I.D.A.

Go to Foggymountain!

2011-11-12T08:44:00.002+01:00

This blog will shut down - I am only using my private blog from now on. Please see:
http://foggymountaindesign.blogspot.com - it is in Swedish, but I will soon start writing in english too.

Thanks for the support so far! And hope to see you at Foggy Mountain!

Lots of L,
i.

M E T O D A

2011-10-12T18:34:00.003+02:00

Picture from www.metoda.se

Today I read about the company Metoda again. I metioned them earlier in my blog. They have a lot of interesting material about how to make better meetings etc. What is a good meeting? What should you think about before, during and after a meeting?

In their webshop you can buy books about team work, better meetings, workshops, coaching, personal development etc.
Check out: www.metoda.se

/Ida

M Ö T E S K O K B O K E N

2011-10-03T12:56:00.003+02:00

picture from srfkonsult.se

"Möteskokboken" is unfortunately only in Swedish, but the books "Möteskokboken I and II" are easily describing tools and methods for better meetings and workshops. The first book is a shorter version about different ways of dialogue. The second book is describing the methods using the tools, suggesting in which kind of meeting you should have certain tools. The books are written by Erik Mattsson and Anna Jönborn.

Möteskokboken also sell something called "humörmarkeringar", which are quite fun stickers to lighten up the participants in a workshop.

Check it out:

http://www.moteskokboken.se/

/Ida

I N N O T I I M I ---O P E R A

2011-10-02T19:17:00.005+02:00

In November I'll attend an education in the method "Opera" with Innotiimi. Ingrid Lysell Smålänning is the teacher during two days in Gothenburg. I have known Ingrid since the beginning of my blog...She is a very inspiring person!

Check out: www.innotiimi.com

Education in OPERA (only in Swedish)
http://www.innotiimi.se/site/?lan=2&mode=tiedotteet&laji=1&tiedote_id=1118

Educator in OPERA: Ingrid Lysell Smålänning
ingrid.lysell@innotiimi.se

Enjoy your evening,
Ida

G I V E C O M P E T E N C E

2011-09-30T15:38:00.006+02:00

Today I met a new interesting person, Malin Österberg. She works as a processleader at "Give Competence - stimulating togetherness". Malin, Lina and I had a fun lunch together. We talked about the importance of good group dynamics and communication skills. We also discussed workshops, methods, tools and future plans. I hope we will meet again soon!

Check it out: www.givecompetence.se
/Ida

C R E A R U M

2011-09-29T07:17:00.005+02:00

I want to tell you a bit more about the innovative team at Crearum in Linköping. This is what Ewa and Elisabeth at Crearum writes on their webpage:

Crearum works with:

Innovation management
When you want help with a structured idea development process that reaches the entire business operation. We use an approach known as the Carrot; an innovation management system comprising both tools and structure.

Creative workshops
Concerning a challenge or problem, always with innovation and creativity as a starting point with inspiring exercices that provide new ideas. With the help of monitoring and coaching, we follow up and ensure that ideas reach the point of implementation.

Process management
Hire us for shorter and longer assignments to coach groups and individuals so that idéas become reality or problems really get solved. Here we apply creative approaches that lead to focus and commitment.

Education
In creative working methods, (workshop management, tools, group development based on IPU´s behavioural and momentum analysis, personal development which focus upon creativity and inspiration).

Welcome to Crearum; we are a consulting company (originating from the University of Linköpng) which focuses upon creativity, entrepreneruship and innovation in organisations.

See more at: www.crearum.se

/Ida

A new beginning

2011-09-28T13:46:00.002+02:00

A new beginning. I have been away from my blog a little over a year...Now I'm back. I will tell you all about my latest journey - which companies and persons I have met, which workshop educations and tools I recommend.

Let's start with Crearum. Check it out: www.crearum.se
Great place - excellent education and good teachers!

/Ida

Today´s best

2010-05-21T20:11:00.004+02:00

I ordered a book a while ago about how to make workshops work... Today I received the book :). I can strongly recommend it, unfortunately only in Swedish. The book is written by two consults in organizational issues (Pia Larsson and Maria Eliasson). The book is easy to read and gives the reader the background to why workshops actually work better (than other methods) in many situations. The book is called "Sätt fart på arbetsmötet".

The other week I also came across some other good literature (in Swedish). The company is called METODA. They list a lot of different workshop methods and gives the reader an overview of when different methods can be useful.

I wish you all a good weekend!
/Ida

MAYOR EKEBLAD

2010-02-25T17:31:00.002+01:00

I have had an interesting week so far!

My meeting with Josefina at Västfastigheter this Monday was a good start of the week! We talked about my mission and I feel that it will be a mission suitable for me! I started yesterday with my work and it's so much fun - I don't even feel that I am working ;).

