College of Social Sciences

Fri, March 25, 2022 - 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

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After a successful series of methods workshops, the Digital Society & Economy IRT invites you to a new series of online workshops on exciting, innovative and cutting edge digital methods and methodologies. The second workshop in the series is:

Title: Exploring alternative futures through guided role play

Invited speakers: Dr. Lenneke Kuijer

Abstract: This session introduces a guided roleplay method designed to help participants imagine and explore alternative futures. ‘The future’ cannot be studied directly, yet it affects everyday life through expectations and anticipation. When asked about the future, people have a tendency to depict it as more technologically ‘advanced’ yet otherwise largely the same (except, increasingly, as warmer and wetter). However, looking back in time shows that everyday life changes in many more respects than just technologically (and climatically). In concert with technological changes, our ideas about what is normal and acceptable are in constant flux, while new skills emerge and others disappear. These non-technological types of change are much more difficult to imagine, anticipate or envision. The roleplay method introduced is designed as a an accessible tool to explore futures beyond technological change at the level of everyday life.

Bio: Dr. Lenneke Kuijer is Assistant Professor in the Future Everyday group at the Industrial Design Department of Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. She is interested in the relation between social and technical change in everyday life. Through her research she develops methods and tools to help designers get a better grip on the longer term, broader societal impacts of their design decisions. She does this by combining social practice theories and design research. Her current fellowship focuses on the future of summer comfort in Dutch households, aiming to find alternatives to energy intensive artificial cooling dependencies.

 

What is the Innovative Research Methodologies for a Digital Society (IRMDS) (2022-2023) Workshop Series?

Algorithms, digital data sets, social media networks, integrated technologies are all part of our everyday lives. How should we investigate the ongoing changes and challenges of our digital society? How should we explore our relationships with digital data and the online world? What are the limitations and affordances of new methodologies and what ethical considerations should researchers take into account as they look at the digitalisation of our lives? The Digital Society and Economy Interdisciplinary Theme Group invites you to join us for a new workshop series where you can meet researchers who will share Innovative Research Methodologies that address current digital practices and phenomena.

The workshops are open to postgraduate researchers, Early Career Researchers, as well as experienced researchers who want to learn about new methodologies or share their own experiences with the methods presented in the workshop. Each workshop will focus on a new method/methodology tried and tested in various contexts. The workshops are meant to provide participants with the opportunity to learn about that method/methodology and ask questions about the process of implementing it. Each workshop will last 50 minutes: 20-30 min. speaker's presentation and 20-30 min. Q&A.

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Find the full workshop details on Eventbrite >>

First published: 2 March 2022