Building the Capacity for Community Engagement

My final artifact for DMGT 740 Sustainable Practices in Design was designing a tool kit. My idea for designing a toolkit for community engagement aims to provide professionals and communities with a means to support community participation. It recognizes that an effective community engagement strategy is critical to build relationships and to encourage the community to contribute to mutually acceptable solutions. In approaching my idea, I will not provide answers as to how community engagement can be carried out effectively. Instead, I will develop a toolkit for community engagement that consists of a flexible portfolio of techniques that can be used or adapted in a particular situation. The toolkit will provide practical information and resources that will be useful for working with communities. It will also include many suggestions for effective ways to work with communities and useful information concerning methods of techniques of engagement. Each will be briefly describe, how best to use it and in what situations it would be appropriate to use.

My interest in the whole notion of social design made me think of how to better improve the way we engage with communities and how to collaborate and create a mutually beneficial relationship with the community. It bears in mind that the ability to engage the community in meaningful and culturally appropriate ways is of critical importance. The proposed project idea is based on the contention that engaging the community can contributes toward building “social capital” –social networks and support system- which is associated with better and more sustainable communities.

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Postmodern City

Postmodernism

To talk about postmodernism is to talk about the problem of objective truth. Postmodernism as a movement can be understood as cultural projects or as a set of perspectives. The term “postmodernism” comes from its critique of the “modernist” scientific mentality of objectivity and progress associated with the Enlightenment. Postmodernists believe that many, if not all realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to changing in time and place. They emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations. Postmodernists also attack the use of sharp classifications. Rather, they view reality to be relative, and dependent on who the interested parties are and what their interests consist in.

Atlanta: Place in the non-place urban realm

An example of post modern city we learn in the reading of “Theorizing The City” is The city of Atlanta. The reading talked about the role of power elite in designing and planning the landscape and how their ideology could be realized through what they termed “ the renovation of the public character of the city”. The 90s was significant in Atlanta to the host the 1996 Olympic games which was seen as an opportunity for redevelopment of central and its surrounding depressed residential neighborhood. The responsibility for creating a meaningful Olympic legacy fell between  the city government and the business community. Two entities that in the past enjoyed a close working relationship described as a marriage of white money and black political power in the south.

Through generations of profit minded visionaries have transformed a once rail road hub into a world class postindustrial metropolis. The city official slogan evolves from gate city and capital of the new south to major league and national city that’s too busy to hate to world’s most great international city. I like the way the chapter presented a historical perspective on the character of the urban population who occupied the city. Massive white flight. They made two thirds of the city population. In the 70s the white population made less than half. In the 80s two thirds of the city’s population was African American. During the 70s and 80s the suburban expanded to include african american middle class as well as the african american poor. The year 1990 is significant in Atlanta to the host the 1996 Olympic games which was seen as an opportunity for redevelopment of central and its surrounding  ring of depressed residential neighborhood. The responsibility for creating a meaningful Olympic legacy fell between  the city government and the business community. Two entities that in the past enjoyed a close working relationship described as a marriage of white money and black political power.

Their vision of transforming the city is centered around safe, clean, and user friendly city. They only sell the clean look and feel rather than the realties of the urban lifestyle. These are examples of the contemporary paradigm of urban renewal that privileges the artful design of secure, simulated, and re-segregated environments over the articulation of plans for dealing with uneven development, homelessness, poverty, crime and unemployment in the city as a whole.

User friendly city

I like the way he explains the underlying structure of the term user friendly cities:

1.The term is most used in the filed of computer where it refers to an interface carefully designed not to intimidate or confuse the user. What makes the interface friendly is that all the potentially problematic and complicated choices have been worked out for the user in a simple, persuasive, and clear way. User friendliness has tendency to program out certain kinds of knowledge. It constrain choices and assumes a certain standardization of human needs and experiences. The notion of user friendlessness also assume that all users have the same identities or that certain groups such as poor are excluded from the category of desired users.

2.Describing the urban population as users rather than residents or citizens imply that the city is more oriented toward visitors than residents or rather that the line between them is no longer significant, that even natives are strangers who need guides.

Increasing the level of Cultural Participation among Multicultural Groups: Research Proposal

Summary of research proposal

Expanding the capacity to increase cultural participation is not a new issue but its interconnection in the context of globalization is presenting complex challenges to arts and cultural organizations.  The research will focus on the multi-ethnic residents who live and work in the city’s diverse communities. Unlink existing models, this proposal views cultural diversity not as a problem to be controlled by top-down policies, but as an asset for the development of the local community. In view of that, our research hypothesizes that engaging multi-ethnic populations will more likely foster “cultural equity” as prerequisite for increasing public participation in cultural activities. The study will address different factors affecting the individual’s participation including:

1.Background, including socio-demographic and socio-cultural factors and past experience;

2.Perceptual, including personal beliefs and perceptions of social norms that lead to attitudes toward arts participation;

3.Practical, including factors that affect an individual’s intention or decision to participate;

Research questions

1.How people from different multicultural groups live in communities use the arts and other forms of creative effort to express their attachment to places?

