(written by Hadiyah for Designing Purposeful Making Experiences, Jun 2017)
Purposeful making: this idea is still uncovering itself. currently I am experiencing it as: growth-mindset, keeping it real and honest (checking-in and checking yourself!), how are you building in checking and balancing strategizes and against what standard(s)?, how does it connect, and to what (especially if it is obvious, Call. It. Out.)?, focusing on meaning overall and by various participants (org, team, individual, facilitator), coming back again (reference values/standards often throughout development)
Project: Collectively craft team social media space
Purpose: group project, explore sharing growth-mindset experience, celebrate effort, sharing moments of accomplishment (feeling), (personal purpose, impact specific cultural shift effort), fun, discuss personal and team social media standards and meaningfulness?
Ask: {Maybe: prep before, bring one social media person who you like, and reason why}
- Virtual observation walk through pre-selected platforms and respective maker-centered education folks doing it great, in various ways. Looking at profiles of folks who represent various areas like great content, visuals, timing, following, clever, etc. {being a bit choosy about the choices presented}
- Using that observational data, discussing what stands out and what doesn’t? Sharing areas that would come easy, due to past experience/transferable skills, and those that would involve more effort?
- Pivot to the idea, choosing a social media platform (hashtags, vibes, voice and use) that can be a collective team space where we can capture and share quick and dirty moments of accomplishment, frustration, Aha!, weird, confusing, etc. that reflect our individual processing and process experience. {Collective Maker VISTA living Journal #ShareOutTheKinks}
- Review selected medium, and next steps (check-in date in three months?)
- Feedback/reflection: what came up during the discussion and subsequent outcome, collectively, can we identify purpose/usefulness for our team?
Why? As a learner it is crucial to experience spaces where you show up as you are (publicly and personally) and how you share ‘where you are in your process’, publicly, what is clicking or not and your experience/feelings around your effort.. We (culturally) need more spaces like this, specifically public spaces where we are not simply representing for other interests but are simply honest, raw and messy (like how the makerspace looks in the midst of a project), we need more practice in the skills needed to do this, skills like vulnerability, expressing thinking process, sitting in the unknown, showing the effort without the security of the successful outcome.
What’s the aim with using social media and quick n dirty? We could better practice checking-in around the purpose and use of social media platforms towards what aim, this project provides an opportunity to investigate collectively on a low pressure activity, piloting a group living journal, simple strategies that can be used to examine deeper the use of social media for documenting process and effort and feelings. There are a lot of ways incorporated in the program, at sites, and individually that folks use to reflect in longer formats, by focusing on sharing quickly we hope to encourage directly sharing/expressing thinking process and effort in the moment (no over thinking) and sharing amongst team may support a cultural shift from a fixed mindset of sharing outcomes towards a growth mindset of sharing effort, process and experience without having to quantify or validate with an outcome.
Questions: Public or Private?
What is left with the planning process? Check that this aligns with programs values/goals. Then walk through, using the six thinking hat routine to check my assumptions, biases and perspectives (am I trying to make something fit that doesn’t make it purposeful, why?). Lastly, identify the cultural shift this is aiming to tackle in a bit-size or gigantic way.
Through the discussion I am hoping to connect to the experience around sharing effort whether it lead to a satisfying outcome, feelings of accomplishment, or an incomplete outcome,
