Abstract
At the core of the ‘BeWeDō® Kenkyukai’ (research seminar) are movement practices inspired by the Japanese martial art of Aikidō, however, participants do not learn Aikidō. The ‘BeWeDō® framework’ instead adapts one specific Aikidō movement exercise to transform the possibilities of conversation between people with movement. Over the past two years, I have been applying a new mode of embodied practice called the ‘BeWeDō® framework’ within the ideation process. BeWeDō is a dynamic new way of transforming conversations – with movement. The approach utilises physical movement engaging the body- mind-environment inspired by the Japanese martial art of Aikidō, to enable people to ‘start, share, shape,’ and transform conversations. This ethnography combined autoethnography, visual ethnography, participant observation, concept mapping, and 12 surveys completed during fieldwork. The research findings indicated that during BeWeDō: (1) physical movement and touch amplify connection and trust; (2) moving enriches conversation; and, (3) everyone has a creative voice. BeWeDō® is a psychologically safe approach, which offers relational leadership understandings in co- creation, as a process for structuring practices to transfer and replicate tacit knowledge accumulated in embodied ideation.
Keywords
Design Research; Embodied Ideation; Co-creation; Psychological Safety; BeWeDō
DOI
https://10.21606/eksig2019.114
Citation
Bradford, M.(2019) BeWeDō® Kenkyukai: Small Moves can Set Big Ideas in Motion, in Nithikul Nimkulrat, Kristi Kuusk, Julia Valle Noronha, Camilla Groth and Oscar Tomico (eds.), Knowing Together – experiential knowledge and collaboration, 23–24 September 2019, Tallinn, Estonia. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2019.114
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
BeWeDō® Kenkyukai: Small Moves can Set Big Ideas in Motion
At the core of the ‘BeWeDō® Kenkyukai’ (research seminar) are movement practices inspired by the Japanese martial art of Aikidō, however, participants do not learn Aikidō. The ‘BeWeDō® framework’ instead adapts one specific Aikidō movement exercise to transform the possibilities of conversation between people with movement. Over the past two years, I have been applying a new mode of embodied practice called the ‘BeWeDō® framework’ within the ideation process. BeWeDō is a dynamic new way of transforming conversations – with movement. The approach utilises physical movement engaging the body- mind-environment inspired by the Japanese martial art of Aikidō, to enable people to ‘start, share, shape,’ and transform conversations. This ethnography combined autoethnography, visual ethnography, participant observation, concept mapping, and 12 surveys completed during fieldwork. The research findings indicated that during BeWeDō: (1) physical movement and touch amplify connection and trust; (2) moving enriches conversation; and, (3) everyone has a creative voice. BeWeDō® is a psychologically safe approach, which offers relational leadership understandings in co- creation, as a process for structuring practices to transfer and replicate tacit knowledge accumulated in embodied ideation.