Grasping social dynamics of participatory innovation: A case of playing a game

The key element in participatory innovation is to understand innovation as a
social problem solving process between different stakeholders. The social
dynamics amongst stakeholders are fundamental to the participatory process
and outcome, and it’s therefore beneficial for facilitators and stakeholders
themselves to understand their relations and what it means to participate. We
argue that we can grasp these social dynamics of participatory innovation
through play. From a management perspective we study how playing games
helps us to understand these dynamics, while from an interaction design
perspective we study how a game that addresses these dynamics can be
designed. We describe a case of a game, designed for the Participatory
Innovation Conference of 2011 in Sønderborg, Denmark. The game was
particularly designed around the themes of conflict and interdependence,
captured by the dilemma of co-opetition where individual and group goals are
conflicting. Drawing on observations and video data of the game being played
by the participants of the conference, we study how different group
compositions deal with novelty. From here we explain how the process of play
can help to grasp the social dynamics of participatory innovation, and outline
design strategies to do this.