Associate Professor, School of Design at Politecnico di Milano, where I'm also in charge of scientific coordination of IDEActivity Center. IDEActivity aim is to give value to all aspects of creativity, promoting innovation through design, as well as to activate and re-enforce all phases of the creative process.
With the world rapidly changing and the accelerated growth of emerging digital technologies, crea... more With the world rapidly changing and the accelerated growth of emerging digital technologies, creativity has become more fundamental than ever before (Corazza, 2017). We live in a society where the centrality of humans in the future will strongly rely on their creative abilities as those who do not creatively innovate risk failure in any domain. Today, emerging digital technologies are reshaping individuals and society and, consequently, creativity is co-evolving too becoming Digital Creativity (Lee and Chen, 2015). We refer to Digital Creativity as the ability to creatively and strategically apply digital technologies to innovate, thereby harnessing human-centred technological innovation to solve complex problems (Bruno, 2021). This ability requires humans to manage a creative design process and develop new Digital Creative Abilities, including, among others, the ability to communicate and collaborate with others to solve complex problems, to understand the cultural and social poten...
The current societal trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital Do-It-Yourself) is ... more The current societal trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital Do-It-Yourself) is emblematic of the contemporary and diffuse attitude to make and create. It also reflects the new attitude of people to rely on the strengthen of collaboration to improve their life. It has been seen as an opportunity for social and technological innovation based on collaboration and knowledge sharing. These practices and technologies have many potentialities that are changing the world on an everyday and community level (i.e. attitudes to consumption, sustainable solutions and community networks). The resurgence of DIY and craft industries “is a strong indicator that people are seeking ways to express their creativity” [1]. In this context where Digital DIY is playing a leading role in developing a more creative society and where everyone does design, professional designers may have to find their new roles. The paper describes the DiDIY design process as a result of human centred co-desi...
DS 95: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2019), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 12th -13th September 2019, 2019
The rapid pace of technological innovations is changing almost every aspect of people’s lives. In... more The rapid pace of technological innovations is changing almost every aspect of people’s lives. Indeed, digital technologies are reshaping behaviors and human interactions as well as having great impacts on the environmental, political and economic level (Schwab, 2016). In this scenario, it becomes paramount for people to be able to adapt to this increasingly digital environment to reach the so-called Digital Maturity (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017) and to recognize and unlock the huge potentialities of emerging technologies to foster sustainable development (WEF & PwC, 2020).Such topics are being addressed and tackled by the Digital Creativity for developing Digital Maturity Future Skills (DC4DM) European Project [1], a three-year project funded by the Erasmus + Program and whose outcome will be the spread of an educational model to train students to become Digital Maturity Enablers, new professional figures up-skilled to drive the change and to creatively envision future possib...
In recent years, Europe has been moving towards a concept of inclusivity as highlighted by the si... more In recent years, Europe has been moving towards a concept of inclusivity as highlighted by the sixteenth goal of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda that promotes peaceful and inclusive societies. (UN Dept. of Global Communications, 2015). The increasing awareness of social diversity has attracted the attention of designers who started to adopt an inclusive design approach and design products or services to be usable by as many people as reasonably possible, without the need for specialised adaptions. The inclusive design approach has been largely applied in adaptive sports to improve levels of functioning and independence in daily living activities and increase physical capability, physiological capacity, social status, and sense of belonging. Adaptive sports can become a way to promote involvement as an active part of the rehabilitation exercise to stimulate neuromotor recovery, particularly in children with disabilities (Canina et al., 2020). Recent research has demonst...
The aim of this paper is to describe the didactic experimentation conducted on the involvement of... more The aim of this paper is to describe the didactic experimentation conducted on the involvement of the user in the design process at the Politecnico of Milan during the Final Synthesis Design Studio course and to document the interesting results of this experience. For students it is strategically important to understand the scenarios of the corporate reality they are about to fit in. The didactic choice requires the introduction of tools created and adopted by important design studios and research groups as well as practical experimentation through short exercises of the simplest approaches. The classroom workshop allowed the students to build up their own work instruments: a set of tools meant to support and stimulate the brainstorm phase. The material assembled during the experimentation was devoted to knowledge elicitation and creativity techniques. The achieved results have very interesting implications for both education and training.
With the world rapidly changing and the accelerated growth of emerging digital technologies, crea... more With the world rapidly changing and the accelerated growth of emerging digital technologies, creativity has become more fundamental than ever before (Corazza, 2017). We live in a society where the centrality of humans in the future will strongly rely on their creative abilities as those who do not creatively innovate risk failure in any domain. Today, emerging digital technologies are reshaping individuals and society and, consequently, creativity is co-evolving too becoming Digital Creativity (Lee and Chen, 2015). We refer to Digital Creativity as the ability to creatively and strategically apply digital technologies to innovate, thereby harnessing human-centred technological innovation to solve complex problems (Bruno, 2021). This ability requires humans to manage a creative design process and develop new Digital Creative Abilities, including, among others, the ability to communicate and collaborate with others to solve complex problems, to understand the cultural and social poten...
