Q+A evening of panel discussions

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Comment by Service Design Melbourne on June 12, 2012 at 15:50

Biography of speakers:

  

Associate Professor Cameron Tonkinwise, Parsons New School of Design (US):

Cameron Tonkinwise’s research and professional activities integrate the philosophy of design with a concern for sustainability. His work focuses on the design of commercial and nonmarket systems for shared product use, exploring how the emerging discipline of service design might facilitate the development of less-material-dependent economies. In his current research, Dr. Tonkinwise is investigating perceptions of convenience and autonomy in shifts from “ownership” to “usership.”

  

Mel Edwards and Justin Barrie, Design Managers Australia (DMA):

Design Managers Australia (DMA) is a service design consultancy working with private, public, community and volunteer organisations. What matters to us most is:

• Making a difference to people’s lives through services that may or may not even be noticed by them – for all the right reasons
• Creating change that is needed and that makes things better
• Bringing together a range of voices and disciplines who can make things happen – not just talk about it, but do it

For us, social innovation is just as much about the small business owner coping with his/her BAS, as it is about providing urban renewal programs (as an example). Making a difference is about making a difference for and with people – at whatever scale. The opportunity to speak at the DESIS symposium gave us a chance to articulate to a thoughtful and diverse audience how what matters to us most has translated into the work we do and seek to champion.

Kate Archdeacon, Project Officer and Communications at VEIL:

Kate works on a range of projects, co-designing workshops, publications, and exhibitions, and sharing ideas with design students at Melbourne Uni and RMIT throughout the semester. Kate manages the VEIL websites including the sustainability blogs, and gives presentations to community groups projects around the world that inspire a shift to sustainable living. Kate is currently undertaking an MPhil in urban agriculture at the University of Melbourne.

David Hood has been working with not-for-profits and community organisations for close to 15 years - including almost four years at Greenpeace Australia where he worked in Communications and Public Engagement and was the Campaign Project Leader on the successful viral campaign against Nestle for deforestation.

In the last five years David has experienced the growing effectiveness of the web and social media to connect and enable communities to come together, collaborate, and take action on issues ranging from malaria and climate change, to mental health and girls' education.

The use of social media has been deeply integrated into David's current projects as founder of Doing Something Good, host of The Collaboratory Melbourne and producer of the Gathering Unconference. His mission is to realise the potential of the strategic use of the social web, emerging models for business and collaborative networked communities to build better futures for all, together.

A recent graduate of the School for Social Entrepreneurs program, David was recently named Melbourne Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Comment by Yoko Akama on June 19, 2012 at 18:13

Questions that have been submitted (please keep them coming!)

• "In this era of social networking, it can be argued that society and community has become a market. For instance, social networking sites rely on users disclosing personal information that can be sold to advertisers. How can the ethical designer create online projects that are successful but don't exploit users? One way is for designers to acknowledge in whose interests they work."
• "How do we design with people where differences and diversity can be productive, rather than be seen as an obstacle? How do we then demonstrate 'equity' and participation?"

• "What in the education or experience of the designer supports designers to understand the ethics/responsibilites of working with diverse stakeholder groups on projects that seek to effect change?"

• "It is possible that the zeal of designers to enter the social innovation space could see them imposing their wish for involvement on society where there is no specific interest from a community? "
• "There is also the issue of social innovation projects that are more social entrepreneurship and where the project initiator seeks to simultaneously effect change and set up a business. What are the ethics of involving others as volunteers in such activities? "
• "When trust for government is breaking down, what is the role of community-led organisations, social media network clusters - how are they practicing participation? Who does the designer advocate on behalf of, and how do they practice voicing and practicing through their designing?"
• "What promises do we make as designers when we design in this space?"
• "What kinds of designers does this area attract? What had motivated you and what keeps you going?"
• "Responsibility: Yes, I think there's a real challenge to take ethics beyond a consumerist model, which reduces behaviour to choice at the check-out. How can design engage the consumer beyond that - someone as responsible as the producer for wider impact?"

Comment by Yoko Akama on June 22, 2012 at 17:35

And more...

• Practices which encourage Social Innovation and Sustainability offer different ways to think about designers and design agency - how do you see this effecting design education here in Australia?
• In terms of the particular examples or tactics for social innovation and sustainability, is it important for these to actually be effective and/or sustainable or is it ‘the thought that counts’?
• Herbert Simon famously wrote about design as a practice which enables 'a move from the actual to the preferred’. Do you think that ideas for social innovation and sustainability have a similar understanding of design’s role, and if so, who’s ‘preferences’ do those ideas aim to meet?
• One of DESIS’s main activities is to find existing ideas for ‘Social Innovation and Sustainable Practice’ and facilitate the uptake of those ideas more broadly and in other locations. Could this be interpreted as an attempt at developing social ‘pattern languages’? and does it come with a possible danger of outcomes and projects being applied out of context?

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