Alison Williams - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alison Williams

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree wh... more EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree wh... more EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s).,b ; Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh c Organizations seeking to increase competitive advantage have recognized the importance of creativity in solving business challenges. Embracing the concept of design thinking as a process inviting deep analyses and thinking outside the box, organizations recognized for their creativity utilize two factors unique to the design thinking construct -discovery and visualization. Transformation of the traditional business model -problem identification and solution -to one in which design thinking is employed challenges organizations unfamiliar with the design thinking process to implement the process fully. In this examination, compone...

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

This study proposes a grammar of creative workplaces which identifies and codifies those elements... more This study proposes a grammar of creative workplaces which identifies and codifies those elements of the physical environment that are reported to actively stimulate and sustain creativity in the workplace. The grammar is explicit rather than metaphorical or taxonomic. It emerges from and is applied into workplaces, predominantly office environments. Three elements, meaning, lexis, and syntax, central to the structure of linguistic and non-linguistic grammars, are proposed as the grammar’s method and as its content. Respondents in the research study identified the creative behaviours that stimulate and sustain their creativity, and the discrete physical elements that influence and support (and can hinder) those activities. It is suggested that those creative behaviours and the discrete elements of physical space are congruent with the three key grammatical elements. The grammar addresses that gap in knowledge in the fields of architecture, design and psychology where the impact of t...

EqualBITE, 2018

Within academia, men are over-represented at professorial level. Although the focus of enquiry ha... more Within academia, men are over-represented at professorial level. Although the focus of enquiry has, thankfully, moved beyond the argument: "Such a big book for such a little head" (Edna St Vincent Millais, 1941) and past Virginia Woolf's angry professors (1929), nevertheless, the ratio of women to men at senior levels remains stubbornly out of balance. One barrier to equality is stereotypical views of women. This article draws on recipes and articles in this book and looks at the impact, prejudices and expectations that stereotypes create, particularly around likeability, and the behaviours that can result. It then suggests ways forward. The idea that there is a 'right' way to be a woman, to perform one's gender, is ongoing and pervasive. Good women are modest, charming, polite and unobtrusive, content to earn, on average in the UK, 16.4% less than their male counterparts (see Salary negotiation), and to pick up the double load of career and house/child/elderly parent care. 'Good' women are liked. 'Bad' women are those who don't adhere to these standards (Gay, 2014, pp. 303-304), and by performing their gender 'wrong' initiate a set of punishments both obvious and indirect (Butler, 1988). 'Bad' women are disliked. Stereotypes-fixed, oversimplified and widely held ideas about particular groups-have their origins in cognitive mechanisms, developed at a very young age, of early and primitive generalisations which deeply influence our

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

Regenerative medicine, 2017

We set out the what, how and why of moving individually and as a community, from being passive re... more We set out the what, how and why of moving individually and as a community, from being passive recipients of our healthcare, to being instead active collaborators involved in partnership with clinicians and researchers. "

Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Supporting Group Work, 2016

Affect has been identified as an important component of the communication practices of distribute... more Affect has been identified as an important component of the communication practices of distributed teams. Our emerging theory of distributed affect moves beyond the individual as the primary unit of analysis, focusing instead on affect as a dynamic group process. Drawing upon a data set of over four years of chat logs from a distributed scientific collaboration relying on textbased communication to coordinate their work, we expand upon the framework of distributed affect and characterize the concept through five features: transference, resonance, pervasiveness, persistence, and representation. These features provide a set of descriptive components for interactions between people and their environment, their tools, and their present and historical references as part of a dynamical system of affect. We examine specific events in the group's history which highlight the dynamic way affect is operating in this context, and how it influences factors such as creative problem solving. The framework we describe offers a unique analytic lens for the study of computersupported group work, and a useful tool for framing questions about the continued study of affect in collaborative teams.

It can be argued that everyone's creative process is different. While research models of indi... more It can be argued that everyone's creative process is different. While research models of individual and group creative processes exist, I demonstrate that people have, and can describe, their own unique creative process. The argument is explored using study subjects' drawings of their individual creative processes, which differ from each other both in their content and the sequencing of that content. Through the analysis of these drawings, an underlying framework is discovered of engagement with ideas, information and people; from this framework a meta-model of the creative process is construed. The paper concludes that, firstly, it can be demonstrated that individuals each have a unique creative process which they can describe; that the disparate creative processes are linked by common creative activities; and finally that, while parallels exist between individual and existing formal creative process models, diverse individual creative processes can more usefully be modelle...