The current societal trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital Do-It-Yourself) is ... more The current societal trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital Do-It-Yourself) is emblematic of the contemporary and diffuse attitude to make and create. It also reflects the new attitude of people to rely on the strengthen of collaboration to improve their life. It has been seen as an opportunity for social and technological innovation based on collaboration and knowledge sharing. These practices and technologies have many potentialities that are changing the world on an everyday and community level (i.e. attitudes to consumption, sustainable solutions and community networks). The resurgence of DIY and craft industries “is a strong indicator that people are seeking ways to express their creativity” [1]. In this context where Digital DIY is playing a leading role in developing a more creative society and where everyone does design, professional designers may have to find their new roles. The paper describes the DiDIY design process as a result of human centred co-desi...
DS 95: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2019), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 12th -13th September 2019, 2019
The rapid pace of technological innovations is changing almost every aspect of people’s lives. In... more The rapid pace of technological innovations is changing almost every aspect of people’s lives. Indeed, digital technologies are reshaping behaviors and human interactions as well as having great impacts on the environmental, political and economic level (Schwab, 2016). In this scenario, it becomes paramount for people to be able to adapt to this increasingly digital environment to reach the so-called Digital Maturity (MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017) and to recognize and unlock the huge potentialities of emerging technologies to foster sustainable development (WEF & PwC, 2020).Such topics are being addressed and tackled by the Digital Creativity for developing Digital Maturity Future Skills (DC4DM) European Project [1], a three-year project funded by the Erasmus + Program and whose outcome will be the spread of an educational model to train students to become Digital Maturity Enablers, new professional figures up-skilled to drive the change and to creatively envision future possib...
In recent years, Europe has been moving towards a concept of inclusivity as highlighted by the si... more In recent years, Europe has been moving towards a concept of inclusivity as highlighted by the sixteenth goal of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda that promotes peaceful and inclusive societies. (UN Dept. of Global Communications, 2015). The increasing awareness of social diversity has attracted the attention of designers who started to adopt an inclusive design approach and design products or services to be usable by as many people as reasonably possible, without the need for specialised adaptions. The inclusive design approach has been largely applied in adaptive sports to improve levels of functioning and independence in daily living activities and increase physical capability, physiological capacity, social status, and sense of belonging. Adaptive sports can become a way to promote involvement as an active part of the rehabilitation exercise to stimulate neuromotor recovery, particularly in children with disabilities (Canina et al., 2020). Recent research has demonst...
The aim of this paper is to describe the didactic experimentation conducted on the involvement of... more The aim of this paper is to describe the didactic experimentation conducted on the involvement of the user in the design process at the Politecnico of Milan during the Final Synthesis Design Studio course and to document the interesting results of this experience. For students it is strategically important to understand the scenarios of the corporate reality they are about to fit in. The didactic choice requires the introduction of tools created and adopted by important design studios and research groups as well as practical experimentation through short exercises of the simplest approaches. The classroom workshop allowed the students to build up their own work instruments: a set of tools meant to support and stimulate the brainstorm phase. The material assembled during the experimentation was devoted to knowledge elicitation and creativity techniques. The achieved results have very interesting implications for both education and training.
The current trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital DIY) is emblematic of the co... more The current trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital DIY) is emblematic of the contemporary attitude to making and crafting. Although digital DIY has been seen as an opportunity for social and technological innovation, a major debate is taking place in research literature about its potential skilling or deskilling effect on practitioners. For instance, on the one hand, focusing on the digital representation undermines the ability to experience materials qualities and manufacturability. The ultimate effect is the development of a creative process, which is led by a virtual idea disconnected from the material world. On the other hand, the machine itself is a manifestation of knowledge, skills and labour involved in its design, manufacture and maintenance. The objective of this paper is to further unpack this debate and presenting our reflections from an ongoing research project on the potential of digital DIY as a skilling process through making collaboratively. We introduce a research model representing the dynamics enacting over three interdependent levels (i.e. social innovation, social practice and creative process) in which three factors of technology (e.g. digital fabrication), motivation (e.g. commitment) and collaboration (e.g. with peers) are envisaged as crucial for learning and skilling.
The current trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital DIY) is emblematic of the co... more The current trend of digitally enabled self-production (i.e. digital DIY) is emblematic of the contemporary attitude to making. Its investigation represents an opportunity for better understanding the dynamics underpinning the acquisition of competences for the next century citizens through making. The objective of this paper is presenting our preliminary reflections on the factors characterising the current trend of digital DIY, envisaged as a phenomenon of social innovation empowering people by developing skills through making collaboratively. We introduce a model representing the dynamics (over the three levels of social innovation, social practice and creative process) and factors (i.e. technology, motivation and collaboration) for learning and skilling in this context. The concluding section describes future developments based on co-design for the delivery of tools enabling designers and key players in four main areas of intervention in which the model can be transferred.
