Response to Readings: Week 1

Jan 30

Practice, Person, Social World by Lave & Wenger (1991)

Learning is not an objective process as it occurs through social interactions and is therefore colored by these contexts.
Keeping in mind that learning is a dynamic, transformative, and relations process is important when designing interactive experiences as it helps direct perspective to the outside factors that may impact user experiences.
Recently I’ve been exploring some of the histories around cultural production and evolution in the Black-American diaspora. This has always been a major demonstration of resilience to me. I feel the connection between resilience and the social practice of learning discussed in this reading is reflected in that evolution.
As the social world, we navigate has become increasingly facilitated through devices, how has this influenced human knowing?

How to Do Nothing: Surviving the Attention Economy

This text explores how to “do nothing” in order to 1) resist the ways technology is being used to commodify and optimize all of our experiences and 2) challenge our perception of productivity.
The discussion of architectural design facilitating how we move and spend time in spaces from this paper really resonates with me as an artist who is interested in creating accessible and comforting spaces that invite and sustain interaction.
I also shared this link in my definition of resilience post: https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/ The nap ministry is an organization that explores resistance through napping with emphasis on the historical denial of rest for Black bodies.
“In a public space, ideally, you are a citizen with agency; in a faux public space, you are either a consumer or a threat to the design of the place” (p. 32). I question the reality of this distinction between public spaces and faux public spaces in our society because some people are always perceived as a threat to the design of the place, including in public parks and in libraries.

The 9 Dimensions of Super-Resilience

In order to survive through the ever-increasing challenges we experience around life and work we must build up nine skill sets and systems and become super-resilient.
While some of the work needed for super-resilience is individual, much of it is communal and requires an ability to trust, rely on, and collaborate with others. Even many of the individual-centered steps could benefit from community support and encouragement.
In thinking about practical resilience for local communities from a community psychology perspective, an important additional element that would also support the points made in the article is understanding the need to foster a sense of community. Communities are defined by many different boundaries (geographic location, shared interest, shared needs, shared identities) and the strength of commitment can vary greatly, but having a strong sense of belonging and responsibility to a community would likely increase members' interest in and willingness to support the assets that could contribute to super resilience.
Of the nine dimensions, I am most interested in the need to harness technology and simply want to ask, how? And especially, how is this managed for those who already find themselves deeply frustrated with technology and its place in their lives?

Wk 2: Community Resilience