Yesterday I met Ingrid at Innotiimi. Another inspiring and really friendly person, working with tools and methods for interaction. We agreed that we would cooperate in the future and it feels exciting!

Today I met AnnaLena, who is a real cute and wonderful artist! I feel that we will work together in more than one project! First of all I will sell her paintings and things on the "Home Fair 2010" in Vänersborg in April. I'm sure many of you out there will LOVE her things! I think everything she makes is eye-catching! See my other blog - http://foggymountaindesign.blogspot.com - to learn more about AnnaLena.
She has her studio in Linnéstaden in Gothenburg. Check out - http://mayorekeblad.blogspot.com
Thank you AnnaLena for today!

That's all for now! Hope you're all doing good.

/Ida

FURNITURE FAIR 2010

2010-02-06T08:21:00.004+01:00

Next week I'm off to Stockholm to visit "Furniture Fair 2010". I'm really looking forward to some fun and inspiring days! Hopefully my old friend A will join me to the fair and we can explore all the new furnitures, carpets, lamps...etc. together.

On Monday I also have an exciting meeting...so I guess next week will be a better week than this one :)!

Have a nice weekend - I will get back to you with inspirational photos from the Furniture fair.

By the way - please see my other blog - www.foggymountaindesign.blogspot.com
In the other blog I talk more about my special interest in design and interior design.
/Ida

WORK WORK WORK

2010-02-03T10:15:00.003+01:00

I haven't forgot about my dear blog, I've just been quite busy the last week.

There is a lot of exciting things going on and I feel that this might lead to something inspiring in the near future. I have had a lot of plans of starting my own company. I'm still planning and thinking about it. It's scary and fun at the same time.

Last Friday there was a party at Bergab, a company where I have been the interior architect in October/November 2009. The company felt a need for someone to help them out, when their premises where renewed. Since I have a contact there, they knew who I was and wanted me to do the job! It was very exciting. I'm glad to tell you that the result was almost as good as I hoped it would be! Off course you're always the worst critic yourself - but everyone was very pleased with the result!

Next week I'm meeting another person, who might want some help with a restaurant design in Stockholm. So there are some projects coming in...Also I'm helping my parents with their own dream project on the Island of Tjörn.

Besides this I'm again working for HoF Arkitekter in Öxnered. Right now sketching a new house model for a customer. So finally there is a lot of work to be done.
In the meantime I'm keeping contact with people interested in user participation in the design process and hoping that there will be an opening in that direction soon.

Have a nice and snowy day!
/Ida

New comment/ The Story Lab

2010-01-24T19:31:00.001+01:00

http://www.thestorylab.se/sv/blogg/2010/01/24/workshops
Unfortunately in Swedish...

/Ida

HAITI

2010-01-23T10:44:00.002+01:00

Today my thoughts go to all the needed in the disaster of Haiti.
Please let us help them! Send money to http://www.unicef.se/stod-oss/haiti
See in the right column on my page.

Even if we don't have a lot of money - we can do a lot! That is my believe.

/Ida

New meeting

2010-01-22T12:02:00.003+01:00

This afternoon I'm meeting with J-E at "Göteborgs Lokalförvaltning". (Gotheburg City Facilities management). I will get back to you with news from the meeting!

I hope you're having a good Friday!
/Ida

Stockholm

2010-01-21T07:37:00.003+01:00

I've been in Stockholm for two days. Yesterday I finally got to meet Teresa Lindholm, working for her own company called "Interacta". We had a very nice lunch together and talked about our common interest in people interaction. I received an inspiring book about "the dialogue", which I'm going to read today. Thanks Teresa!

Tomorrow I'm probably meeting J-E at Gothenburg City. I'm doing a lot of networking right now :).

/Ida

Information video - GRUL

2010-01-18T14:58:00.002+01:00

I received an e-mail from Fredrik Axelzon (see text below) who said that you all should watch GRUL's information video (only in Swedish I believe). Please check out: www.grul.se and in the right column it says "Presentation av GRUL".

/Ida

GRUL

2010-01-18T09:34:00.003+01:00

Another inspiring website...please see www.grul.se (I will add it to the list on the right side of this page!)

What is GRUL?

"Experiential Learning (GRUL) works with inspiring and unusual methods from the world of game pedagogy, transplanting them to new environments in the field of education. We work with students in the classroom, with teachers in an education context, in a variety of development projects, and in research with a range of different partners.

We work on a wide scale with many different types of organization development issues, communication, leadership and change-oriented processes. An experience based method is at the center of everything we do, where the recipients are involved owners of the processes in which they engage.

