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Producing Shared Understanding for Digital and Social Innovation: Bridging Divides with Transdisciplinary Information Experience Concepts and Methods 1st ed. Edition Faye Miller full chapter instant download
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Producing Shared
Understanding for Digital
and Social Innovation
Bridging Divides with
Transdisciplinary Information Experience
Concepts and Methods
Faye Miller
Producing Shared Understanding for Digital
and Social Innovation
Faye Miller
Producing Shared
Understanding
for Digital and Social
Innovation
Bridging Divides with
Transdisciplinary Information
Experience Concepts and Methods
Faye Miller
Research and Career Development Consultancy
Human Constellation Pty Ltd
Canberra, Australia
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,
whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting,
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The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721,
Singapore
For Raj
For Maura
1 Prologue 1
Retrofuturistic 1
Three Big Questions 3
How Do We Future Proof Our Digital Lives? 3
How Do We Produce Shared Understanding? 4
How Do We Educate for Responsible Innovation? 5
Eight Invisible Gaps that Need Bridging 8
Making Meaningful Work Across Boundaries 8
Transdisciplinary Collaboration and Competition 9
Human Impact and Responsible Digital Social
Innovation 9
Accessibility and Public Understanding of Social
Science 9
Inclusivity in Innovation 10
Tolerance, Empathy and Polarity in Shared
Understanding 10
Platforms for Transdisciplinary Interaction 10
Moments of Shared Understanding 11
vii
viii Contents
Transdisciplinary Producing 12
Fusionist 15
Analogue Experience Guide 15
Virtual and Augmented Reality Experience Creator 16
Innovation Manager 16
Social Change Agents 17
Co-producing Transdisciplinary Knowledge 18
Shared Understanding for Digital and Social Innovation 19
References 23
Part I Concepts
3 Informational Waves 51
Waves Across a Universe 51
Signs of Life 52
Sustainable Resources 55
Approaches 58
Objects 59
Concepts 60
Social-Ecological Information Experiences 61
Life Moments 67
Contents ix
Movements 68
Self and Audience Awareness 69
Relatable Information 70
Balanced Critique 71
Holistic Approaches 72
Curated Waves 73
Embodied Waves 74
Expanding the Universe 77
Challenges for Change Agents: Understanding
and Creating Informational Waves 81
References 82
4 Transdisciplinary Resonance 85
Re-interpreting Waves 85
The Silver Lined Cloud of Resonance 86
Resonance in Cultural Shifts 87
Resonance Powers Waves 88
Informal Learning for Resonance 90
Common and Nuanced Resonance 91
Resonant Information and Learning Experiences 93
Understanding Yourself for Transdisciplinary Innovation 94
Understanding People for Transdisciplinary Innovation 97
Co-designing for Resonant Information and Learning
Experiences 100
Challenges for Change Agents: Understanding
and Developing Transdisciplinary Resonance 101
References 102
Part II Methods
6 Moments 109
Moments as a Transdisciplinary Method 109
x Contents
7 Paradoxes 117
Understanding Paradoxical Tensions 117
Paradoxes as a Transdisciplinary Method for Producing
Shared Understanding 120
Working Through Paradoxes 120
Problem: Formulating the Mess 124
Dilemma: Either/Or Thinking 125
Paradox: Discovering the Link with Both/And Thinking 126
Workable Certainty: Negotiated Understanding 127
Culturally Diverse Collaborations for Shared
Understanding 131
Understanding Social Innovation and Sustainable
Development Through Paradoxes 132
Challenges for Change Agents: Understanding
and Navigating Paradoxes 135
References 137
8 Dialogues 139
Sparking Dialogue about Dialogue Mapping 139
References 146
Epilogue 159
Acknowledgements 161
Glossary 163
Index 171
List of Figures
xiii
List of Tables
xv
1
Prologue
Retrofuturistic
The first time I ever saw a live and spinning zoetrope—a pre-cinematic
animation device—was on a visit to the Exploratorium Museum of
Science, Art and Human Perception on San Francisco’s Pier 15, in March
2017. Derived from the Greek words zoe, meaning “life”, and tropos
meaning “turning”, a zoetrope is also known as a “wheel of life”.
This was my first “live” zoetrope experience because as a child I had
seen a static zoetrope in a detailed, illustrated entry about how motion
pictures were made, in a leather-bound antique encyclopedia volume
by Arthur Mee. As Mee’s encyclopedias for children were published in
mid-twentieth-century Europe, it is likely that I am in the minority of
millennials who have ever heard of Mee’s encyclopedia. I remember being
fascinated by countless entries that naturally unified the natural sciences,
social sciences, humanities and arts, spanning across several volumes.
