Blog no.15 10/10/23
It's still a high-energy time ōmutu - mutuwhenua in the maramataka. For me, it's a high-anxiety time as well. I'm doing my best to focus and be productive, to use this energy (anxious energy included) to further my report and hopefully start my visual journal for 301. I realise also, I never sat down and reflected on the workshop I ran with Yasmin. So here that is (based on memory and notes I took in my Miro board):
Workshop reflection: using the 4 F's (The University of Edinburgh, 2018)
The workshop lasted just over an hour, with 3 participants, Yasmin and myself as facilitator/participants. We recruited our friends and peers as participants through in-person chats and discord posts. We then introduced interested people to our idea and objective through Facebook Messenger and created a poll to plan the date and time of the workshop. The workshop was run in an enclosed, familiar space in the design studios, using a round table as the primary setting for the crafting and conversations of the workshop. We provided yarn, crochet and knitting materials but also allowed participants to engage in their chosen craft activity. We started by letting everyone get into making before bringing out any kōrero cards. I asked how everyone was doing to gauge the energy and capacity for vulnerable conversation. One participant did have skills in working with yarn, so another participant taught them how to crochet. When we brought out conversation cards, there was some hesitation to speak about certain topics and periods of silence. Likely because of our existing relationships with the participants, some more vulnerable topics were discussed, and personal experiences were shared. The kōrero was both light and joking and more serious. The person who brought their own craft activity (drawing) was the only person who brought their outcome with them after the workshop; the others seemed to enjoy the process but didn't bring home the artefacts they created.
The feedback from the participants was that the atmosphere felt safe, and I agree I felt safe being vulnerable, experiencing periods of silence and listening to people's experiences. Back in Te Rapunga I brainstorm what a gut-feeling based ideal workshop would feel like:
[Scan of notebook]
Many of those feelings were present in the workshop, both the audio/visual element captured in video footage we consensually took of the workshop, my subjective experience and my perceived experience of others.
Feedback on using prompt cards, from participants:
I wasn't sure how well the prompt cards worked; on the one hand, they did ignite conversation, but some were also not applicable to the participants/ they felt no connection to the questions/ prompts. As facilitators, Yasmin and I picked up on this and moved towards the questions that provoked interest and supplied our own experience as an ice-breaker for others. It is essential to consider whether facilitators are prompting conversation or if one of the employees leads the conversation toward gender experience and allyship. One insight I had from the workshop was that some topics were easier to talk about than others, and deciding the levels and topics is probably out of my ability to do well, thoughtfully and trauma-informed.
The workshop prototype went well. It was an excellent way to simulate my workshop idea and create an immersive experience that modelled the visual, auditory, visceral and tangible. Seating myself within the prototype is probably not good 'science' but for the creative process, I think, especially if bias carries a lower risk (eg, I am part of the community that I'm designing with), It's a great way to get a deeply emotional understanding of my idea that informs my design work in communicating the idea. I may not authentically test my prototype as my proposed participants aren't those I'm able to design with. But in terms of undergoing the creative process of fleshing out, refining and communicating an idea, it really helps to have the sensory and emotional inspiration from running a workshop. This reasoning, I acknowledge, sits design as more of a creative art than a problem-solving/ innovation machine, reflecting my own positionally and interest in design as process not outcome.
~Not really future plans but definitely things i'm learning about myself that can enhance my future projects.
[Video of workshop, shot by Yasmin, 2023]
References:
The four F’s of active reviewing. (2018, November 5). The University of Edinburgh. https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflecting-on-experience/four-f