ways and indeed how well qualified we are for this kind of sensitive and activist oriented work.