I started a new job last week, which has me returning to many of the resources I sifted through when the pandemic first hit. For those of us with experience conducting research or facilitating co-design activities in person, there are so many things that need to change given a remote-only context. However, it’s worth remembering (1) there are also a lot of things that remain the same and (2) not all of these changes are negative.
I’m particularly drawn to resources which highlight both the constraints and the possibilities of conducting remote research or co-designing online. It warms my generally optimistic heart when I see how researchers and designers are re-framing remote design work.
Before the goods, here are a few provocations to sit with:
- How might we be able to provide a better experience for research participants in a remote setting?
- How do we design for different levels of digital literacy and can we hold space for a spectrum of engagement?
- How might we allow participants to co-author design projects, when we’re only coming together online?
- And finally, can we use this experience to envision more contextual and embedded research practices post-Covid?