2.What are the motivations behind individuals’ involvement in the arts?

3.Why some forms of participation are more popular than others?

4.Why do they participate in different ways? And why do they choose specific types of arts?

5.What are the community’s cultural resources and assets?

6.What shared cultural values support that community and its way of life?

Data collection methods:

1.User-Research – consists of observations targeted at understanding the end user. Unlike participatory observation, this method suggests a more detached perspective and more focused.

2.Secondary Research: Analysis of the existing manuscripts, including social and cultural research targeted at understanding the forces that affect the research topic. Usually, this involves some form of content analysis.

3.Photo/video ethnography – consists of video tapping or photographing specific activities in the user’s life.

4.In-depth interviews – informally interviewing the user in their environment.

5.Online survey – web-based survey instrument such as Zoomerang.

[Research Development Framework –Adapted from Charles Bezerra (2005) .Building Innovative Competencies]

Perceived benefits of the study

Findings from the research can be helpful in terms of suggesting initiatives that complement the existing arts and cultural infrastructure. By gaining a better understanding the complex factors affecting individual’s participation, the study will suggest how arts organizations can develop more targeted and, therefore, more effective strategies for encouraging participation.

[Benefits from the Arts Experience]

Adapted from Gifts of the Muse. RAND Corporation

Visualizing Collaborative Communication Networks

The research was a virtual collaboration project with students form Information Systems Department at the University of Cologne. The project led by Peter A. Gloor, a Research Scientist at the Center for Collective Intelligence at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.

Purpose:

The central motivation for the study was to identify collaborative networks within and between SCAD’s Schools of Design, and with external partners. 

Questions:

1.What communication and collaboration patterns are identifiable within the School of Design at SCAD?

2.How transparent is collaboration and communication between individuals, departments and external entities?

3.To what extent are collaboration networks reflected among individuals, departments and external entities within the School of Design?

4.What are the major obstacles facing collaborative communication among different individuals, department and external entities within the School of Design?

Method and Data Collection

1.Social Network Analysis Tool (Condor)

2.Online Survey (Zoomerang)

3.Face to face interview

4.WORDiJ Software

5.SQL-Dumps as a base for the visualization

Reflections and lessons learned

•We were supposed to visualize & analyze communication data from SCAD, but we have never had access to such data.

•We had to use a dummy-mailbox as a temporary solution for getting any data at all.

•Technical challenges to analyze real data from SCAD to answer research questions

•IT-Department not providing us with SCAD data because of privacy issues

•We could not implement most of our ideas; those we could implement were very time-consuming.

•We underestimated the language barrier.

Screenshots of Visualization Application used in the research porject

Towards Designing Socially Inclusive Public Art Initiatives

One the most valuable lesson I have learned in design management program is to think in terms of interdisciplinary collaboration and integration and, creating the link between the different or dissimilar elements. And most importantly, making that connection visible, at least mentally. When I started thinking about an idea for my thesis project, I was actually trying to make the connection between my non-design background in social and human capital development and my current situation as a grad student in design school.  The following shed light on some of my initial thoughts of my research related to the social impact of art and culture on society.

Outcomes of Art

There is a repeated claim in the literature that participating in art and cultural works can contribute to a range of positive outcomes. This diagram represents the potential impacts of the art on three levels:

1. On community level, arts are said to build social cohesion and foster civic engagement by boosting individuals’ ability and motivation to be civically engaged in the community.
2. Economic impacts are perhaps the most tangible benefits of the arts.  The potential economic outcomes of arts in society are that arts attract visitors and also investments. By improving a community’s image, people may feel more confident about investing in that community.
3. On individual level, arts have potential to improve health, mental, and psychological well-being, cognitive functioning, and creative ability.

The Relationships

In my research, I’m looking at the relationship between public art and social inclusion. And as a researcher, I believe that public art is more than just an art placed outside in public. Public art signifies a particular innovation practice, emphasizing on community involvement, social networking and creative collaboration.  It is an art which has its goal desire to engage with its audiences and to create spaces that reflects identity of the community and its people.

The potential role of public art lie on the fact that “taking part” in the arts can be done actively, as artist, or passively as audience. And secondly, because public art often work with themes that contain meanings and symbols, participation in the arts has more appeal than some traditional forms of personal and community development. It is likely to be enjoyable as well as valuable.

