Abstract for Institute for Australian Geographers University of Wollongong Tuesday 5 July 2011 Jacqueline Gothe, Teresa Leung, Richard Lim, Yin Phyu, Roel Plant, Scott Rayburg, Jeremy Walker
This paper will discuss the critical practices and processes of visual communication design manifestations in an ongoing research project. It uses as its starting point a current study into the combined toxicity effects of three pesticides on a range of freshwater species found in coastal rivers of NSW, including the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. The team comprises ecotoxicologists (who developed the methodology and carried out the field and laboratory work to generate the results which underpinned this component of the study); a social scientist, a geomorphologist, and a geographer; and two visual communication designers and key stakeholders including scientists, policy makers and regulators. The design team used a participatory, user-based framework, which involved collaborative decision making.
At the meta-level the questions for the design team are i) how better integration practices can be developed and understood through an examination of the perceptions of design within a multi-disciplinary team; and ii) how design can effectively engage with a team unfamiliar with design or the design process, particularly in developing communication strategies. In the context of this project this question is being asked through practice – the practice of design, the practice of collaboration, the practice of multi-disciplinarity and the possibility of transdisciplinary practices.
The practice question for the research team is: how do we communicate research findings to the relevant communities on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River to encourage changes in pesticide usage?
The project was carried out over two stages. The first stage comprised deep engagement with the findings from the ecotoxicological research in order to understand and develop a prototype that communicates these findings and their implications in developing and refining water quality guidelines in Australia. Field trips to conduct interviews with stake holders, desk top research and regular team meetings were conducted to progress our understandings of the implications of the findings through collaborative processes of analysis and feedback. This stage is documented in a paper that elucidates a direction based on stakeholder interviews. This interview structure used among other things a visual mapping process. This mapping activity was designed to create a picture of the perceptions of different stakeholders and their understanding of the roles and responsibilities in the management and regulation of the use of pesticides on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River.
The second stage takes its direction from the outcomes of Stage I and focuses on policy makers and government bodies as a potential entity of change. The communication prototype was designed after extensive consultation with the ecotoxicologists. This was tested over several iterations initially within the team and then with policy makers, science communicators and scientists. The engagement process –interview, feedback and discussion on the prototype – was viewed as an intervention. This process created a snowballing effect which allowed interaction with stakeholders who were previously inaccessible. Conceptual and procedural flexibility was identified as a key challenge particularly as advocacy became an embedded value.
The final stage of the process is to design a one day workshop with the stakeholders where the results of the multi disciplinary research will be presented and discussion about ways forward in terms of research – the importance of scientific monitoring, the value of an ongoing trandisciplinary focus and the value of design practice in these contexts.
placetracing | Jacqueline Gothe 