Most school teachers said that the information held in those books was
quite archaic, and that I should have consulted the latest Britannica CD-
ROM or even the pre-Google search engine AltaVista in the mid-1990s
wave of the World Wide Web. But browsing these newer resources felt
mechanical and limited. They were devoid of the fusing of ethical and
humanist wisdom and wonder, alongside scientific proofs.
Over knowing what we know, these classical texts inspired us to place
even higher value in being curious about what we do not know. Arthur
Mee was honest about his encyclopedia; although it was very thorough,
carefully presented and detailed, he made it clear to learning minds that it
was not the fountain of all knowledge once devoured. The real magic was
found in the unknown gaps in-between. Like the zoetrope, only through
the illuminated gaps in the wheel did the whole story come to life.
If I had been more deliberate and orderly in my early research, I might
never have randomly come across the zoetrope, as both an innovative
concept and a precursor invention which ultimately led to traditional
audiovisual motion picture and—as we know and love it today—digital
multimedia and animation, social media, GIFs, memes, live streaming
on reddit’s Public Access Network, YouTube, cat videos and Pixar.
A zoetrope is also known as a “wheel of life”. An illusion. A simulation.
Is digital life an illusion? Is reality a simulation? Is simulation a reality?
You realize the sun doesn’t go down it’s just an illusion caused by the
world spinning round—The Flaming Lips “Do You Realize?”
Also inside the Exploratorium that day, there was a sign in the Tinkering
Studio.
A quote from Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget in the early 1970s, when
transdisciplinary thinking was just taking flight:
To understand is to invent.
Quotes such as this reflect the assumptions prior to the Artificial Age—
that the social or environmental impact of any invention was a primary
consideration before unleashing it onto the universe. Now it appears to
be the opposite. The concept of the Anthropocene is driven by tech-
nocratic narratives—both utopian and dystopian—but not all of its
solutions will be technological ones. Furthermore, tech solutions to tech
problems seem paradoxical. We need to make sure that the problem is
not compounded by the “solution”.
1 Prologue 3
need now and in the future. Digital and social innovations often do not
take a holistic look at their potential impacts and outcomes across an
ecosystem (Olsson et al. 2017). We need new ways of bridging divides
between different stakeholders around a digital innovation. Decisions
and actions based on myopic views prompt a need for broader under-
standing to prepare for long-term impacts. Transdisciplinary mindsets
prompt us to think and act beyond our individual personal agendas
and be guided by a mindset that encourages less ego-centrism and
more humility to make lasting impacts for community and global goals.
There is a need for balance of individual and communal considerations
through shared understanding. We can produce or co-produce shared
understanding in complex adaptive systems, consisting of informational
waves and transdisciplinary resonance, through approaches explored in
Part II: Methods, such as navigating paradoxes, capturing moments and
mapping dialogues.
learn again from machines. In the future, people will perform tasks
alongside AI agents to learn new skills and will receive on-the-job
training to work well within AI-enhanced processes.
8. Relentless reimagining. This hybrid skill is the ability to reimagine
how things currently are—and to keep reimagining how AI can trans-
form and improve work, organizational processes, business models
and even entire industries.
A recent research report by Tytler et al. (2019) lists the 100 Jobs of
the Future based on identification of future key skills and knowledge,
emphasizing the importance of developing transdisciplinary thinking
through STEM/STEAM at all levels of education and training. This
research points to a need for more dedicated education, mentoring
and training at elementary, secondary and university or college levels,
for bridging and intermediary roles in digital and social innovation—
essential roles for the future that cannot be easily automated. My own
teaching has a strong emphasis on developing soft skills and attributes for
successful projects and work placements, along with challenging expe-
riences for learning outside of comfort zones and nurturing personal
passions, perseverance and resilience. Employers and colleagues often
demand this, but educators often focus on science and technology
knowledge and skills only. In today’s social media and attention driven
society, people spend more time working to be more engaging and influ-
ential in their communication, how to convince someone of their point
of view, rather than developing capacities which are central to activating
responsible digital and social innovations such as listening, interpreta-
tion and perception abilities. This book is all about the soft skills—or
states of mind that enable soft skills—developed in the complex, invis-
ible spaces in-between. This reflects a paradigm shift from the common
understanding of communication, from being engaging and influential
to improving how we listen, perceive and interpret informational waves
to create transdisciplinary resonance and shared understanding.
Le Hunte (2020) emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary
education and emergent creativity: “With the current thinking on the
future of work and the predictions that today’s graduate will have to work
across many fields, transdisciplinary learning becomes more important. It
8 F. Miller