Cultivation: Research and Reflective Practice

Three interrelated notions of research:

1. As information-gathering
2. As shared decision-making
3. As knowledge cultivation

In a colloquial sense, research is generally conceived as finding information about a particular topic. This is done, perhaps, by searching the web, reading books and articles, discussing on forums with others, or acting as a knowledgeable expert. In industry, UX research tends to follow this largely consumption-based model of knowledge. Here, knowledge is something that you extract from research subjects via a set of formal methods, and then transform it for use instrumentally in the design of a product. Knowledge is harvested, often without full consideration for the ecosystem in which is created.

In inclusive design, there is a shift in how knowledge is gathered, governed, and used. Here, the aim is to address the imbalances of expert-led or product-driven approaches, and to seek out and include those who are often left out of the design process. We endeavour to engage the people who will be most impacted by our designs as direct participants, and for them to have control over how a design is conceived, prioritized, and ultimately owned and governed.

As inclusive design researchers at the IDRC, our research requires us to practice as designers, and to simultaneously be reflective about our practices, their impacts, and how they cultivate a larger body of knowledge within which design is conceptualized and practiced by others. This involves questioning and challenging expert-led, colonial, and elitist concepts of what knowledge is, finding new ways of knowing and practicing design and—perhaps most importantly—working with others to rediscover those forms of knowledge that have been systematically marginalized or overlooked.

Inclusive design research involves cultivating rather than simply gathering knowledge. Cultivation implies that knowledge is something we actively create, but never alone or outside the ecology in which it grows. It involves a full lifecycle, from planting the seeds of new design methods, technologies, and conceptual models, to patiently watering, weeding, and tending to their growth. Cultivation is full of surprises; as we learn more about the local ecoystem, we might realize that something we thought was a weed to be removed was actually an integral part of supporting the land we are working. We depend on others to share seeds and plants and knowledge with us, and to tend the land they know best in the ways they learned. Sometimes, we have to forage for wilder plants we aren't familiar with, find and share seeds with those who know the area better than us. Cultivation doesn't happen in isolation, it requires the support of others and is subject to the condition of the weather and the activities of non-human influences such as animals.