Reflective drawing as a tool for reflection in design research

This article explores the role of drawing as a tool for reflection. It reports on a PhD research project that aims to identify and analyse the value that co-design processes can bring to participants and their communities. The research is associated with Leapfrog, a three-year project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It aims to transform public engagement through activating participation using co-design practices. The article reports on the analysis of initial research findings arising from a series of workshops with members of non-profit organisations on the Isle of Mull, in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, in which co-design practices were used. The article reflects on the use of drawing used as a tool to capture the author's reflections and her own personal development as a researcher. In this study the term ‘reflective drawing’ refers to the use of drawing as a tool to support the research reflection process within an ethnographic approach to the fieldwork. Reflective drawing is used in two different stages of the reflection process: (1) to record data during fieldwork enabling reflection-in-action, complementing field notes and disclosing visual and kinaesthetic learning; and (2) to recall lived experience during the reflection sessions conducted after the observed activity, which helps to establish a bridge between theory and practice. Reflection is defined as an intuitive process that enables the understanding of oneself within a context of practice. Hence, understanding reflective drawing requires exploration of the reflection process

Tools for renewal: Co-designing tools to support social enterprises to engage in conversations with their communities during renewal projects

The project presented in this report aimed to collaborate with communities and social enterprises in the co-designing and development of tools that facilitate community engagement for renewal projects. The resultant tool, called "Seeing differently', has been co-designed in a close-nit collaboration between Leapfrog and the Newbold Trust – a social enterprise committed to sustainability in the beautiful North East of Scotland. The Newbold Trust is located in a seven-acre property containing a large Victorian house in the outskirts of Forres, a small town in the North of Scotland, on the Moray coast, approximately 25 miles east of Inverness. Currently, the trust uses the Victorian house as a guesthouse and its physical assets to host a large variety of workshops oriented towards nurturing positive change, such as meditation, yoga or permaculture. At the beginning of this year, the trust initiated a transformative process shifting away from an organic and unstructured community to a social enterprise. This internal shift involved renewal of both its physical assets, and its identity as a social enterprise. The community reflected on their role within the local community and the insight was that, although they have been in Forres for the last 35 years, the community felt isolated from community life in Forres and the Moray area. The Newbold Trust, described to the Leapfrog team the need to initiate a long-term community engagement process with the communities living and operating in the area. Additionally, they were willing to explore in which ways the renewal of their physical assets could become an activator of positive change within the wider communities. To do this, they wanted to involve local communities in the renewal of their facilities, as well as in the re-shaping of their identity. Therefore, central to this project was: how can social enterprise practitioners and community members co-design and develop tools to support a community engagement process for a renewal project?Following scoping conversations to co-develop the proposal, we devised a strategic plan. After a series of workshops, where walking became the vehicle to engage with several communities, the tool was conceived to capture the insights of the participants of a deliberative walk. This report outlines the series of workshops and the outcomes of the project at each stage. It also describes the final tool co-designed with our partner. This tool and others are free to download from our project website leapfrog.tool

Design for social sustainability. A reflection on the role of the physical realm in facilitating community co-design

Understanding the environmental conditions that shape the physical support for developing social sustainability requires analysing the symbiotic relationship of people and place. Place is considered an essential aspect in shaping social identity, identification and cohesion. Thus, this paper explores the role of the physical realm in enabling co-design practices within community initiatives. It outlines two PhD research projects focused on strengthening community engagement using co-design approaches. It evidences its findings analysing two different settings. Firstly, a PhD research project exploring the mutual influences between spatial and service design also through the investigation of public spaces as platforms for strategic interventions with experimentations in the urban fabric of Milan (Italy). Secondly, a doctoral research exploring the value of community co-design on rural areas in the Highlands and Islands (Scotland) associated with Leapfrog, a three-year-funded project by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Conducted by two different research teams, we analyse to what extent participatory processes can strengthen communities and their identities, as well as reflecting on place-based approaches for design strategies of territories

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and Informal Learning as a key component of co-design practice in a community initiative

This paper outlines PhD research associated with Leapfrog, a three-year funded AHRC project, which aims to analyse the impact of co-design practices in developing ‘engagement tools’ within community development. One challenge in co-design is identifying ways to understand holistically the context. Understanding individual and collective contextual factors simultaneously requires bridging the gap between theory and practice. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) interconnects all the components simultaneously illuminating a holistic approach for understanding such context. The paper focuses on the distribution of power in co-design aiming to illustrate how designers balance power and reflects on the experience of applying CHAT into practice, identifying informal learning as a key component. It elucidates how ethnographic methods can provide a deeper understanding about the context. About this, it can be concluded that a greater awareness of context, understood through the lenses of CHAT, helps designers to reveal the interconnection between individual and collective factors

Rowing Together, Learning Between:Visualising Boundary Spaces in Community Codesign

Positioned within Social Design (design motivated by social demands and not by the market), this paper reports on PhD research focused on uncovering the relationship between informal-mutual learning and community-based co-design. As the study progressed, following an ethnographic approach into a pilot study and two case studies, I raised awareness of a collective learning process supported by the co-design situations which engaged different people, all learning from each other, usually unconsciously. As a result, I developed a theoretical framework, based on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), one capable of itemising a myriad of entities and interactions entangling in co-design situations, describing their relationships and functional dynamics. The framework visualises this relationship and draws attention to the relevance of informal-mutual learning as an essential synergy towards achieving collaboration

Co-design for social Innovation and organisational change:Developing horizontal relationships in a social enterprise through walking

