Transdisciplinary Research and its Practical Concerns
What are the challenges of conducting transdisciplinary research? Answer with reference
to EITHER the Mistra Urban Futures project OR Social Polis project.
The International Centre for Transdisciplinary Research Studies stated that the aim of transdisciplinarity include addressing compartmentalization of knowledge, reducing the gap between decision making related to social life and research and analyzing the similarities between various realms of knowledge. The application of transdisciplinary research methodologies have to deal with various practical concerns including participation, cross actor and cross sectoral integration and development of a coordinating team. An ideal transdisciplinary research should at the minimum consists of problem identification, problem analysis and implementation of the results.
This section will address the challenges faced while conducting transdisiplinary research in relation to the social polis project. Social polis is one of the various transdisciplinary projects which have been undertaken in the last decade with respect to urban studies. Its ambition and size is unique. The project is a social platform for dialogue between policy and scientific communities and civil society networks of practice which has created a agenda of research relating to the role which cities have in social cohesion and other policy issues. Social polis depicts the multidimensionality and complexity of social cohesion in form of a problematique. Social cohesion has been depicted as an open concept which is divided between cultural, ecological, socioeconomic, political dimensions.
The challenges which are present include the appointment of a moderator who facilitates conflict resolution and team processes and who act as a bridge person between the diverse backgrounds and interest. Transdiciplinarity literature emphasizes the requirement for proper communication of research goals to prohibit unclear and false expectations from the stakeholders. An overly broad scope project like the social polis project may not always be clear to the parties involved. The research question of the project should not be theoretically interesting, but also relevant and clear for practice and policy for the purpose of avoiding practice community disaffection.
The practice community which is involved with the social polis project did not have a clear idea always about the advantages from the collaboration with the European Commission DG Research and academic world for the elaborating of a Research Agenda for the European Commission. Even when the expected outcomes, ideas and goals of the project were clear to the stakeholders, the actual use and final purpose required additional clarification. It is also pointed out by Tsukuda (2011) that language problems can become a challenge in transdisciplinary research. As identified by Pennington et al., (2013) although scientific jargon can be a challenge towards reciprocal understanding among the actors, the dimension of the groups can aid, smaller groups need less linguistic efforts.
Challenges of Transdisciplinary Research in Relation to Social Polis Project
There is a major communication problem between the local stakeholders and the research team. In the social polis project language was at times problematic and particularly after the indulgence of the stakeholders shifted from local to international level via the Vienna conference and then the finalisation of the research agenda as milestones. The stakeholders who had made a decision to get involved in the activities it was mandatory to provide string organizational support along with translations of presentations and papers form and it English.
Answer 2
What makes decolonisation ‘a distinct project from other civil and human rights-based
social justice projects’ (TUCK & YANG 2012: 2), and how might this affect our research
practice
Decolonization is a distinct project from other civil and human rights involving social justice researchers and project. It is on various occasions subsumed into directors of such projects having no regards to how decolonization requires something different than other forms of justice. Decolonization is a concept which has different meanings in relation to different contexts. It evokes a historical narrative simultaneously of the end of an empire, a specific version of postcolonial political theory or a way of getting to known thing which are different from Eurocentricism of the West. It also has been defined as a moral imperative for rectifying the errors of colonial domination.
Decolonisation brings the repatriation of indigenous life and land, it is not actually a metaphor for other things which people seek to enhance the schools and society. The easy use of Decolonizing discourse via scholarship and educational advocacy which is evident by increasing number of calls to “decolonize student thinking”, use “decolonizing methods” or “decolonize schools” make decolonization a metaphor (Tuck & Yang, 2012).
However important may be their goals, critical methodologies, social justice or approaches which decenter the perspectives of the settler have objectives which may not be commensurable with decolonization. This is because settler colonialism is made upon a structure which is entangled triad of settler native slave, the decolonial desires of white, immigrants, post colonial, non-white and oppressed people can be entangled similarly in reoccupation, reinhabitation and resettlement which actually further settler colonialism. The metaphorization of decolonization ensures a set of evasions or settler moves to innocence which attempt problematically to reconcile settler complicity and guilt and save settler futurity.
