Inappropriate lunch choices

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I'm getting the feeling that salad isn't the lunch of choice here at Salford Uni cafeteria. The surrounding trays are covered with chips, something that looks like a savory donut, and steak. And gravy. Lotsa.

But omg, I think these were the first fresh veges I've eaten in about 4 days. And they had pickles. Mmmmmmm pickles.

The trees outside are decidedly wintry.

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#goffman ch1 (cont): Reality & Contrivance - performative command of an idiom

These ideas are resonating with how I'm framing design performance. Led by an observation that while we (designers) will contrive situations, we're more than often very conscious of the fact that any whiff of contrivance will put our participants/colleagues/co-designers off.

The challenge of participatory approaches, imho, can be well described using the terms Goffman builds with in this chapter: sincerity vs cynicism, reality & contrivance, convincing others & conviction in one's role, command of an idiom.

Contemporary designers, particularly those working in experience led pursuits, play a more epistemic role than they used to. They still make things, but more and more these artifacts are created to facilitate understanding & construct knowledge. To do this they will contrive design situations, with an idiomatic command of actions and artifacts that render these contrivances convincing.

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#goffman ch1 (cont) Dramatic Realization: impressing significance & the dilemma of expression vs action

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There's a lot in this that applies to the way I'm looking at design. I'm reminded of critical incidents in workshops, where you find yourself doing things that are more about impressing your significance on others: why they're working with a designer, what it is that design does, the value that design has created elsewhere etc.

Sometimes I use a reframe, or synthesis to demonstrate this, other times it'll be a story or example from the canon. The challenge is to have these expressions contribute to the (design) action, rather than being disconnected exercises in personal marketing.

To some extent, the preceding concept of sincerity—belief in the role you're playing—plays a big role in how well the expressions & actions of your Dramatic Realization are integrated

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