Research Goals

The intention of my proposal beyond just exploring the relationship between public art and the notion of social inclusion, is to understand how strategic design management can help create strategic and long-term vision and planning that enable public art programs to interact with the local community, address its needs, and most importantly understand the end user.

Design Management Approach

The following diagram I’m trying to show the overlapping relationships in design management approach: strategic, tactical, and operational.

1.Designing at the strategic level, the vision and agendas are defined – and it is to these agendas that design must connect.

2.Designing at the tactical level, the processes and functions come into play.

3.And finally, at the operational level, design manifests itself in a tangible artifact product. (in this case this artifact is a model for community art and cultural plan).

Bearing in mind the three levels of design management approach, this research investigation will involve: designing strategic vision, ensuring the design process and procedures of design are adding value to current practices in art and cultural organizations. And finally deliver content of the design solution.

Significance: The outcome of the project will be a model for building the capacity to design a “socially inclusive” public art from vision, to process to concept. And where design management is applied there is often a strong belief in the potential to gain competitive advantage by design. As a result, design thinking as a mental concept will becomes integrated in the corporate cultural of public art.

Research Questions

Based on the overall goal of the project, the proposal explores the following research questions:

1. What is the interplay between designing for public art and social inclusion?
2. How people use the arts and other forms of creative effort to express their attachment to places?
3. What are the new approaches, tools and competencies needed for designing socially inclusive public art initiatives?
4. What are the design implications and opportunities for using public art as strategic tool to address social issues?

Research Strategy

It is proposed that the research investigation will take four directions:

•Looking backwards – to have a historical perspective in arts and cultural participation.

•Looking ahead – to create future scenarios and explore the possible design opportunities.

•Looking sideways – to understand what else is happing based on other best practices, and to identify the forces that affect the research themes.

•Looking at people – to better know the end user, and to capture attitudes, needs, and desires.

Regional Industry Cluster: Articulating a Vision

This project was part of DMGT 765 Business and Design Practicum. The course presented with case studies and situational projects that emphasize the analysis of business practice pertaining to the design of products and visual communications.

Context

Savannah is experiencing a rapidly growing—and evolving—economy. And this exciting change means opportunity for businesses relocating to or expanding in Savannah. The Savannah area, located in coastal Chatham County, Georgia, boasts a flourishing economy balanced on a strong foundation that includes a thriving port, increasing tourism, a stabilizing manufacturing sector and significant military presence.

The following information provides an introduction to field research within key stakeholder organizations in a regional area that includes Chatham, Liberty, Bryan, and Effingham counties from January through March 2009. The goal of this research phase was to understand how the key stakeholders envision the industry cluster concept, specifically as it relates to a regional materials-related industry cluster. Findings were be used to better understand the local investment climate and potential support for a regional industry cluster. The project was designed to be accomplished in several phases.

In phase I, an initial scan and stakeholder assessment was conducted to indentify key challenges and opportunities for articulating a vision for a regional materials related industry cluster. The phase I comprised a series of in-person interviews with key stakeholders in the region. The goal of conducting the interviews was to understand how the key stakeholders envision the industry cluster concept. The semi-structured interviews were primarily guided by the following questions:

1.What is their understanding of the concept of industry clusters?

2.What role do you believe Herty will play in this cluster?

3.Who are the key stakeholders – both individuals and organizations – that will move this initiative forward?

4.What role would key stakeholders play? What contributions might they make?

5.What are the major obstacles to seeing a regional industry cluster become a reality?

Festivals: A Look at Perceived Social Impacts of Cultural Events

This summarizes my final project for DMGT 775 Idea Management in Business. My research concept investigated festival organizers’ perceptions of the social impacts of their events on local communities. Information gathered from three festivals were used to capture these impacts. Findings showed that festivals provide a cultural opportunity not usually available in the community. These events also provide showcase for various local cultural groups and artists. Given the social and cultural impacts of many of these events along with its potential to serve as social platform for community engagement, it is evident that further research efforts are needed in this area.

The increasing popularity of festivals together with their potential positive impacts in host communities, has led to a growing body of research on the impacts of festivals and events. The economic implications associated with festivals and special events are substantial, yet their social implications may be even more profound. Unfortunately, much research has focused on assessing the economic impact or success of festivals, with only limited attention to the social context of those events. The purpose of this research was to explore the festival organizers’ perceptions of the social impacts of festivals, and seek insights for design management as regards to what community engagement means in terms of sustainable practice of planning and managing festivals and cultural events.

FestivalsA Look at Perceived Social Impacts of Cultural Events