The materiality of research: ‘the materiality of facts and fiction: recomposing myself from the sickbed’ by Charlotte Wegener

In this feature essay, Charlotte Wegener ‘recomposes’ her writing from her sickbed. Drawing inspiration from the work of novelist A.S. Byatt, she describes how dialogue with one of Byatt’s protagonists, Phineas, provides a way of thinking about the potential contingency of the border between the factual and the fictive when undertaking social science research

”Jeg kan godt sige ”innovativ” – jeg siger det tit”. Begrænser innovationsdiskursen innovation i praksis?

Innovationsbegrebet er centralt i debatten om fremtidens velfærdssamfund, og innovation fremstår nu som et imperativ for både samfund og arbejdspladser. Men hvad betyder innovation i en offentlig kontekst egentlig, og hvilken betydning har innovationsimperativet for aktører i deres daglige praksis på offentlige arbejdspladser? Fra et empirisk perspektiv udfolder artiklen en begrebsanalyse af innovation og viser, hvordan innovationsbegrebets betydninger skabes gennem lokale aktørers diskurser. Fra et demokratiseringsperspektiv argumenteres efterfølgende for, at lokale aktørers perspektiver på innovation skal ses som en konstruktiv ressource, der kan bidrage til bæredygtig udvikling i praksis. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Charlotte Wegener: Does Innovation Discourse Restrict Innovation? The elder care sector in Denmark is one of the main welfare state areas in which innovation is on the agenda. Economic constraints, demographic changes including more elderly and reduced budgets are the arguments advanced by politicians and public opinions leaders for adopting a radically new way of thinking. If this does not happen, they argue, quality and ethics – and consequently citizens and staff – will suffer unnecessarily. The solution promulgated is innovation. This article investigates the ways in which the innovation discourse unfolds on the practice-based level – among students and staff in the elder care sector and at the social and health care college, which trains care workers. It examines the discourses among employees, managers and students who are supposed to be innovative and take part in implementation of innovative changes within their organization or in cross-organizational collaboration in social and health care and education. It asks whether innovation discourse facilitates innovation. The article concludes that the actors are engaged in the concept of innovation; however, there is a tendency to invest this engagement into producing more discourse. Meanwhile changes in the social sector proceed in parallel processes with no interaction with, or even in opposition to the innovation discourse. Key words: Public innovation, discourse, social actors, the social and health care sector

The materiality of research: ‘writing with resonance’ by Charlotte Wegener and Ninna Meier

In this feature essay, Charlotte Wegener and Ninna Meier explore the idea of ‘writing with resonance’ as a crucial yet often underexplored question for academics. They suggest that to write with resonance is to forge a relationship between writer and reader that produces a reading experience capable of inspiring creative production, ideas, vigour and action

Engaging with the process of writing can connect researcher and reader and foster real innovation and impact

A new project aims to open academic writing practice to reflections and experiments with the actual process of writing, with a view to creating new, open research products that have an impact on peers, public and policymakers. Ninna Meier and Charlotte Wegener outline their vision for the Open Writing project, its importance, and why Open Science must be about more than merely free access to academic research

Writing (in) the Syncope

Bidrag til DUT Tidskapse