We are a part of Göteborgsregionens Kommunalförbund, The Gothenburg Association of Local Authorities (GR)..." (text from the website www.grul.se)

I met Fredrik Axelzon from GRUL at FABEL KOMMUNIKATION in Stockholm a couple of months ago. He was the leader of a workshop I was taking part of. Fredrik works with social interaction, democracy issues and the EU.

/Ida

"Children take action"

2010-01-16T09:02:00.003+01:00

The 25th of March I'm invited to the conference "Children take Action" (Barn tar plats) by Eva at Gothenburg City. The conference is about children taking part in urban planning.

We will discuss questions like:

* Which work methods can be used to understand the childrens perspective and knowledge?"

* "Which urban qualities are needed for the young people in the city?"

* "What are the characteristics of a developing school environment?" "How could we describe a good place to play?"

I'm looking forward to taking part in the conference!
Thank you Eva for inviting me.

/Ida

Today's aim

2010-01-15T08:21:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I talked to Eva at Gothenburg City, about childrens possibility to influence their school environment. I received an invitation to a conference in the middle of March about the subject. Fun!

Today I will contact some more people sharing my interest in user participation issues.

To be continued,
i.

New people - new opportunities!

2010-01-14T08:28:00.003+01:00

As you all know I've been off to Fuerteventura. I had a wonderful and relaxing vacation, recovering from being ill quite a while. Now, I'm full of energy and hopefull for an exciting year!

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with JE. Today I'm going to talk to more inspiring people, sharing the same interest in involving people to take action in design processes. Next week on Wednesday I'm finally meeting Teresa at Interacta, www.interacta.nu - which I'm really looking forward to! It feels like it's going to be a lot of fun meetings the next couple of days.

Please see my latest comment at http://www.thestorylab.se/sv/blogg/2010/01/13/brukarmedverkan
I will attach the file, in the column to the right!

Hope you all are enjoying the winter,
i.

Digital platform for urban design

2010-01-12T07:58:00.003+01:00

I received a comment from Sweco Architects in Malmö, a couple of days ago.
The comment was about "Digital plattform för stadsbyggnad" or Digital platform for urban design. Thank you Sweco! I am right now reading through the document and finding it very interesting. I will get back to all of you with a short summary.
In the meantime you can, if you want to, read the document yourselves:

http://issuu.com/swecoarchitectsmalmo/docs/digital_plattform_for_stadsbyggnad

Have a good day!
/i.

INNOTIIMI

2009-12-13T08:03:00.002+01:00

The workshop with Fabel Kommunikation in Stockholm two weeks ago, was an eye-opener for me. (Thank you Fabel for an inspiring day!) I have received so many new contacts, who are interested in User Participation in different ways. One contact has lead to another and so forth. The other day I contacted Innotiimi, by recommendation of Emelie at "Dialoglabbet" in Malmö.

I recently got a response from Ingrid Lysell at Innotiimi. She said that they would love to be part of my blog! She also promised me to send some material about the organization and some photos. So, I guess I will get back to you to tell you more about Innotiimi. If anyone is curios, you can always visit their homepage to learn more!

Soon you will also see me as one of the bloggers at www.thestorylab.se
I will tell you more, when it happens!

/Ida

EUKN/ Suburbs goes Hammarkullen

2009-12-11T08:23:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Teresa from Interacta contacted me again. She asked if I had heard of Chalmers presentation "Suburbs goes Hammarkullen"....Yes, I have (Thanks to Jennie!) Teresa told me that architect students have worked with the users/persons living in the area to create new design and that she thought it might interest me!

If you are interested it is on: Monday, January 14th at 4 pm, at "Folkets Hus", Hammarkullen. I don't know if I will be able to go, but still it might be something for you out there!

Teresa also talked about EUKN with is short for "Europan Urban Knowledge Network". It's a place where they share knowledge about urban development. Please see their homepage for more information: www.eukn.org (in english) www.eukn.se (in swedish). Teresa, from Interacta is working half-time with this organization.

Thank you Teresa for all information!
/Ida

INTERACTA

2009-12-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

"Inter Acta - dialog och utveckling" (Interact - dialogue and development) is a company working with different tools for communcation. The founder, Teresa Lindholm has been working with workshops and education for a long time. She is very dedicated to the subject user participation. I found Teresa through Emelie Wieslander, who works for "dialoglabbet" (the dialogue lab) in Malmö.

Please see Teresa´s homepage:
www.interacta.nu
in the column to the right, on this page.

/Ida

MAKE TOOLS

2009-12-08T07:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Liz Sanders sent me an e-mail. Liz has a PhD in Experimental and Quantitative Psychology and is the president of the design research firm, Make Tools. One of her special expertise areas is Participatory design research.

