Sessions
Systems Practice
Systems are at work all around us all the time - from a cell in our bodies, to a bicycle, to the movement of water from the deep ocean to the atmosphere. This session will explore some techniques to help us think systemically about the creative questions and complex challenges we are working on. We'll use this lens to think about high leverage ways for the work that we do to shift systems toward socio-economic and ecological justice and wellbeing.
RESOURCES
School of Systems Change - Video 1 - What are systems and what is systems change; Video 2 - The importance of systemic worldviews; Video 3 - Working systemically for transformation
Collaborative Research - Valuing Co-Design Over Consultation
The first portion of the workshop will present a case study, Curiko, which is a platform connecting people with and without disabilities to moments of connection. Curiko is the result of nearly 10 years of research and development, working directly with families and individuals from the disability community. Through Curiko, we will explore research methods and practices utilized throughout the design process: research, identifying pain points and opportunities, generating solutions, prototyping and implementation. We will share what various research tools look like in practice and how we have applied accessibility considerations. We will share our learnings, including our multiple failures and challenges.
The second portion of the workshop will be focused on thinking about how you might apply some of these methods, tools and practices to your own creative question within your context. You will:
Work in pairs and small groups to try out some of the tools
Reflect on your own biases and implications for research
Understand principles of co-design and application within a research context
Prototyping Solutions
Often we go straight to implementing solutions before even knowing if they will work. We may have a hunch or an idea, but there maybe a lot more to figure out about its impacts on the system and those it’s meant to benefit before building out a scalable solution. Prototyping is a practice that helps us create small, low-risk experiments that help us learn more about our ideas and the challenges we are working on. In this session we’ll take a step back and play with prototyping ideas to help us think and learn more about their potential to be scaled into promising, transformative solutions out the world.
RESOURCES
Evaluating Prototypes; Examples of Prototypes; Field Guide - Equity-Centred Community Design (please note - a hardcopy is available for purchase, or you can download digitally for free by answering a short questionnaire)
Towards Equitable, Decolonial, and Anti-Racist Futures
Our lives are a metaphorical piece of multiple textiles that are woven and shaped in many intersectional ways. My praxis is grounded in intersectional approaches that centre justice, equity, anti-racism and decolonization. I hope to share about my work and my approaches to working in complex systems in a way that resonates and connects to the work that you do and the lives that we weave for ourselves as human beings and as a broader society. Sharing about ways to think about equity, decolonization and anti-oppressive/anti-racist practices and experiences that give us pause to reflect on our current societal fabric; unpicking, unravelling and un/(re) learning as we go.
