Workshops – Collaborative Arena for Generative Research

This paper describes workshops as a means for generative research. The workshops are based on a need to a collaborative arena for sharing perspectives and creating shared visions. The paper presents the principles, and user and expert workshop processes in three cases. The workshops were events that gathered various actors to face-to-face collaboration and challenged them to perceive anew the ordinary ways of thinking to design for the future. The open and equal arena based on creativity, democracy and participation was moderated by a design university in collaboration with users, several companies and experts. 1 Generative Research and Workshops In the 2000's we are living in a new era of design research and method development [e.g. 12]. One of the approaches that are considered interesting, in design practice, research, and industry, is the combination of research and concept design, practices which are collaborative and visionary by nature. The interest relates to the contemporary culture companies favour. Companies have increasingly been outsourcing their research and development activities since the 1980's, and most of work has been structured to efficient processes within last ten-twenty years. Activities that relate to research, concept design and planning strategies are likely to be operated, for example, with universities. There are several examples of such collaboration in Scandinavia [1,10,14,]. In these cases universities not only produced information to be documented in reports, but also delivered it, and moreover enabled sharing of the knowledge with companies through intensive collaboration. 1.1 Generative Research Generative research may, according to Sanders, provide answers, insights and opportunities to a key issue for industry in the 2000's – "What should we make/offer?" – by blending informational and inspirational approaches [19]. Usually, informational approaches are conducted by trained researchers with scientific approach focusing on In the Proceedings of Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces 2005, Eindhoven, 24.-27.10.2005