Thus there are various things which are sovereign and distinct for projects or decolonization as compared to civil and human rights based on social justice projects. Decolonization sets out to change the world order is a program of complete disorder. However it cannot be treated as a result of magical practices. It neither can be taken as a natural shock nor as a friendly understanding. Decolonisation is not a historical process, which signifies that it can become intelligible nor can clear to itself except in the proper measure which a person discern the movement which provided it historical content and form. Decolonisation is distinct from civil and human rights based projects as the settler has perfect knowledge that no Phraseology would be able to substitute for reality.
Decolonization in Social Justice Projects and its Impact on Research Practice
Thus in relation to how decolonisation may affect the research practice it can be stated that it provides a different perspective to civil and human rights based approaches towards justice. It is an unsettling approach rather than a contemporary approach which is provided via civil and human rights based approaches towards justice. It cannot be considered as an end rather it is actually an “elsewhere”. It is accountable to futurity and indigenous sovereignty. As long as decolonization remains punctuated by metaphor answers cannot be gained in full view.
Answer 3
Why are social innovation labs useful for promoting social innovation?
The social innovation lab or SIL has the aim to create an ecosystem which helps in the innovation of the society and also enables the change-makers to build the social enterprises that are sustainable. The social innovation lab give the new business person a testing ground that sharpens the ideas and also provide them with the help to combine the sustainable practices of business with the humanistic knowledge. This helps in bringing out the social innovative organisations to work together and create a healthier society.
The theme of the social innovation lab brings out together some extremely talented groups of those professionals who are educated in the case of the social justice by social innovation. It also works with the International organisations and consulting projects in this field. The social innovation lab is a three step process of developing, testing and instigating the strategies of innovation.
There are certain points that have been discussed below to show that how Social Innovation Labs have helped in transforming the social change. Social innovation labs are very much useful for social change. It helps in integrating the theories and the research methodologies to understand the social innovation that leads to a new standard of innovation. It also ensures the importance of the practitioners and the policy makers. Social innovation lab mostly covers more than one policy field. There are several initiatives that have been taken for the improvement of the society like the poverty reduction and sustainable development, education, health and social care are some major topics of concern. Education leads to employment and it is the major policy what is being taken care of.
Several factors have been involved in the poverty and sustainable development and education field and it is the major matter of concern for the social development. There are different types of initiatives that have been taken by the social innovation lab.National Public Funding on contributions, regional public funding and funding from International donors are such funding agents or systems. These funding systems have helped immensely in some projects that helps in the social change.
The Usefulness of Social Innovation Labs for Promoting Social Innovation
There are several developmental programs that are being held by the Social Innovation Labs in different states to make people realise about what is happening in the society and what kind of development is needed for the betterment of the society. There are several organisations that operates labs and these organisations are BRAC social innovation lab, UNICEF innovation labs and many others. A variety of activities, methods and tools have been used to reframe the problems among the participants. (Mulgan et al., 2007)
Answer 4
How can boundary objects enable different teams to collaborate within and across
Organisations?
A paramount challenge is presented by mobility and diversity in work which requires proper conceptualization in educational theory. The challenge has been addressed by educational scholars via the concept of boundaries and specifically boundary objects and boundary crossing. The concept of boundary objects had been introduced by Cooley (2014) for the purpose of indicating how artifacts can satisfy a particular function in relation to bridging intersecting practices. Boundary objective are those objects which are present in various intersecting worlds and meet the informational requirement in relation to each of them.
Tsukuda (2011) has stated that Boundary objects are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and restriction of various parties using them, and yet robust enough towards maintain a similar identity across sites. They are structured weekly in common use and become structured strongly in individual site use. Boundaries have an ambiguous nature which means they are ambiguous and phenomena at the same time. The ambiguous nature creates a sandwich effect for boundry objects and boundary crossing people. Boundary objects move beyond the boundaries as they have not been defined by multivoicedness but rather are in middle ground having unspecified quality of their own.