Although an emerging body of literature identifies co-design as a promising approach to addressing the most urgent social challenges, little research has been undertaken about how co-design can support social change within the communities and organisations with which they collaborate. This is important because behavioural and organisational change is usually associated with the emergence of social innovations. These pressing socio-cultural challenges require interdisciplinary expertise, and we argue that the practice of co-design is an approach that provides such expertise. Co-design by its nature is collaborative and can respond to the cultural demands of a society eager to participate. These demands require significant research to better understand how the practice of co-design can be a catalyst for social change and social innovation. In this paper, we explore what is meant by co-creation, social design, and co-design within the theoretical context of this study. We present a case study that focuses on a social enterprise committed to sustainability operating within the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Here we examine the transformative process - associated with co-design - that the social enterprise and its members encountered. Participatory Action Research (PAR) was implemented as the research approach to this study informed by ethnographic and co-design methods. The analysis suggests that the co-design process empowered the social enterprise and its members, enabling them to co-develop responsive and empathetic attitudes among themselves. Codesign supported organisational changes by nurturing collaborative attitudes, expanding perspectives about social issues and releasing latent human abilities and assets

Exploring Mutual Learning in Co-design

An emerging body of literature identifies a connection between mutual learning and co-design, it does not specify the nature of this connection or its implications for the practice of co-design. In this paper we explore the theoretical and practical implications of specifically focusing on mutual learning in co-design. We present three case studies with rural communities in the Highlands and Islands. Using participatory action research, we undertook a series of co-design projects with each case forming an action research cycle. Through these we build cycles of insights concerning collaborative learning and how this can contribute to practical co-design outcomes for participants. We also present insights that increase the duration and amount of mutual learning in co-design projects

Beneficios tributarios y el impuesto a la renta de 3era categoría en las empresas de distribución de plástico, Los Olivos, 2022

El presente estudio de información, titulada “Beneficios tributarios y el impuesto a la renta de tercera categoría en las empresas de distribución de plástico, Los Olivos, 2022”. Sostiene, el objetivo analizar a las empresas si aplican correctamente los beneficios tributarios, si cumplen con el propósito debido a lo cual fueron concebidos y si son apropiados para la política fiscal, así como para el contribuyente, así como constituyen regímenes preferenciales determinado por desgravaciones, exoneraciones y otras obligaciones similares; es así, como el valor no percibido es un gasto público, resultando, en una contribución que no está incluido en los presupuestos del Estado. De igual forma, la investigación es descriptiva, el diseño de tipo básica se determinó que el estado brinda los beneficios tributarios para ayudar a lograr objetivos financieros/sociales que promuevan el incremento y un mejor desenvolvimiento del país. Dispone de, una población con 80 trabajadores de las entidades de distribución de plástico en el distrito de los olivos. Se administró, para la recopilación de datos, el tratamiento del cuestionario; el que, fue acreditado por expertos, se empleó el índice de Alfa de Cronbach y corroborar las hipótesis y calibrar la relación entre las variables, la constatación de la hipótesis se llevó a cabo con la evaluación de Rho Spearman. Por último, existe relación en medio de las variables examinadas, puesto que, los encuestados asienten que los beneficios fiscales tienen coherencia con el impuesto a la renta de las entidades aminoran la carga tributaria

Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and Informal Learning as a key component of co-design practice in a community initiative

This paper outlines PhD research associated with Leapfrog, a three-year funded AHRC project, which aims to analyse the impact of co-design practices in developing ‘engagement tools’ within community development. One challenge in co-design is identifying ways to understand holistically the context. Understanding individual and collective contextual factors simultaneously requires bridging the gap between theory and practice. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) interconnects all the components simultaneously illuminating a holistic approach for understanding such context. The paper focuses on the distribution of power in co-design aiming to illustrate how designers balance power and reflects on the experience of applying CHAT into practice, identifying informal learning as a key component. It elucidates how ethnographic methods can provide a deeper understanding about the context. About this, it can be concluded that a greater awareness of context, understood through the lenses of CHAT, helps designers to reveal the interconnection between individual and collective factors

Whereabouts you are

•‘Whereabouts you are’ was an exhibition of work by ten Glasgow School of Art PhD Researchers, curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts) • The exhibition ran from Saturday 15th October to Thursday 10th November in The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art ‘Whereabouts you are’ explored the diverse research practices of the Glasgow School of Art PhD cohort. Bringing together researchers from disciplines across the fields of Fine Art and Design, the exhibition posed a number of questions about the role of arts practice in academic research, its unique character, and its particular challenges. For the exhibiting researchers, pinpointing whereabouts you are is about marking a particular moment in the research process, pausing to reflect and take stock of their individual journey so far and to consider the next steps. In that spirit, rather than deferring the questions posed by the exhibition, they tackled them head-on through accompanying events organised in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Arts. By bringing their work out of the studio, the group hoped to not only shed light on the thought-provoking and innovative research undertaken at Glasgow School of Art, but to enliven the research through conversation with its new audience. The exhibiting researchers were: • Eszter Biró (School of Fine Art) • Jacqueline Butler (School of Fine Art) • Mirian Calvo (Institute for Design Innovation) • Inês Bento Coelho (School of Fine Art) • Allyson Keehan (School of Fine Art) • Fiona Jane MacLellan (Institute for Design Innovation) • Catherine M. Weir (School of Fine Art) • Dawn Worsley (School of Fine Art) • Hanan Makki Zakari (School of Simulation and Visualisation) • Polina Zioga (School of Simulation and Visualisation). Curated by Allyson Keehan (Glasgow School of Art) and guest curator Viviana Checchia (Centre for Contemporary Arts)