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s). The meaning of a space to its users is influenced by the users' perception of that space and its potential to support – or otherwise – desired behaviours. This paper considers the case study of a three-­‐day residential knowledge exchange event, exploring the meaning of the event's physical environment for impact on participants' creativity and design thinking. The event's mixed group of academics, design professionals, and entrepreneurs were encouraged to think and respond creatively together on a thematic call (to which they responded in the application process) and were observed within the space. We examine how an unconventional workplace environmen...

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2011

The study of creativity has received significant attention over the past century, with a recent i... more The study of creativity has received significant attention over the past century, with a recent increase in interest in collaborative, distributed creativity. We posit that creativity in distributed groups is fostered by software interfaces that specifically enable socio-emotional or affective communication. However, previous work on creativity and affect has primarily focused on the individual, while group creativity research has concentrated more on cognition rather than affect. In this paper we propose a new model for creativity in distributed groups, based on the theory of groups as complex systems, that includes affect as well as cognition and that explicitly calls out the interface between individuals as a key parameter of the model. We describe the model, the four stages of collaborative creativity and the causal dynamics in each stage, and demonstrate how affect and interface can facilitate the generation, selection, and amplification of ideas in the various stages of collaborative creativity. We then validate our model with data from three field sites. The data was collected from longitudinal studies of two distributed groups involved in producing creative products-astrophysicists studying supernovae and the expansion rate of the universe and children creating multimedia programming projects online-and interviews with staff in a multinational engineering company.

Proceeding of the seventh ACM conference on Creativity and cognition - C&C '09, 2009

Proceedings of the 8th ACM conference on Creativity and cognition - C&C '11, 2011

The impact of the physical environment on people's ability to be optimally creative at work is a ... more The impact of the physical environment on people's ability to be optimally creative at work is a research area which has only now, in the past decade, started to receive detailed attention. Although creativity in the workplace has been the subject of intensive research for over half a century researchers have stepped away from or minimized the effect that the physical environment may have on people's creativity and ability to innovate. Building on recent work done in the field, and on earlier theories of pattern language and shape grammar, this paper outlines work that moves towards a grammar of creative spaces identifying and codifying those elements of the physical environment which may optimize creativity in the workplace.

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s). Value creation is the process whereby individuals and teams within organisations co-create consumer benefit. The consumer can be external – a client or customer; or internal – other colleagues and departments within the organisation. We explore this process through the Disruption-Empowerment Model of Value Creation, which describes the instrumental relationships between disruption, perception, and empowerment and their impacts on team creative performance. We suggest that value is both individually and socially constructed from creative processes and contexts, and propose that empowering individuals and groups to be creatively disruptive will ultimately improve team c...

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree wh... more EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

EqualBITE, 2018

EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree wh... more EqualBITE is values-driven. The very first thing we did when starting the project was to agree what values should inform it, and how they would be reflected in our own behaviour and decision-making. Our initial statement affirmed our understanding "that by embracing differences we create a more vibrant and rigorous intellectual, supportive and learning context for all our community." Why a recipe book? In BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research (2014), the first book in this series, we were faced with the challenge of approaching and making sense of a complex research landscape, and making it accessible to a diverse audience. only when we met with student groups (a Gender Studies class, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) Illustration students, EUSA) and invited them to talk about things in their everyday experience, did they connect the phrase 'gender equality' with issues of everyday sexism.

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s).,b ; Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh c Organizations seeking to increase competitive advantage have recognized the importance of creativity in solving business challenges. Embracing the concept of design thinking as a process inviting deep analyses and thinking outside the box, organizations recognized for their creativity utilize two factors unique to the design thinking construct -discovery and visualization. Transformation of the traditional business model -problem identification and solution -to one in which design thinking is employed challenges organizations unfamiliar with the design thinking process to implement the process fully. In this examination, compone...

