The collective articulation of issues as design practice

Abstract

In this paper we discuss one practice of social design and social innovation by which designers and participants work together to reveal the factors, relations and consequences of an issue. We refer to this as the collective articulation of issues. Within the context of social design and social innovation the articulation of issues takes on a distinctive character and can be manifested through a wider range of design engagements than previously considered. To support our discussion we analyse two design engagements from the growBot Garden project, a research project exploring technologies for small-scale agriculture. Through this analysis we identify the qualities of the event and pluralism as central to the collective articulation of issues. We argue that the collective articulation of issues is a foundational practice of social design and social innovation, comprising an outcome and purpose in its own right.

Keywords:

• articulation
• issues
• publics
• participatory design
• agriculture

Acknowledgements

This work was made possible through the participation of many members of the small-scale agriculture community in Atlanta, most notably Duane Marcus and The Funny Farm. This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (ISE-0741685).

Notes

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