10th International Technology, Education and Development Conference
Contemporary education faces the challenge of teaching and learning key competences for students ... more Contemporary education faces the challenge of teaching and learning key competences for students to strive as the next generation workers in the contemporary world characterised by rapid and profound transformation. In particular, the current societal trend of ‘making’ for laypeople especially enabled by rapid manufacturing and digital technologies is questioning the role of professional designers in a world where – as also design literature reports – ‘everybody is a designer’ (Manzini 2015; Cross 2011). The objective of this paper is presenting our reflections about the digitally enabled self-production trend (aka digital DIY) as a means for students to develop and improve the key competences to face the complexity of contemporary age. This set of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills generally recognised of fundamental importance for the next generation labour market, social cohesion and active citizenship comprises not only technical and engineering knowledge, but also creativity and critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, plus a range of personal qualities such as motivation, curiosity, selfdevelopment and management. Such key competences have been widely defined and work programmes have been activated to promote their application among the educational and work fields. In Europe, key competences represent the pillars of the Lifelong Learning programme edited by the European Commission (2006/962/EC). Across the United States some promoter (i.e. the Partnership for the 21st century skills, National Research Council) are trying to merge education, business, community and government leaders around these competences, mainly known as 21st century skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Since the last decades of the 20th century, research in learning processes have suggested the importance of making and doing as a means to foster the acquisition of these skills, especially the creative ones. Digital DIY is here envisaged as a creative practice in which people – including design students – may increase their self-confidence and empowerment. Rooted in design and construction, these digital making activities often emphasise the acquisition of problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, cross disciplinarity and collaboration. Within the framework of the EU funded project ‘Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY), we are exploring the dynamics facilitating the acquisition of the key competences in this practice. We introduce a model representing the dynamics and factors for learning and skilling in this context. As design researchers, we aim at contributing by developing (co)design-driven tools facilitating the identification of the skilling dynamics where digital DIY practice takes place. In this paper we will firstly define such competencies as a result of a comparative study from literature analysis and then argue why they are developed through digital DIY. Finally, we will conclude with the proposal of transferring the skilling dynamics identified in digital DIY to education system.
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Papers by Marita Canina
For instance, on the one hand, focusing on the digital representation undermines the ability to experience materials qualities and manufacturability. The ultimate effect is the development of a creative process, which is led by a virtual idea disconnected from the material world. On the other hand, the machine itself is a manifestation of knowledge, skills and labour involved in its design, manufacture and maintenance.
The objective of this paper is to further unpack this debate and presenting our reflections from an ongoing research project on the potential of digital DIY as a skilling process through making collaboratively. We introduce a research model representing the dynamics enacting over three interdependent levels (i.e. social innovation, social practice and creative process) in which three factors of technology (e.g. digital fabrication), motivation (e.g. commitment) and collaboration (e.g. with peers) are envisaged as crucial for learning and skilling.
for better understanding the dynamics underpinning the acquisition of competences for the next century citizens through making.
The objective of this paper is presenting our preliminary reflections on the factors characterising the current trend of digital DIY, envisaged as a phenomenon of social
innovation empowering people by developing skills through making collaboratively. We introduce a model representing the dynamics (over the three levels of social innovation, social practice and creative process) and factors (i.e. technology, motivation and collaboration) for learning and skilling in this context.
The concluding section describes future developments based on co-design for the delivery of tools enabling designers and key players in four main areas of intervention in which the model can be transferred.
designers in a world where – as also design literature reports – ‘everybody is a designer’ (Manzini
2015; Cross 2011).
The objective of this paper is presenting our reflections about the digitally enabled self-production trend (aka digital DIY) as a means for students to develop and improve the key competences to face the complexity of contemporary age.
This set of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills generally recognised of fundamental importance for the next generation labour market, social cohesion and active citizenship comprises not only technical and engineering knowledge, but also creativity and critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, plus a range of personal qualities such as motivation, curiosity, selfdevelopment and management.
Such key competences have been widely defined and work programmes have been activated to promote their application among the educational and work fields. In Europe, key competences represent the pillars of the Lifelong Learning programme edited by the European Commission (2006/962/EC). Across the United States some promoter (i.e. the Partnership for the 21st century skills, National Research Council) are trying to merge education, business, community and government leaders around these competences, mainly known as 21st century skills (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008).
Since the last decades of the 20th century, research in learning processes have suggested the importance of making and doing as a means to foster the acquisition of these skills, especially the creative ones. Digital DIY is here envisaged as a creative practice in which people – including design students – may increase their self-confidence and empowerment. Rooted in design and construction, these digital making activities often emphasise the acquisition of problem-solving, critical thinking,
creativity, cross disciplinarity and collaboration.
Within the framework of the EU funded project ‘Digital Do-It-Yourself (DiDIY), we are exploring the dynamics facilitating the acquisition of the key competences in this practice. We introduce a model representing the dynamics and factors for learning and skilling in this context. As design researchers,
we aim at contributing by developing (co)design-driven tools facilitating the identification of the skilling dynamics where digital DIY practice takes place.
In this paper we will firstly define such competencies as a result of a comparative study from literature analysis and then argue why they are developed through digital DIY. Finally, we will conclude with the proposal of transferring the skilling dynamics identified in digital DIY to education system.