Search results

"Due to its potential transformative nature, empathy has increasingly received attention in business, psychology, neuroscience, education, medicine, social sciences and design, to mention only a few. During the last two decades, discussions about the role of empathy in design and creative research and practice have developed, with empathy perceived as a key instrument in human-centred design and design thinking. This book revisits the powerful concept of empathy in the new post-pandemic era in which ubiquitous digitalisation presents challenges to retaining human-centredness when developing products and services. The book presents a practical four-step approach to the challenges presented concerning how organisations can turn from merely feeling empathy with or for people, to actions of empathy and compassion that can be implemented with and by communities. A wide range of organisations and organisational settings can benefit from the presented case studies and research methods. Through them, the book explores how to discover, share and act with empathy and compassion in the new digitally driven post-pandemic era to innovate across a wide range of organisations, including for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and those in the public and third sectors. This edited volume will appeal to global researchers in the fields of product and service design and digital, social innovation, as well those interested in organisational development. The practical, interdisciplinary nature of the book and innovative four-step approach will also appeal to upper-level students"--

In an effort to challenge the ways in which colonial power relations and Eurocentric knowledges are reproduced in participatory research, this book explores whether and how it is possible to use arts-based methods for creating more horizontal and democratic research practices. In discussing both the transformative potential and limitations of arts-based methods, the book asks: What can arts-based methods contribute to decolonising participatory research and its processes and practices? The book takes part in ongoing debates related to the need to decolonise research, and investigates practical contributions of arts-based methods in the practice-led research domain. Further, it discusses the role of artistic research in depth, locating it in a decolonising context. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, design, fine arts, service design, social sciences and development studies.

The foundations of academic knowledge production are increasingly questioned and contested from a diversity of perspectives. On the one hand, academic research has suffered from a legitimacy crisis in the so-called post-truth era, which has transformed the meaning of 'truth' and shaken the position of scientific knowledge in society. On the other hand, within academia itself, a wide range of epistemological criticisms stemming from various critical approaches have emerged and are challenging conventional forms of academic knowledge production, along with its ethical premises and value base. Calls for more participatory, horizontal and democratic research practices have become widespread.

The issue of demographic ageing is becoming one of the biggest challenges in contemporary societies, and various professional, academic and political fields have been called upon to find solutions for easing the tension demographic ageing creates in aged care. This paper investigates how elderly people's past experiences can inform the design process for improved aged care. An empirical study was conducted to determine the meanings that Chinese elderly people attach to their past experiences. The study used interviews and focus group discussions with retired people in the city of Zhuhai in southern China. Following the research analysis, we identified three emerging themes from the interviews focussing on elderly people's past experiences. These experiences were reported by the participants as having important and perhaps specific meanings for them. The important themes identified in this study were related to the experiences of being in nature, sharing time with family and neighbours and spending time practising skills and hobbies. Such experiences strongly reflect the participants' lifestyle in their cultural contexts. These experiences have the potential to increase the wellbeing of the retired participants. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of the "good old days" and how design practitioners can apply this concept in their design practices for more holistic and inclusive care of the elderly.

In October 2016, the Margin to Margin research group carried out two art and storytelling workshops with the Anangu Aboriginal communities of South and Western Australia and the Fibrespace Incorporated textile artist group of South Australia. Women artists and craft-makers from the various communities predominantly participated in two intensive art-making and data collection workshops of less than one week each with an emphasis on narrative processes as service design tools. Challenging roles, such as being single mothers, primary household income generators and family caregivers, became apparent in both groups, whether they were remote or regionally based. The women resorted to art and craft-making as a means to cope with hardship, gain empowerment and improve self-realization. The remotely based Anangu Aboriginal communities face additional challenges as a legacy of Australia's colonial past, resulting in complex political entanglements. The workshops aimed to build empathy with the participants by presenting a platform for dialogue to render audible the stories and artistic processes from outback Australia.

