Consciously drifting: Exploratory design practices that embrace influences from local community Fumiya Akasaka1, Kyosuke Sakakura2, and Yuko Miki2 1: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan 2: Tokyo City University, Japan PDC’24 @Sibu, Malaysia

Working with local communities • Backstage activities in Community-Based Co-Design (CBCD) • CBCD practice is grounded in relations with the local community and its culture, customs, practices, and other local resources (e.g., facilities and urban environments) • Backstage activities (e.g., relationship building with the community, finding potential partners, various preparation activities, etc.) are the key to manage such relations and realize a successful practice, rather than the frontstage (e.g., workshops) [Bødker+ 17] • While the backstage has not focused compared to the frontstage in PD studies, some studies highlighted its importance • [LeDante+ 15, CSCW] deeply analyzed the process for co-constructing community-based research • [Taylor+ 22, PDC] proposed “Design non-proposals” as a method for relationship building • [Ssozi-Mugarura+ 16, PDC] clarified the importance of selecting appropriate intermediate agents • [Schwartzman+ 07, CHI EA] analyzed the attitudes required to establish rapport 1

Unexpected / coincidental interactions with local community • Various interactions with local community in backstage • Interactions with local community include unexpected and coincidental interactions, which often cause the changes of design agenda, process, and outcomes [LeDantec+ 15; Hillgren+ 11] Question How the design process and its outcomes change through the unexpected and coincidental encounters with local communities? How design practitioners prepare for and respond to such situations? • Approach • Case analysis to explore how CBCD practices are shaped through coincidental interactions with the local community 2 Local community Changes in CBCD practice Various interactions

Case: Oyamachi project (Oyamchi-PJ) • Oyamachi-PJ • Exploratory co-design project for creating wellbeing lives through collaboration with diverse residents in Oyamadai area, a local residential areas in Tokyo, running for 6 years • Various small projects focused on locally important topics are conducted under the umbrella of Oyamachi-PJ • Long-term and continuous CBCD practice with no fixed timeframe 3 Oyamachi-PJ Social inclusiveness project Shopping street revitalization project Wellbeing literacy education Child-care project … …

Co-deigning “Super Happy Birthday (SHB)” • SHB • A wellbeing literacy education (WLE) card game for children (12-15 yo) • Developed in collaboration with local JHS students and relevant stakeholders (e.g., teachers) • Helps children learn the “wellbeing” concept through a setting where participants mutually propose birthday parties and gifts that others can enjoy (= feel wellbeing) 4 Forming the design team: Local JHS students, university students, wellbeing researchers Co-designing the SHB Testing the prototype: In a local JHS “moral study” classes and improved A formal educational program of moral study class in the area

Reflection of the SHB co-design practice • Conducted a workshop to analyze and reflect on the unexpected encounters with local community and their effects on the co-design process and outcomes • Frontstage: participatory design activities (e.g., workshops, meetings, co-prototyping sessions) • Backstage: any activities that unfold between the frontstage activities [Bødker+ 17] 5 3 episodes where the direction of the CBCD practice significantly changed due to influences from the local community

Episode 2: Shift in project outcomes 6 In concretizing WLE program…

Key findings from the three episodes • Difficult (+unexpected) situations in backstage activities significantly changed the design process and outcomes 7 Results that were not initially envisioned were achieved by flexibly “embracing” the influences from the local community as “opportunities” to open new directions When Difficulties faced Influence from local community New direction (not planned) Ep. 1 Obtaining research funding Application to a research funding program was unsuccessful We had a collaborative relationships with local JHS in another project New project idea of developing WLE program for children Ep. 2 Developing a workshop-style WLE program Face-to-face gathering was strictly restricted due to COVID-19 We had a collaborative relationships with partners who are familiar with card game (JHS students and a local designer) Development of a card game- style WLE program Ep. 3 Looking for a field to test prototypes We could not test the prototype in the planned class (Integrated study) A JHS teacher suggested an alternative option of using the SHB card game in other class (Moral study) Found a more suitable subject to be applied

Consciously drifting • Oscillation between “passive” drifting and “active” exploration 8 Passive drifting Active exploration CBCD project proceeds as if “carried away” by invisible driving forces emerged through situation-dependent or coincidental encounters with the local community We should be “conscious” that we are drifting, so that we could proactively explore and find new directions and outcomes • In addition to active attitude, passive attitude of “going with the flow” (i.e., embracing various influences from the local community as positive “drivers”) is also important to expand the possibilities of design practice • Difficult situations can be seen as “opportunities” to open new possibilities • With this attitude, we can be more sensitive and careful to the relationships with the local community • This mindset prevents practitioners from sticking to the initial plan and encourages them to broaden their perspectives

Discussion • Relationality–based design • Relationship with the local community was the dominant driving force for shaping the CBCD practice • Relationality-based design, rather than the replicable method-based design (like DD) [Akama+ 19] • Situated action, rather than the initial plans [Suchman 87] • Readiness to accept our powerlessness • Impacts of the designer’s proactive action is limited in a CBCD project, where various things, forces, thoughts, and spirituality intersect • We, CBCD practitioners, should have the passive attitude and the sensitivity to our own drift by accepting our own “powerlessness” • This is in contrast to the designer’s tendency to be action-oriented • Infrastructure to support the consciously drifting • Temporal “knotworking” [Engeström 99], rather than stable “network”, was the key to open new possibility in CBCD through the drifting process • For such knotworking process, informal community, where people and organizations are connected based on “weak ties”, can work as an infrastructure that generates improvised collaboration among local people 9

Conclusion • We proposed the “consciously drifting” as a design approach to open new possibilities of CBCD practices by oscillating between passive drifting and active exploration 10 • While consciously drifting is not new as a design methodology, this study contributes to PD studies in proposing the concept to reframe CBCD practices from a “multi-agent systems perspective” • “Delegating” various design works, authorities, and roles in CBCD to various local actors, is the key to configuring a design practice together Embracing our own “powerlessness” Sensitivity to our own drift to proactively explore new directions and outcomes

11 Thank you !! Do not hesitate to contact me at: fumiya.akasaka [at] aist.go.jp https://www.fumiyaakasaka.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fumiya.akasaka Acknowledgements: We thank the DESIAP peer-mentoring group that supported us in the thinking and writing of this paper. This includes Akama, Akasaka, Kamio, Kitazaki, Kosaka, Masui, Okamoto, Watanabe, Yasuoka-Jensen and Yee. We acknowledge the ancestral lands of the the Dayak and the Orang Ulu community which is of great importance to them. We honor and pay respect to the community elders, leaders and descendants - past, present and emerging – as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters.