When we first started this assignment, we read Shove's:"The Design of Everyday Life, (Ch 2)". There, she talks about how, when immersing ourselves in new social practices, three things come into play:
Materials: including things, technologies, tangible physical entities, and the stuff of which objects are made.
Meaning: symbolic meanings, ideas and aspiration.
Competencies: skill, know-how and technique.
Meaning: symbolic meanings, ideas and aspiration.
Competencies: skill, know-how and technique.
As soon as we decided to begin with this assignment, I started thinking about different social practices that I could be immersed in. We discussed different activities with my classmates, until one of them talked about the Ukulele (material). As soon as she did that, I was interested in learning to play it. The first thing that came to my mind when thinking of playing the Ukulele was: “Oh!, I can learn to play Jack Johnson’s songs!” and that became my initial motivation (meaning).
Another thing that sparked the interest in researching about the topic was Shove’s reading about "The Design of Everyday Life" in which she cites Warde (2005: 137) stating that: “practices, rather than individual desires...create wants” (ctd. Shove, 25). Therefore, I wonder if by being immersed in this practice I would be craving a future desire of learning more, attending classes or having lessons. Additionally, after reading Shove’s Chapter 2 - "Having and Doing": the Case of the "Restless Kitchen", several ideas came to my mind. For example, the things we choose to practice, might somehow be related to our past and past experiences, as well as future way of seeing each other, not by merely liking it. So in my case, in the past I’ve tried to play the guitar (which didn’t go too far) and I love music and Jack Johnson, and picturing myself being able to play at least one of his songs, excites me.
"I'm getting frustrated because I can't place my fingers in the right positions and sometimes the tutorials move too quickly and I can't follow...." (Competence & Materials broken)
Along with this research, I will present some data and findings, and by the end, a couple of models that might be applied for future design interventions.
Methods
The techniques that I used onthis research are self-observation, bodystorming and photo/video studies.
I documented my research with annotations, audio and video files to be able to record myself learning the basics and comparing myself playing at the beginning and at the end of the 2 weeks period (competence). I tried to document some incidents like the total cost of this practice, how many times I stopped by playing a melody wrong, distractions, change of songs, change of learning patterns or change of tutorials, boredom, excitement, to mention some.
I documented my research with annotations, audio and video files to be able to record myself learning the basics and comparing myself playing at the beginning and at the end of the 2 weeks period (competence). I tried to document some incidents like the total cost of this practice, how many times I stopped by playing a melody wrong, distractions, change of songs, change of learning patterns or change of tutorials, boredom, excitement, to mention some.
Findings
One of the most interesting findings was the relationship between new social practices and new social interactions. During 2-3 weeks, while immersed in this practice, I experienced social interactions in two forms: old friends reaching out excited about the practice and wanting to participate somehow (with advice or even wanting to play the Ukulele together), and the development of new social interactions on and offline (either by joining groups related to a particular practice or by being approached by strangers wanting to make a conversation)
Later, I developed two models based on Shove's theory and my research, for understanding how Materials, Meanings and Competences play an important role in developing and keeping the balance when immersing in a new social practice. The first one, addresses some implications for design, the second, represent an abstraction of the model that might be applied to other social practices.
"We go on to argue that practices emerge, persist, shift and disappear when connections between elements of these three types are made, sustained or broken"- Shove
Elizabeth Shove, Mika Pantzar & Matt Watson. “The Dynamics of Social Practice. Everyday life and how it changes”, SAGE 2012
Elizabeth Shove, Matthew Watson, Martin Hand and Jack Ingram. “The Design of Everyday Life”, BERG - Oxford, New York 2007