We will be running five workshops in 2013 as part of the "In conversation with..." project. Four of these workshops will be 'conversations' with non-human actors and the humans who work with them. We are interested in exploring issues to do with power, voice and agency and so will seek to test the boundaries of 'polite conversation' by working with dogs, bees, trees and water. We will hold a fifth workshop at the end of the project in December, which will bring together the core team and all the project partners to reflect on the project as a whole.
Our workshops have been designed to enable the core team to engage with the expertise of a range of project partners and to explore the practical possibilities and limitations of co-producing research with non-humans. We will explore the different perspectives each conversation will open up in regard to issues such as ethics, power and voice. We are also interested in exploring how anthropocentric accounts of sense-making might be challenged by a greater awareness of the different perceptual systems of non-humans (e.g.Hayward, 2010; Uexküll, 2010).
Conversations with animals (Dogs) was organised by Michelle Bastian and Clara Mancini from the OU Centre for Research in Computing and focused on the centre's world-leading work on Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI). This work builds on work on Human-Computer interaction, which takes a user-centred approach that aims to satisfy specific usability goals (e.g., efficiency, safety, learnability), as well as more subjective experience goals (e.g., satisfaction, motivation, stimulation) in order to best support a specific target user group in their tasks. The ACI team are currently extending this approach to non-human animals and, in particular - service dogs – who are currently trained to use technology such as washing machines and ATMs. The workshop explored how the ACI team have developed their approach, which explicitly seeks to treat dogs as active participants in, and end users of, their research. This included practical demonstrations and discussions. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with insects (Bees) was organised by Phil Jones in partnership with the Evesham Beekeepers Association. The workshop aimed to explore the role of bees in contributing to broader eco-system communities, and given the rise in amateur beekeeping, their role in local community building projects. With the rapid decline of bee populations, amateur bee-keepers are also increasingly being enrolled into producing crowd-sourced data for research projects. We thus explored how beekeeping is bringing community and research together in different configurations. The project team was involved in practical workshops as well as discussions with local community partners. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with plants (Trees) was run by Richard Coles in partnership with the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and took place in the Forest of Dean, one of the UK’s premier forests. Working with experts from the Wye Valley AONB we explored how their work, which must balance the needs of human users with the management of the forest, draws on a detailed knowledge of the capacities and needs of multiple tree species. The workshop will further enable the team to experience the ways in which the various conversational approaches with trees, already developed by the Wye Valley team, have been used as part of their community building approaches with local deprived communities. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with the elements (Water) was run by Owain Jones in partnership with environmental artist Antony Lyons and his networks within North Devon's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Like our Conversations with Plants workshop we were interested in contrasting the approaches of conservation scientists and practitioners with those developed by environmental artists. One of Lyons’ recent collaborations - The Confluence Project – works with local schools, universities and arts centres to bring the inhabitants of the River Torridge Valley into closer conversation with the water processes that shape the landscape. We participated in a series of field trips with both Lyons and local representatives of the Biosphere Reserve to explore how they understand water as an active participant in their design processes. We were also joined by artists from Collins and Goto Studio. Our conversation was set within recent arts and humanities approaches to water as a physical/cultural/political element (Evans and Stehlíková 2010) and also in current water governance frameworks, particularly Taking Responsibility for Water, United Kingdom Water Research and Innovation Framework 2011 – 2030 (LWEC 2012). Find out more about the workshop here.
Our workshops have been designed to enable the core team to engage with the expertise of a range of project partners and to explore the practical possibilities and limitations of co-producing research with non-humans. We will explore the different perspectives each conversation will open up in regard to issues such as ethics, power and voice. We are also interested in exploring how anthropocentric accounts of sense-making might be challenged by a greater awareness of the different perceptual systems of non-humans (e.g.Hayward, 2010; Uexküll, 2010).
Conversations with animals (Dogs) was organised by Michelle Bastian and Clara Mancini from the OU Centre for Research in Computing and focused on the centre's world-leading work on Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI). This work builds on work on Human-Computer interaction, which takes a user-centred approach that aims to satisfy specific usability goals (e.g., efficiency, safety, learnability), as well as more subjective experience goals (e.g., satisfaction, motivation, stimulation) in order to best support a specific target user group in their tasks. The ACI team are currently extending this approach to non-human animals and, in particular - service dogs – who are currently trained to use technology such as washing machines and ATMs. The workshop explored how the ACI team have developed their approach, which explicitly seeks to treat dogs as active participants in, and end users of, their research. This included practical demonstrations and discussions. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with insects (Bees) was organised by Phil Jones in partnership with the Evesham Beekeepers Association. The workshop aimed to explore the role of bees in contributing to broader eco-system communities, and given the rise in amateur beekeeping, their role in local community building projects. With the rapid decline of bee populations, amateur bee-keepers are also increasingly being enrolled into producing crowd-sourced data for research projects. We thus explored how beekeeping is bringing community and research together in different configurations. The project team was involved in practical workshops as well as discussions with local community partners. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with plants (Trees) was run by Richard Coles in partnership with the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and took place in the Forest of Dean, one of the UK’s premier forests. Working with experts from the Wye Valley AONB we explored how their work, which must balance the needs of human users with the management of the forest, draws on a detailed knowledge of the capacities and needs of multiple tree species. The workshop will further enable the team to experience the ways in which the various conversational approaches with trees, already developed by the Wye Valley team, have been used as part of their community building approaches with local deprived communities. Find out more about the workshop here.
Conversations with the elements (Water) was run by Owain Jones in partnership with environmental artist Antony Lyons and his networks within North Devon's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Like our Conversations with Plants workshop we were interested in contrasting the approaches of conservation scientists and practitioners with those developed by environmental artists. One of Lyons’ recent collaborations - The Confluence Project – works with local schools, universities and arts centres to bring the inhabitants of the River Torridge Valley into closer conversation with the water processes that shape the landscape. We participated in a series of field trips with both Lyons and local representatives of the Biosphere Reserve to explore how they understand water as an active participant in their design processes. We were also joined by artists from Collins and Goto Studio. Our conversation was set within recent arts and humanities approaches to water as a physical/cultural/political element (Evans and Stehlíková 2010) and also in current water governance frameworks, particularly Taking Responsibility for Water, United Kingdom Water Research and Innovation Framework 2011 – 2030 (LWEC 2012). Find out more about the workshop here.
