Event Title

Connecting Participatory Research and Design to the Digital Humanities

Presenter Information

Timothy Hawthorne
Natalie Underberg-Goode
Emily Johnson, University of Central Florida

Location

PSY-106

Start Date

3-11-2017 1:45 PM

End Date

3-11-2017 3:15 PM

Description

We propose a roundtable submission that focuses on drawing connections between participatory research and design approaches and the work of digital humanities. We will take as our case study the development of the Participatory Research and Design Network (PRDN), an informal, interdisciplinary network made of scholars and practitioners who work in the area of participatory research and design. Comprised of faculty from diverse fields at the University of Central Florida and beyond, the group holds monthly meetings and is developing, through a small teaching grant, online-based resources and student-produced multimedia projects that exemplify the methods at work. In this roundtable, participants will discuss and share teaching materials related to integrating technology and education and demonstrate how the student-created multimedia project assignments attempt to replicate the "core story" approach combined with the points for reflection structure used in the PRDN meetings, so that they become an illustration of the "core story" and can be combined with a reflection process to create highly engaged research and design practices for students. And because the membership of PRDN is so interdisciplinary, the potential for productive and challenging dialogue between as well as among disciplines is multiplied—thus creating an engaging opportunity for discussion of interdisciplinary goals and conversations in the digital humanities.

Reason and Bradbury explain the approach in these terms, as "A participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview…[and bringing] together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people." This workshop will examine three methods from the point of view of digital humanities: digital storytelling, participatory GIS (PGIS), and participatory design applied to games. Digital storytelling involves everyday storytellers creating digital videos that incorporate photographs, narration, and other multimedia elements typically in order to tell a personal narrative. Participatory design is an approach that encourages active end-user involvement in the design process. Originating in Scandinavian countries, it has applications to multiple research and practice areas, including game design. Participatory GIS or PGIS is an approach to spatial planning and information management, and combines participatory learning and action methods with geographic information systems (GIS). As Clement, in a recent Debates in the Digital Humanities, puts it: "In contrast to social science scholarship on information work, digital humanities studies of information work often lack methodological discussions—even while methodological perspectives, as I term them, are always at play." This methods roundtable discussion will make an important contribution to the digital humanities because students need to not only know how to use digital tools, but also how to critically design and reflect upon the kinds of stories, visuals, and research they produce with these tools.