One day workshop on field prototyping as a research method. With the aim of understanding the socio-material urban space.

1. Urban Square
Workshop on field prototyping
Aditya Pawar!
PhD Candidate
Umea Institute of Design
aditya.pawar@dh.umu.se

2. Square
A metaphor for a space where
social-material assemblies take shape

13. Field Prototypes
The keyword to describing the field-approach to
design is ‘CONTEXT’
Design ethnography with an interventionist twist!
!
- Bodily involvement
- Creating dialog with the people in the context
- Time duration - Usually days
- Understanding driven rather than data driven
- Produces ‘local’ understanding that cannot be
applied uncritically to other contexts
- Temporary rather than something long-standing

14. Alternative Economies
Poststructuralist thinking takes into account and aims to unveil the multiplicity of
economic relationships that are already present within the economic landscape.

15. Value creation
Understanding value-creation from an alternative economy
perspective
Gift economy
Barter economy
Pay it forward
Trust/ honour/reputation systems
Pay what you want (PWYW)
Charities
Collaborative consumption
Sharing economy
Commons
Peer to peer (p2p)
Alternative currencies
Slow money
Crowd work/funding

16. Bottom up processes: Niches
Bottom up innovation takes the form of niches or pilot- experiments.

17. Field Assignment
Act out mock services in the city square
Engage the public in a dialogue around your service
!

18. Process: The improvisation-learning loop
Envision
a service
Reconnaissance
(Scout)
Improvise,
reiterate
Reflect
collectively
Document
Share, narrate
Enact and
engage

19. Field prototyping
Requires performative engagements and use of mockups

20. Co-creation kits!

21. Locative media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm9yu7bOsBc

22. Probes

23. Urban play

24. Preparations
Envision a service (suggested theme - urban play)
Create props you might need
1. Service Menu 2. Example service concept/prototype:
Massage queue at the shopping counter
3. Strike a conversation, create
a dialog around the activity

25. Learning outcome
1. Understanding value-creation:!
Insights gained through deep conversations and
interactions on the field can inspire and inform you on how
to create value.
!
2. Understand fieldwork as an action-reflection
practice:!
Action and reflection go hand in hand when engaging the
audience in the field.
!

26. ?Questions

27. 09:00h – 09:15!
Introductions (at UID auditorium)! !0
9:15h – 09:45!
Fieldwork introduction (at UID auditorium)! !0
9:45h – 10:10h!
Brainstorm in groups (at UID, in front of the auditorium)!
Brainstorm on ideas for services (for example games) and a few accompanying questions that
you would like to ask to start a conversation.! !1
0:10h – 10:30h!
Demo your idea to another group (at UID, in front of the auditorium. You can go outside
the building if you need more space)!
Improve your service-prototype based on feedback. ! !1
0:30 – 11:00!
Move to the city and select a good spot for your experiment! ! 11:00h - 14:30!
Field-work (in and around the city square)! !
Note: Please note that the maximum public activity in the square will be during lunch hour, hence
plan your lunches in advance or postpone them to use this time to the maximum. Picnics and
lunches on the spot are ideal to not be away from the field for too long. ! !1
4:30h – 15:00h!
Pack-up and start moving towards the design school. !
We reconvene at the UID auditorium.! !1
5:00 to 15:30 !
Break/ prepare for presentations (at UID, in front of the auditorium)!
Take some time to sit in your groups and make a list of things you find worth mentioning from
your fieldwork. ! !1
5:00h – 16:00h!
Class presentations (at UID auditorium)!
Each group presents its experiences and learnings. !
The presentations are oral narratives of what you did, how did the interactions play out, why did
they work or did not work, discuss your assumptions and learnings. We will take approximately
5-7mins per group.! !1
6:00h – 17:00h!
Developing themes (at UID auditorium)!
Here we collectively brainstorm on themes that are interesting for us to work on during the rest of
the course and also think of target groups that could potentially be taken up later in the project.! !!
Note: Some paper and basic craft materials will be provided in the morning for you to mock-up
some of your ideas. !
Agenda

28. Tips Working in a group!
Assign one person on your group to document the interactions. His/her job is to observe the
interactions from a third persons point of view between other members of the group as they
are engaging the public. This is akin to keeping a logbook in ethnographic research. After
running an experiment, reconvene in the group and discuss what went wrong, what went
right and in general ideas to improve the service-prototype. ! !
Approaching the public!
There is no best way to approach the public than to proactively do just that! Do not be afraid
of being refused, for every 5 people you ask probably only one will respond. If things don’t
go well or if people say things they should not, don’t take it personally.!
Make sure you do not make the person feel cornered because you are too many or are
blocking his/her path. It always makes people more comfortable if they know they have the
option to opt out. Also pay attention to gender-norms i.e. approaching a stranger with a mix
of guys & girls is preferable than only girls or only guys.! !
How to prolong an interaction into an open conversation!
You have to be appealing or meaningful to others if you want to catch their interest. Develop
an elevator-pitch – A sentence or two in which you introduce yourself, your intentions and
spark interest. It is always a good idea to ask them for their opinion on an issue, which can
later be used to demonstrate your service-prototype. ! ! It is very important to prolong the interaction, as we are mostly interested in understanding
the everyday lives of people and how they relate to urban (public) space and various
transaction models. This can happen only if you can have an open conversation with them.! ! If you have a good conversation going, make sure it is kept interesting. As soon as it starts
getting repetitive, its time to bid the person goodbye!! !
Open up some of the questions that your are asking yourself to your audience e.g. how
would you renegotiate social contracts? or how would a time bank run? or open ended
questions like what’s the best time to buy a certain food and where etc. ! !
Choosing site!
Choose a site, which you won’t hate. A place, which is comfortable but also, gets good traffic
of people. Parks, shopping centres, public seating areas, bus stops and in general waiting
areas are all good areas. !
Be sensitive to the site – businesses, enterprises, hanging youth or other vendors. Your
service can very well take advantage of the site through a symbiotic relationship e.g.
working for a vendor in the square! !
Documentation!
The ‘observant’ in your group can take notes simultaneous to the experiment being run.
Pictures are encouraged if verbal permission of the people is taken.! !
And lastly improvise and have fun!!

29. Further reading
Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social!
Edited by Celia Lury, Nina Wakeford
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415574815/
Design Research Through Practice!
From the Lab, Field, and Showroom
http://designstudiesdiscourses.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/designresearchcomplete.pdf
Design Things
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/design-things
Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries!
http://amzn.to/1nLikXe

30. Photo credits
http://www.591photography.com/2011/12/591-exhibition-oregon-crop-festivals.html
http://kyradevreeze.nl/travel-urban-yoga-retreat-berlin-photo-report/
http://www.lvwp.nl/Beyond-the-Castle-event-1
http://museumtwo.blogspot.se/2014/08/museumcamp-2014-experiments-in-social.html
https://blatryk.wordpress.com/tag/cultural-probes/
http://weburbanist.com/2012/02/02/good-clean-fun-interactive-games-tidy-urban-spaces/
http://inhabitat.com/parking-day-2013-the-best-pop-up-parks-across-the-states-photos/
http://coop.partizaning.org/?p=338