Zines as qualitative forms of analysis

Purpose: This report brings forward the possibility of capturing creativity and human experience through a visual ethnography approach, applying the use of ‘zines’ as a means of capturing individual engagement with a process. Zines are small (maga)zines from the do-it-yourself movement. They began as a means for fans to express their support of favourite musicians. They are a means to express collective voice from the ground up, less formal than a publication produced by an entity, but formal enough to be considered publications in their own right. Zines can be handcrafted in rough method or can be beautifully designed and produced to very high standards. Zines are presented in this paper as a method of collecting and analysing data within a framework of qualitative analysis that retains more of the shape of the complete experience (Dewey). This is done so as to maintain a more overall sense of what the experience was for an individual participating in an activity within the organisational context. Accounting for experience only through evidence, this paper argues, loses many important elements of experience, such as tacit engagement, experiential knowledge, and individual judgement. What is being lost, this paper argues, is the human creative input and engagement with experiences in the organisational and workplace context. Design/methodology/approach: For IFKAD 2016, we propose to produce materials ahead of the conference (in the form of an advanced colouring book or a photo album) and invite participants to gather materials, notate impressions, draw and photograph in response to their experience in the conference. We aim for this zine to be a holistic record of a process, incorporating both positive and negative elements as a way of informing future activities. At the end of the conference, the researchers will collect and analyse the individual zines submitted by the conference participants and prepare an edited summarised publication of key impressions as made by the participants themselves as a response to the conference. Originality/value: This work proposed could be done solely for the Creative Coordination track or could involve all members attending the conference. The aim is is to implement this as a qualitative means of accounting for human experience by using IFKAD 2016 as a testing ground. Can we capture the thinking and impressions in this way to account for creativity and inform new methods? Practical implications: The researchers will co-create the materials. At the end of the conference, we will gather all mini publications from all the conference attendees who took part and create an edited summarised publication as a response to the conference. This will constitute a qualitative record of the creative endeavour during the conference

Play-scripting: Testing a means of accounting for social value

Paper presented at Cultural Mapping: Debating Spaces and Places; the second annual Valletta 2018 International Conference on Cultural Relations in Europe and the Mediterranean

Ecosystem Dynamics in Industry Transformation (EDIT) - Projektin loppuraportti

EDIT-projektin tavoitteina oli ymmärtää digitalisaation aiheuttaman murroksen vaikutuksia eri toimijoille ja liiketoimintamalleille sekä kehittää uusia avauksia innovaatiopolitiikkaan. Projektissa keskityttiin kahteen yhteiskunnan kannalta keskeiseen sektoriin, joilla digitalisaatio on vasta aluillaan: kiinteistö- ja rakennusalaan sekä kaupan alaan. Tutkimus toteutettiin Aalto-yliopiston Insinööritieteiden ja Kauppakorkeakoulun yhteistyönä ja Tekesin tuella 1/2014–12/2015. Tämä julkaisu on hankkeen tuloksia esittelevä loppuraportti

Accelerating movement across the intentional arc – developing the strategic sensographer

Our research question relates to those who need to be activists in strategic sensography as described in the call for papers. We call these activists “strategic sensographers”. Our own definition of sensuous is characterised by a pseudo-formula, namely 5S+3D (5 senses plus 3 dimensions), which we contrast with the 2S+2D world which dominates the modern office and even university.We take strategists to include both senior executives themselves and those who explicitly support them in the strategy process, whether in a line or staff role. Our model of the intuitive qualities required for strategists has in part been derived from the recruitment criteria of leading organisations, as well as from analyses of the qualities needed to support creativity and innovation (Lucas, Claxton and Spencer, 2012).We examined the routes through which strategists are currently educated or shaped, and conclude as have others (Mintzberg, 2005), that their education is biased in favour of rational-logical thinking. It is in part the tension and interplay between the rational and the intuitive that contributes to sensography, a term that has in part spun off from “stratography” (Cummings and Angwin, 2011)

Crafting strategic thinking: Creative pedagogy for management studies

This paper presents a format from the creative arts, refocused for application in management studies, as a method to enhance and support the development of strategic thinking. It involves the application of multi-page paper constructions (zines) within facilitated sessions to enhance imaginative strategic thinking by both management learners and practitioners. It draws on a longitudinal case study of the six-phase evolution of affordances of a zine as a method for reflective, creative and connected thinking. The focus moves from purely personal private reflections to the possibility of deploying zines for collective reflection and action. Specific examples are provided of zine workshops and events. Strategic thinking relates to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). The affordances of zines relating to tangibility, efficiency and mental processes appear well-suited to a VUCA context. The paper concludes with reflections on the nature of multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary collaborations such as this one

Arts-Aided Recognition of Citizens' Perceptions for Urban Open Space Management

Urban open spaces of local natural environments can promote the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans, and the management of the urban spaces can benefit from knowledge of individuals’/citizens’ perceptions of such environments. However, such knowledge is scarce and contemporary inquiries are often limited to cognitive observations and focused on built environmental elements rather than encouraged to recognize and communicate comprehensive perceptions. This paper investigates whether arts-based methods can facilitate recognition and understanding perceptions of urban open spaces. Two arts-based methods were used to capture perceptions: drifting, which is a walking method, and theatrical images, which is a still image method and three reflective methods to recognize and communicate the perceptions. The results show related sensations and perceptions enabled by arts-based methods comparing them to a sticker map method. The main findings were perceptions, which included information about human–environment interaction, about relations to other people and about ‘sense of place’ in urban open spaces. The hitherto unidentified perceptions about urban open space were associations, metaphors and memories. The methods used offer initial practical implications for future use

Arts-Aided Recognition of Citizens’ Perceptions for Urban Open Space Management

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-12-14, pub-electronic 2021-12-23Publication status: PublishedFunder: Maiju ja Yrjö Rikala´s Garden Foundation; Grant(s): 0000Urban open spaces of local natural environments can promote the health and well-being of both ecosystems and humans, and the management of the urban spaces can benefit from knowledge of individuals’/citizens’ perceptions of such environments. However, such knowledge is scarce and contemporary inquiries are often limited to cognitive observations and focused on built environmental elements rather than encouraged to recognize and communicate comprehensive perceptions. This paper investigates whether arts-based methods can facilitate recognition and understanding perceptions of urban open spaces. Two arts-based methods were used to capture perceptions: drifting, which is a walking method, and theatrical images, which is a still image method and three reflective methods to recognize and communicate the perceptions. The results show related sensations and perceptions enabled by arts-based methods comparing them to a sticker map method. The main findings were perceptions, which included information about human−environment interaction, about relations to other people and about ‘sense of place’ in urban open spaces. The hitherto unidentified perceptions about urban open space were associations, metaphors and memories. The methods used offer initial practical implications for future use