In a research carried out by Hampton & Parker (2011) for the purpose of examining the evolving use of boundary objects with respect to cross-cultural software teams found that study in relation to a Jamaican-Indian team with respect to using project management tools and software specifications in form of boundary objects in facilitating sharing across knowledge boundaries was effective. Various studies specifically those which emphasise on the role of boundary objects as a mediating artefact, provide learning at the boundary as a matter of coordination. Coordination requires a communicative connection between diverse perspectives and practices which can be established via instrumentalities (boundary objects) .
which are shared by multiple parties. Information structure allows exchange or relevant information across various communities of practice in the health care sector. Even where interconnecting different actors such boundary objects are interpreted in a different manner by different actors. Translation work may also be completed via the use of boundary object and relates to establishing a balance in the aforementioned boundary ambiguity. Coordination also include enhancing boundary permeability .
so that there is no awareness of different practice simple because interactions and actions run smoothly without deliberate choice and costs. Boundaries may be permeable, for instance when employee manage to do their work without having any kind of problematic discontinuity. Thus it makes it clear that the permeability of boundaries may be enhanced via by crossing different practices repeatedly (Cheruvelil et al, 2014).
The various processes in relation to coordination across boundaries such as efforts of translation, establishing a communicative connection, increasing boundary permeability and routinization provide how the learning mechanism of boundary crossing takes different for than identification. Thus, boundary objects enable different teams to collaborate within and across Organisations.
Answer 5
To what extent do you agree with the assertion that Human Centred Design ignores
politics?
Human centred design can be defined as a creative approach towards problem solving. It is a process which is initiated with respect to the people who the design is being implemented for and usually comes to an end with solutions which are customised to suit the needs of the end users. Human centred designs are all about establishment of a deep empathy with the end users for whom the design is being implemented for. This includes generating tones of ideas, sharing what has been made with the end users, building a bunch of prototypes and finally placing the new creative solution in front of the end users. Human centred design is carried out in three phases.
In the inspiration face learning is done directly by the people for whom the design is being implemented as the designers immerse themselves into the lives of such people and then come to a deep understanding about their needs. In relation to the ideation face sense is made out with respect to what have been learned. This phase includes the identification of opportunities for design and the probable solutions available to address the problem. In the final implementation phase the solution is brought to life and finally before the end users. Whether or not the solution has been a success would depend upon the fact that the design has been centred around the needs of the end users. There has been an assertion which state start human centred design for user centred design ignores politics. This assertion is true to a certain extent.
This is because human centred designs are creative way of problem solving rather than generic way of problem solving. Any problem solver cannot rely upon human centred design as there only applicable in Limited situations. They do not have a generic solution framework. Although they create empathy to understand the users better and find the problems of the users to identify the solutions, they make specific solutions to which they are start rather than generic solutions. The perception of politics is much wider than that of what is taken in the human centred design. Politics focuses on creation and innovation and this in relation to the development of new products services and even about addressing social problems. On the other hand human centred design is focused on enhancing usability and experience of the users towards a certain product.
Therefore it can be stated that your one Centre designs actually ignore us politics were certain extent. However the use of mixed design is better which take into consideration both politics and human centred designs which are known as design thinking. The combination of these two provides better results for creative and innovative solution in both specific and general sense (Cooley, 2014).
References
Cheruvelil, K. S., Soranno, P. A., Weathers, K. C., Hanson, P. C., Goring, S. J., Filstrup, C. T., & Read, E. K. (2014). Creating and maintaining high?performing collaborative research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(1), 31-38.
Cooley, M. (2014). Human-centered design. Information design, 59-81.
Hampton, S. E., & Parker, J. N. (2011). Collaboration and productivity in scientific synthesis. BioScience, 61(11), 900-910.
Mulgan, G., Tucker, S., Ali, R., & Sanders, B. (2007). Social innovation: what it is, why it matters and how it can be accelerated.
Pennington, D. D., Simpson, G. L., McConnell, M. S., Fair, J. M., & Baker, R. J. (2013). Transdisciplinary research, transformative learning, and transformative science. BioScience, 63(7), 564-573.
Tsukuda, R. A. (2011). Interdisciplinary collaboration: Teamwork in geriatrics. In Geriatric medicine (pp. 668-675). Springer, New York, NY.
Tuck E & Yang K W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1,1: 11–40.
Wascher, E., Hebel, F., Schrot, K., & Schultze, J. (2011). Social Innovation Labs.
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