Co-Creation

Perhaps you are wondering what on earth co-creation entails… well, so did I! Until yesterday afternoon when I experienced it firsthand. So what was it all about?

Based on the evaluation input of a half-day workshop on use of social media for facilitating learning processes in organisations and groups in May, Simon Koolwijk, Joitske Hulsebosch and Sibrenne Wagenaar decided to develop a curriculum on this topic. They defined their target groups, made a rough plan and came up with a catchy slogan: “There is more than flip charts”.

There is more than flip charts

Before developing their ideas in detail, they decided to check what people might want or need to learn about in connection with use of social media. So they invited a diverse group of professionals from their respective networks for a co-creation session. Some of these are already using social media in facilitation, others are just exploring social media for other purposes. Some even are hesitant regarding usefulness of social media, but also feel that inevitably they will have to start using some of them in their work in future.

To get creative energy flowing, the session started with Loesje (EN). Loesje is a girl from the Netherlands as well as a group of people who want to bring positiveness and creativity into the world. Through group brainstorms they produce texts that aim to provide a fresh perspective, to make people wonder and to move people to take action. Loesje texts are positive and humorous.

Through different exercises we brainstormed about social media and dilemmas related to use of social media, combining key words like “on a plane” with security and privacy, coming up with a short poem on autumn & Twitter and comparing depression with use of social media…

Dilemmas discussed included how to invite people to use social media, how to connect to work tasks and how to integrate use of social media in daily routines, but also what to do with a tool like LinkedIn once you’ve signed up and how to handle information overload.

Marking the best statements (photo Simon Koolwijk)

It was incredible how a wild list of topics including busy shopping streets and cookies could lead to serious and humorous statements on social media issues.

And that this input actually helped our hosts in further elaboration of their curriculum. Some ideas confirmed what they had already in mind, others brought a new perspective and still others were new.

In all, this afternoon was well-spent also for the participants who had an opportunity to share experiences and ideas, exchange concerns and learn about a different way of brainstorming. As well as experiencing what co-creation means and how this is a good tool to finetune concepts, get input from part of the target group and build loyality relations.  After all, all of us will now promote this curriculum to others, too!