Reflection — week 2
can’t see the wood for the trees…
2nd week reflection
____________________
Quite a bit happened this week, mostly I untangled my thinking and honed my focus. By the weeks end I had more clarity and alignment — thanks to some patient, learned peers…
I also stumbled upon a quote from Donald Schön that sums up how it feels to learn and improve.
“When a practitioner becomes a researcher into his own practice, he engages in a continuing process of self-education. When practice is a repetitive administration of techniques to the same kinds of problems, the practitioner may look to leisure as a source of relief, or to early retirement; but when he functions as a researcher-in-practice, the practice itself is a source of renewal. The recognition of error, with its resulting uncertainty, can become a source of discovery rather than an occasion for self defense” (Schön 1983, p. 299).
Key insights from the week
- Help with Medium styling — lovely Georgi freely gave hints and tips for this publication — thanks for your help, its looking MUCH better ;)))
- Introduce peer discussions to the process — wise words that I am very grateful to Marius for sharing, ‘consider bringing in peers, use them to review where you’re at and see what impact their thinking has on your work’. It seems I chose well, I met with two peers who helped simplify my ‘bower bird’ tendendancy of collecting WAYYY too many shiny ideas.
- Keeping it simple and focused — the review of my literature topics, methodology and inquiry focus — will see me streamline phase 1 interviews to service designers, and testing only 1 technique during phase 2 walks (I had planned to use several). I’ll continue to meet, discuss and learn about contemporary considerations within related ares, but understand this is background for context - not the core focus of my inquiry.
- Literature topics simplified — I mentioned last week that I was putting off returning to the literature, specifically for sensory walking research. After reviewing what I had collected it was also culled, and likely the source of apprehension I couldn’t quite explain. So I currently have the following to themes to review: visual, digital, sensory | sense and perception | knowledge transfer | experience | embodiment. I am prepared for this to alter through the process but also keen for a foundation to work with.
- Zoom H2n — is amazing, very happy, definitely recommend it — easy to use, sounds brilliant.
References
Schön, Donald 1983, ‘The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action’, New York: Basic Books, US, p299.