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us,... more InTRoDUcTIon Editorial Introduction 2 Sample Menus 7 Why recipes? 8 It usually takes three of us, a few beers and a lot of imagination 14 woRkIng solo REc Ip Es Prepare your mind 28 Hack your head 31 Let your mind wander 32 Defocus your thinking 34 Instant willpower 37 Think with your hands 39 Constraint as a seed for creativity 42 Automatic writing 45 Get into the flow 48 Keep loving your thesis (even when it hates you) 50 My work is not me 52 How to love several projects at once 54 It's OK to have a stationery fetish 57 Just describe 59 Relieving attention fatigue 62 What to listen to while you work 66 Roll the dice 69 Working in a shared environment 71 Digital scholarship-start here 73 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Creating sensory-sensitive spaces 76 woRkIng EnvIRonmEnTs REc Ip Es Smart working with smartphones 186 Tidy your desktop 188 High-end technology lab 190 Lowbrow powwow 192 Intimacy 194 Don't panic! 197 Meat(ing) place 199 Get into the zone 201 Make do & mend space 203 Work that space 205 Rebel space 207 Bus as research environment 210 A mobile thinking shrine 212 Off-grid creativity 214 A recipe for mediocrity 216 Thinking den 218 Bookable nomad space 220 Attractor spaces 222 Beam me up (or down) 225 Workshop space 228 Meetings in the great outdoors 231 cAs E sTU D IEs Harmony with nature 234 I can't bear this space 238 Jump Associates 246 AcAD E m I c pAp E Rs Connecting design in virtual and physical spaces ReseaRch is haRd We are researchers. We know that research is hard. And captivating, infuriating, rewarding, and addictive. It can be daunting, too, for new researchers. Much of 'how' to go about the act of research is unspoken. Methods may be explicit, but they don't deal with the detail of what to actually do when things go wrong or with our own reactions to the processespecially the emotional ones. We work on our own, we work in groups, and we work within the context of our institutions. At the same time we navigate the unspoken, the implicit. We buy into group norms, even when we don't know what the group norms are. We rely on the informal support of colleagues, peers, fellow students and mentors. We work in an academic environment where the impact of personal reactions and emotion is largely unacknowledged. Research takes place in appalling cupboards, airless offices, beautiful purpose-built labs, the canteen, the bus and the bath. Like the implied conditions under which we learn how to research, our physical research spaces are taken for granted-often grumbled about but rarely confronted. Researchers and research can thrive in the most unlikely and impoverished working environments but this ultimately has a personal cost. There are practical steps you, as a researcher, can take to make a difference to your own working environment and that of others. The first step is becoming aware that things aren't ideal, and indeed can be hindering your thinking. The next step lies in realising that you can do something about it. Creativity researchers, architects, psychologists and others have been studying this issue for some time. Each of us as a researcher is an expert in our own research environment and how it does, or does not, support our creative and analytical thinking. This book captures some of that wisdom and presents it to you in a digestible formatthe recipe. The final step is taking action and these recipes suggest ways of doing this.

This study proposes a grammar of creative workplaces which identifies and codifies those elements... more This study proposes a grammar of creative workplaces which identifies and codifies those elements of the physical environment that are reported to actively stimulate and sustain creativity in the workplace. The grammar is explicit rather than metaphorical or taxonomic. It emerges from and is applied into workplaces, predominantly office environments. Three elements, meaning, lexis, and syntax, central to the structure of linguistic and non-linguistic grammars, are proposed as the grammar’s method and as its content. Respondents in the research study identified the creative behaviours that stimulate and sustain their creativity, and the discrete physical elements that influence and support (and can hinder) those activities. It is suggested that those creative behaviours and the discrete elements of physical space are congruent with the three key grammatical elements. The grammar addresses that gap in knowledge in the fields of architecture, design and psychology where the impact of t...

EqualBITE, 2018

Within academia, men are over-represented at professorial level. Although the focus of enquiry ha... more Within academia, men are over-represented at professorial level. Although the focus of enquiry has, thankfully, moved beyond the argument: "Such a big book for such a little head" (Edna St Vincent Millais, 1941) and past Virginia Woolf's angry professors (1929), nevertheless, the ratio of women to men at senior levels remains stubbornly out of balance. One barrier to equality is stereotypical views of women. This article draws on recipes and articles in this book and looks at the impact, prejudices and expectations that stereotypes create, particularly around likeability, and the behaviours that can result. It then suggests ways forward. The idea that there is a 'right' way to be a woman, to perform one's gender, is ongoing and pervasive. Good women are modest, charming, polite and unobtrusive, content to earn, on average in the UK, 16.4% less than their male counterparts (see Salary negotiation), and to pick up the double load of career and house/child/elderly parent care. 'Good' women are liked. 'Bad' women are those who don't adhere to these standards (Gay, 2014, pp. 303-304), and by performing their gender 'wrong' initiate a set of punishments both obvious and indirect (Butler, 1988). 'Bad' women are disliked. Stereotypes-fixed, oversimplified and widely held ideas about particular groups-have their origins in cognitive mechanisms, developed at a very young age, of early and primitive generalisations which deeply influence our

