The First of the Knowledge Exchange Tool Design Labs

Yesterday, Wednesday 14^th November, a group people working in knowledge exchange across different departments within Lancaster University came to the Imagination Lab for the first of three tool design labs.

The method underpinning the lab was asking the right questions to frame problems.  Through this, the participants were encouraged to start the design process by thinking of powerful questions that would eventually enable them to imagine the solutions to their challenges from a different perspective, which would give light to completely new approaches.

The New Ideas Design Team led them through a range of activities, including pro formas that asked questions about a specific knowledge exchange activity, the development of a hierarchy of challenges, from which the most important ones were taken and used to create a network of surrounding effective questions.

The lab was brought to a close with a discussion about starting to design tools and a gift for each of the participants, a New Ideas Knowledge Exchange Cracker. The Christmas cracker concept facilitates interaction between people and the blind packaging is intended to create the intrigue to pull it and find out what is hidden inside; a useful gift that will hopefully generate information that could be used in the next workshop.

The next of series of tool design workshops takes place next week on the 22^nd of November.