| dc.description.abstract | This research seeks to relate Design to Communities of Practice. Communities of Practice are spontaneous groups who gather around a common purpose with or without commercial objectives (BETTIOL et al, 2011), for example, a group of friends who meet to exchange ideas on something that pleases or annoys everyone. Those are created around areas proned to develop projects, but outside the structures of traditional organizations. The difficulties faced by these groups are often not satisfactorily solved because of using no methods or systematic way of getting to the solutions. The Design as a discipline attempts to assist in troubleshooting and its methods may have shifted from industry to social needs. In this research, we use the Concept of Strategic Design and its methodological approach as a way to solve such problems. To check if this is possible or not, we developed an exploratory research with the goal to identify and analyze a Community of Practice network, in this case, of cyclists in Porto Alegre, and understand how you can propose Strategic Design scenarios to help them achieve their goals. It is a group of people of varying ages that has the bicycle as a means of alternative transportation in common. This group discusses how to include this form of mobility equitably and thus be respected in everyday traffic, conquering its space. For this purpose, the Design method was synthesized in elements around everyday peoples life, drawing up a methodological process more accessible. Its application along with a Community of Practice implies the role of designer as a mediator (CELASCHI, 2008) which attempts to reconcile the ideas generated, synthesizing and creating speculation responses. More than a closed method, it was imagined as a set of tools adaptable to the needs facing every problem solving (CELASCHI, 2007). In this process learning occurs through reflection in action (SCHON, 2000), which is enriched by the exchange of experience of the participants. Therefore, the process of transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary information in search for innovation is essential and often found in Communities of Practice. It was performed a projectual exercise applying the synthetic methodology with a test group. It was generated a set of data that were analyzed with the aim of pointing indications of how the studied method should be adapted to the situation of the Community of Practice. In this exercise were presented and exercised creative skills from videos and printed instructions on the tools of the methodology. After the process, we analyzed the process, the role of actors and learning, as well as the difficulties encountered. The answers helped propose fixes related to methodological understanding of the application of the tools to get better results. | en |