BITE: Recipes for Remarkable Research, 2014

Regenerative medicine, 2017

We set out the what, how and why of moving individually and as a community, from being passive re... more We set out the what, how and why of moving individually and as a community, from being passive recipients of our healthcare, to being instead active collaborators involved in partnership with clinicians and researchers. "

Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Supporting Group Work, 2016

Affect has been identified as an important component of the communication practices of distribute... more Affect has been identified as an important component of the communication practices of distributed teams. Our emerging theory of distributed affect moves beyond the individual as the primary unit of analysis, focusing instead on affect as a dynamic group process. Drawing upon a data set of over four years of chat logs from a distributed scientific collaboration relying on textbased communication to coordinate their work, we expand upon the framework of distributed affect and characterize the concept through five features: transference, resonance, pervasiveness, persistence, and representation. These features provide a set of descriptive components for interactions between people and their environment, their tools, and their present and historical references as part of a dynamical system of affect. We examine specific events in the group's history which highlight the dynamic way affect is operating in this context, and how it influences factors such as creative problem solving. The framework we describe offers a unique analytic lens for the study of computersupported group work, and a useful tool for framing questions about the continued study of affect in collaborative teams.

It can be argued that everyone's creative process is different. While research models of indi... more It can be argued that everyone's creative process is different. While research models of individual and group creative processes exist, I demonstrate that people have, and can describe, their own unique creative process. The argument is explored using study subjects' drawings of their individual creative processes, which differ from each other both in their content and the sequencing of that content. Through the analysis of these drawings, an underlying framework is discovered of engagement with ideas, information and people; from this framework a meta-model of the creative process is construed. The paper concludes that, firstly, it can be demonstrated that individuals each have a unique creative process which they can describe; that the disparate creative processes are linked by common creative activities; and finally that, while parallels exist between individual and existing formal creative process models, diverse individual creative processes can more usefully be modelle...

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s). The meaning of a space to its users is influenced by the users' perception of that space and its potential to support – or otherwise – desired behaviours. This paper considers the case study of a three-­‐day residential knowledge exchange event, exploring the meaning of the event's physical environment for impact on participants' creativity and design thinking. The event's mixed group of academics, design professionals, and entrepreneurs were encouraged to think and respond creatively together on a thematic call (to which they responded in the application process) and were observed within the space. We examine how an unconventional workplace environmen...

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2011

The study of creativity has received significant attention over the past century, with a recent i... more The study of creativity has received significant attention over the past century, with a recent increase in interest in collaborative, distributed creativity. We posit that creativity in distributed groups is fostered by software interfaces that specifically enable socio-emotional or affective communication. However, previous work on creativity and affect has primarily focused on the individual, while group creativity research has concentrated more on cognition rather than affect. In this paper we propose a new model for creativity in distributed groups, based on the theory of groups as complex systems, that includes affect as well as cognition and that explicitly calls out the interface between individuals as a key parameter of the model. We describe the model, the four stages of collaborative creativity and the causal dynamics in each stage, and demonstrate how affect and interface can facilitate the generation, selection, and amplification of ideas in the various stages of collaborative creativity. We then validate our model with data from three field sites. The data was collected from longitudinal studies of two distributed groups involved in producing creative products-astrophysicists studying supernovae and the expansion rate of the universe and children creating multimedia programming projects online-and interviews with staff in a multinational engineering company.

Proceeding of the seventh ACM conference on Creativity and cognition - C&C '09, 2009

Proceedings of the 8th ACM conference on Creativity and cognition - C&C '11, 2011

The impact of the physical environment on people's ability to be optimally creative at work is a ... more The impact of the physical environment on people's ability to be optimally creative at work is a research area which has only now, in the past decade, started to receive detailed attention. Although creativity in the workplace has been the subject of intensive research for over half a century researchers have stepped away from or minimized the effect that the physical environment may have on people's creativity and ability to innovate. Building on recent work done in the field, and on earlier theories of pattern language and shape grammar, this paper outlines work that moves towards a grammar of creative spaces identifying and codifying those elements of the physical environment which may optimize creativity in the workplace.

conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copie... more conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s). Value creation is the process whereby individuals and teams within organisations co-create consumer benefit. The consumer can be external – a client or customer; or internal – other colleagues and departments within the organisation. We explore this process through the Disruption-Empowerment Model of Value Creation, which describes the instrumental relationships between disruption, perception, and empowerment and their impacts on team creative performance. We suggest that value is both individually and socially constructed from creative processes and contexts, and propose that empowering individuals and groups to be creatively disruptive will ultimately improve team c...