Marita Canina
Associate Professor, School of Design at Politecnico di Milano, where I'm also in charge of scientific coordination of IDEActivity Center. IDEActivity aim is to give value to all aspects of creativity, promoting innovation through design, as well as to activate and re-enforce all phases of the creative process.
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Papers by Marita Canina
For instance, on the one hand, focusing on the digital representation undermines the ability to experience materials qualities and manufacturability. The ultimate effect is the development of a creative process, which is led by a virtual idea disconnected from the material world. On the other hand, the machine itself is a manifestation of knowledge, skills and labour involved in its design, manufacture and maintenance.
The objective of this paper is to further unpack this debate and presenting our reflections from an ongoing research project on the potential of digital DIY as a skilling process through making collaboratively. We introduce a research model representing the dynamics enacting over three interdependent levels (i.e. social innovation, social practice and creative process) in which three factors of technology (e.g. digital fabrication), motivation (e.g. commitment) and collaboration (e.g. with peers) are envisaged as crucial for learning and skilling.
for better understanding the dynamics underpinning the acquisition of competences for the next century citizens through making.
The objective of this paper is presenting our preliminary reflections on the factors characterising the current trend of digital DIY, envisaged as a phenomenon of social
innovation empowering people by developing skills through making collaboratively. We introduce a model representing the dynamics (over the three levels of social innovation, social practice and creative process) and factors (i.e. technology, motivation and collaboration) for learning and skilling in this context.
The concluding section describes future developments based on co-design for the delivery of tools enabling designers and key players in four main areas of intervention in which the model can be transferred.
designers in a world where – as also design literature reports – ‘everybody is a designer’ (Manzini
2015; Cross 2011).
The objective of this paper is presenting our reflections about the digitally enabled self-production trend (aka digital DIY) as a means for students to develop and improve the key competences to face the complexity of contemporary age.
This set of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills generally recognised of fundamental importance for the next generation labour market, social cohesion and active citizenship comprises not only technical and engineering knowledge, but also creativity and critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, plus a range of personal qualities such as motivation, curiosity, selfdevelopment and management.
Such key competences have been widely defined and work programmes have been activated to promote their application among the educational and work fields. In Europe, key competences represent the pillars of the Lifelong Learning programme edited by the European Commission (2006/962/EC). Across the United States some promoter (i.e. the Partnership for the 21st century skills, National Research Council) are trying to merge education, business, community and government leaders around these competences, mainly known as 21st century skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008).
Since the last decades of the 20th century, research in learning processes have suggested the importance of making and doing as a means to foster the acquisition of these skills, especially the creative ones. Digital DIY is here envisaged as a creative practice in which people – including design students – may increase their self-confidence and empowerment. Rooted in design and construction, these digital making activities often emphasise the acquisition of problem-solving, critical thinking,
creativity, cross disciplinarity and collaboration.
Within the framework of the EU funded project ‘Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY), we are exploring the dynamics facilitating the acquisition of the key competences in this practice. We introduce a model representing the dynamics and factors for learning and skilling in this context. As design researchers,
we aim at contributing by developing (co)design-driven tools facilitating the identification of the skilling dynamics where digital DIY practice takes place.
In this paper we will firstly define such competencies as a result of a comparative study from literature analysis and then argue why they are developed through digital DIY. Finally, we will conclude with the proposal of transferring the skilling dynamics identified in digital DIY to education system.