About
Who does digital media and learning research? Who is it for? Academics? Practitioners? Designers? Young people? Communities? All of the above?
Often overlooked in the world of publications-obsessed academia, community-facing and participatory research aims to bring in the perspectives of learners, communities and their advocates as a central part of the research process. Crucially, this research is oriented towards action, towards leveraging academic insights into real-world impact, and towards responding to needs and ideas of participants.
In this unit we explore practicalities of initiating and implementing participatory and community-based research. We discuss both the benefits and the challenges that working in collaboration with organizations and individuals brings to academic research. We will cover professional considerations (including building relationships, disseminating work, and career progression) alongside the intellectual and ethical dimensions of this type of research.
As a way of sharing and promoting examples of existing participatory and community-based research/design, we invite all unit participants to highlight and discuss relevant projects or resources that they know of or have been a part of. Using Twitter and/or DMLCommons blogs and the hashtag #dmlcommons, we can share resources, reflect on our own experiences and provide practical advice for fellow participatory researchers. Together, we can create a collection of example projects to inspire more community-based research!
Facilitators
Objectives
- Explore opportunities and challenges of participatory and community-based work
- Learn about ways to maximize the value of these approaches for both community partners and researchers
- Discuss professional development considerations
- Hear stories from the field on how develop and carry out community-based/participatory research and design projects
- Create a participant-sourced collection of examples of projects in this field
Schedule
Live Event: Tuesday, April 21, 10:00 AM PDT (12PM CDT/1 PM EDT)
Guests: Julian Sefton-Green, Nancy Erbstein
Description: What are the opportunities and challenges of participatory and community-based work? What value does academic research bring to community partners? What can academic researchers learn from participatory research? And how can junior scholars embarking on community-based research be better equipped to build relationships, create positive impact, and leverage this type of work for their professional progression? This first webinar addresses these questions and other practical and ethical considerations, with help from two seasoned practitioners who will share their stories and insights, and respond to your questions.
Structure: During the live webinar, facilitators and invited participants will discuss their experiences in participatory and community based research and design. The DML Commons community can add notes, questions, and relevant resources for the discussion in the shared Etherpad. After the webinar, we will compile these resources and link them permanently to the unit page for future reference.
Live Event: Wednesday, April 29, 9:00 AM PDT (11AM CDT/12 PM EDT)
Title: How to Approach Participatory and Community-Based Research/Design [Webinar]
Guests: Sasha Costanza-Chock, Joanna Saad-Sulonen, Melissa Butcher
Description: Participatory research… great! But how do you actually go about setting it up? This second webinar will focus on how to design a collaborative project, carry out research, navigate compromises, and disseminate your findings to academic and non-academic audiences in the fields of community-based and participatory research. With contributions from scholars/practitioners who have worked across learning, design and action research.
Structure: During the live webinar, facilitators and invited participants will discuss their experiences in participatory and community based research and design. The DML Commons community can add notes, questions, and relevant resources for the discussion in the shared Etherpad. After the webinar, we will compile these resources and link them permanently to the unit page for future reference.
Resources crowdsourced from live event:
- Transformative Media
- Sasha Costanza-Chock, MIT & RAD.cat:
- Datacenter.org/what-we-do/research-justice
- ccaucla-laborcenter.electricembers.net/resources/reports
- Publicscienceproject.org
- Codesign.mit.edu
- Transformativemedia.cc/research
Resources
⇐ Unit 1 (Professional Pathways)Unit 3 (Professional Pathways) ⇒