I contacted Liz when I was writting my master thesis. She has been very supporting and encouarging to my work. Liz has given me interesting essays on the subject, participatory design. Please see her webpage www.maketools.com (in the right column on this page)

Liz has also been working with an architectural firm, when they were designing a new building. She worked with the customers, giving them tools like post-its, magazines, colors, scizzors etc. Her work is very exciting and inspiring.

Thank you Liz for all your help!

/Ida

SWECO ARCHITECTS (Malmö)

2009-12-06T19:56:00.000+01:00

Today I received an encouraging e-mail from Peter Fröst, architect and professor at Chalmers University in Sweden. Peter was one of my critics, when I presented my master thesis in May this year.

He named a couple of websites about user participation in urban planning, called "Medborgardialog". I understand that some of you out there might not be able to read it, but for the others, here is one of the websites:

http://issuu.com/swecoarchitectsmalmo/docs/designdialog_broschyr

/Ida

THE WORKSHOP

2009-12-06T10:40:00.000+01:00

Above are pictures from the workshop "My dream house".
The pictures are showing the four participants, selecting photos associating to the theme "My dream House".
I borrowed the photos from researcher, Saddek Rehal, architect at Chalmers, Sweden.

The photo-session was an inspiring part of the workshop. The participants were eager to find "the right" photos. They elected 6 photos each describing what their house should be like.

/Ida

2009-12-04T14:42:00.000+01:00

Inspirational websites of the day

Today I received an e-mail from Emelie working at "Dialoglabbet" in Malmö, Sweden.
She recommended some good websites for me, which I thought I would share with you.
One finnish company called Innotiimi works with different tools, like OPERA and WISH board for the group work communication process.

Please see:
http://www.innotiimi.se/site/
Two other pages Emelie is referring to are:
http://www.cesam.se/
http://www.interacta.nu/

/Ida

2009-12-03T19:30:00.000+01:00

User participation - why does it scare us?

At the office the other day, we had a discussion about user participation in the design process.
It was clear that this is a subject that intrigues a lot of questions and arguments among these architects (and many others). I guess you could say that we, as architects, may be afraid of what we should do, if we´re not able to work as we always have been taught of doing. It is always scary to work with a project in a way you've never tried before. Especially without knowing the result. But without trying, you will never know.

When I presented my master thesis, one student in the audience, asked me a question I've been thinking about ever since. It had to do with what I wanted to work with in the future, as an architect. The person was wondering if I was considering to become a consultant, travelling around making presentations about how architects can better work together with the customer? Or maybe I was thinking of becoming a workshop leader? With this question in mind I started to think about what I could do with my knowledge.

You might say that my blog is a start in the right direction. At least for me.

/Ida

2009-12-03T08:25:00.001+01:00

Research by Design,
Master class, Chalmers, 2008

Research by Design was an inspiring school
class in the fall of 2008. My group wanted
to change the people's feeling of Esperantoplatsen
in Gothenburg.

We draw different pictures with chalk on the stone"floor".
We invited people passing by to draw whatever they wanted.
Afterwards we left the chalks in a basket in the middle
of the place to see if people would draw,
even if we weren't there.

2009-12-03T08:03:00.001+01:00

Workshop during my master thesis.

Six photos showing one persons
thoughts about "my dream house".

The workshop group, wrote post-its
associating to "my dream house".

Check out:
http://libris.kb.se/bib/11416965
if you live in Sweden and want to read my master thesis.

/Ida

2009-12-02T21:12:00.001+01:00

Glad you found me - Welcome to my page!

This spring I graduated from Chalmers, Gothenburg in Sweden. My architectural master thesis was about user participation in the design process. You can read an abstract about my thesis below.

ABSTRACT

Participatory Design
- examples of design tools for architects in dialogue with users.

In the beginning of the 1970´s the Swedish architect and professor, Johannes Olivgren described new methods of working with the users in the design process.

The aim with this master thesis was to explore the question of user participation in the design process and investigate some alternative ways to further the dialogue with customers.

Information was collected through a review of literature, reading about different projects and interviews with architects as well as users. A summary of the findings are presented and further discussed in the coming chapters.

In a workshop with the theme "My dream House", I observed how engaged participants through pictures and dialogue were able to communicate their needs and visions. Workshops are discussed in this thesis as a design tool to engage the users in the design process. I want to make architects consider the users as a valuable source of information to create a better and sustainable project.

In conclusion, this thesis gives examples of ways to share knowledge and information through a more interactive participatory design process, which may take more time and energy, but leads the way for a more sustainable end-result, and improved customer satisfaction.

To read more about my thesis, feel free to contact me!

Pictures from the workshop about "My dream house", January, 2009

2009-12-02T21:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my blog!
Välkommen till min blogg!

/Ida