Executive Summary Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS) is an EU Horizon 2020 research project funded under the theme of Societal Challenges and the Arts, which focuses on the cultural rights perspective of marginalisation and its effects on other forms of exclusion in Europe. Using arts-based interventions, this project aims to address marginalisation challenges through community involvement and community building. This white paper compiles the outcomes of research studies and previous arts interventions (Section One) and the European testbed of arts-based interventions (Section Two). These insights form the basis of the identified needs and corresponding recommendations, which can be read in Section Three. Below is a summary of the sections. As part of the AMASS project, qualitative and systematic literature reviews were performed to understand the current research discourse on the assessment of arts-based interventions with a social focus in Europe. According to our analysis, culture and the arts are framed as participatory, sometimes therapeutic, means of empowering individuals and communities to assert agency over their own lives, develop and express their identities and strengthen local learning and development initiatives. Our results also point to effects that can beproblematised as negative, such as the social reproduction of dominant groups' values and practices at the expense of marginalised groups. Thus, the arts are not a given good but can depend on context. Previous arts-based interventions often lacked the personnel and financial resources to continue after the end of the funding period. In many cases, the assessment of project results was anecdotal or lacking. As a result, the power of the arts for social well-being and cultural integration could not be convincingly revealed. The AMASS European testbed included 35 arts-based case studies to evaluate the impact of these approaches in addressing marginalisation. The outcomes of these testbeds were compiled around tasks designed ...

This toolkit is intended to help artists and arts researchers to plan, organise, document and evaluate participatory arts projects in different contexts. Its publication evolved in the context of a Europe-wide research project funded by the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. This research project – Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS) – is an arts-based three-year project (2020-2023) that aims to bring people based in different European contexts together with artists to work collaboratively on creative and experimental research. Through participatory approaches conducted in new artistic productions and research projects, AMASS explores and analyses the role of the arts in engaging with societal challenges and evaluating the societal impact of the arts. It also addresses the marginalisation of certain groups in society by analysing power imbalances and exploring artistic, pedagogical and other ways of promoting inclusive strategies and sharing the benefits of innovation and service solutions. The many strategies adopted by different AMASS partners call for the involvement of various stakeholders like NGOs, artists, regional arts advocates, community members and others in decision-making tactics and forum group discussions revolving around social needs and constraints. Strongly embedded in the value of alternative knowledge systems and the belief that the arts can initiate significant transformations in policy and perceptions, AMASS is intended as a catalyst for change in various contexts, and multi-disciplinary results emerging from an evaluation of its testbed will contribute towards policy recommendations at local, regional and international levels. This toolkit shares many of the challenges and enthusiasm for the arts that characterise AMASS and its activities. ; peer-reviewed

As a response to increasing social tensions, arts-based interventions have been performed in Europe for decades, to address burning issues, strengthen identities and create communities. AMASS projects target similar objectives, so the identification of good practice from the last decade was important to construct a solid foundation for the development of new interventions. With resources and publications included in the information collected, this database provides an authentic knowledge repository for researchers. Using the data, they can identify motivations, philosophies, modes of engagement and impact of arts-based social interventions from a comparative, geographically balanced and multidisciplinary perspective. We invited AMASS partners from seven countries to identify relevant past and ongoing projects and evaluate them in their own sociocultural setting. The research database that we built, consists of 133 standardised project descriptions. Regrettably, not all of the significant interventions had been fully documented by their promoters, so for this deliverable, we selected 10 good practices per country, 70 in all. After a discussion with prospective informants (AMASS partners) about data collection methodology and topics of importance, we employed a survey method through template that included the following themes: 1. Descriptive data of the projects: country of execution, title, website, financing institution and grant type, project co-ordinator and the co-ordinating institution. 2. Project features: time frame, target population (age, educational level or employment type, special needs etc.); developmental objectives (development of attitudes, skills, values, increase of well-being, use therapeutic functions of art, targeted policies and type of civic engagement envisioned, social / cultural inclusion etc.). Descriptions also include the nature of intervention, working arrangements, art forms involved, eventual connection to school / higher education curriculum. 3. Innovative character of the project in addressing societal challenges: methodological innovations, prizes and other recognitions won. 4. Assessment of results: methods and results achieved. 5. Sustainability: one of the most important features of an educational intervention is its survival through followers of innovative methods after the supported project had been finished. For ongoing projects, foreseen sustainability or reasons for unsustainability were described. 6. Publications about the project: research reports in journals, teaching aids and learning tools, and other dissemination material. Our database complements Deliverable 1.3: A comprehensive literature review, a state-of-the-art review of research-relevant material regarding the social impact of the arts in the partner countries of the AMASS project. A detailed analysis of information retrieved from the database is provided in D1.2, Comparative policy analysis and evaluation of artistic projects. This introduction gives a summary of findings and explains how stakeholders who intend to support socially challenged communities may utilise the database in the future. ; peer-reviewed