On 15 and 16 October, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, together with the other partners of the Center of Expertise Creative Innovation (CoE CI), is hosting the annual Society 5.0 Festival. This festival focuses on creating a human-centered digital society in which technology serves as a means to enhance the well-being of both people and the planet. This fourth edition is themed “Shaping Hybrid Realities” and will take place at The Social Hub Amsterdam City. Admission to the Society 5.0 Festival is free for Inholland students and staff: registrer via the CoE Ci website.

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Due to digitalisation, our lifeworld is becoming increasingly hybrid. The world as it appears to us – how we see it, understand it, and navigate it – is a blend of digital media technologies and physical environments. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive experiences (IX) are set to deepen this fusion in the coming years.

This shift to hybrid realities has far-reaching implications for our everyday lives and our democratic society. How does this impact our shared sense of reality, mental well-being, relationships, and how we shape and experience public space?

At the Society 5.0 Festival, we explore new ways of working to shape a desirable future society. During this two-day festival – filled with workshops, performances, installations, and talks – creatives, researchers, citizens, technologists, educators, designers, students, and (policy)makers come together to access, generate, sense, and reclaim our hybrid future.

Find out more about the Society 5.0 Festival en register via the CoE Ci website to claim your free tickets.

What happens when students from different countries meet in a virtual world to learn, create, and explore together? Students from Inholland University of Applied Sciences (Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Amsterdam) and the Latvian Academy of Culture found out during ‘Creativity Connected’, an international education project where virtual reality (VR), creativity, and collaboration came together.

For two weeks, Dutch and Latvian students worked together on an international assignment in virtual reality. Not in a physical classroom, but in a shared digital environment designed as a virtual playground. Through avatars in platforms like VRChat, they explored what a creative space of the future, the year 2050, could look like. The assignment challenged them to think beyond borders and co-create new forms of creativity.

Collaborating across borders
The project took place within a COIL framework (Collaborative Online International Learning). Its goal was to enable international cooperation without the need for travel, while exploring how VR can support intercultural communication, artistic expression, and innovative education.

“VR not only made it possible to work together remotely”, says Farah, a Tourism Management student at Inholland. “It also gave me the freedom to experiment and express myself in a different way.”

The project was initiated by Kasia Głowicka, researcher at Inholland’s Authentic Leadership research group en developer of the creativity curriculum (Comenius Senior Fellow, 2023). For this project she developed a specific series of sessions in VR. She collaborated with her Inholland colleague Esther Bouw (lectorate Design Thinking), Ieva Zemīte (Latvian Academy of Culture), and Avinash Changa (WeMakeVR).

Supported by a VIS innovation grant from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the project bridged education and industry. Avinash brought in his expertise in immersive storytelling, which inspired students to explore VR as a sensory, poetic, and expressive medium.

Immersive creativity
The results were both creative and culturally rich. One team designed a virtual “gallery walk” where you begin with antic art collection and follow up to the modern Dutch dance club. Another team build a story-telling theater about the future of art classroom with hollograpic decore. One group even presented an immersive poem in which floating words, sound, and movement blended into a live VR performance.

But the most valuable outcome was the experience itself. Students learned to collaborate in an international context, developed both digital and social skills, and grew in self-confidence. “I was hesitant at first,” one participant shared, “but presenting as an avatar soon felt liberating.”

The sense of connection between students was strong. Many kept in touch after the project, and some collaborations even turned into friendships.

The future of learning
“Connected Creativity in VR” shows how technology, creativity, and international collaboration can reinforce one another. By literally stepping outside their own reality, students discovered new ways of thinking, working, and creating. A project that not only anticipates the education of tomorrow – but already offers a glimpse of it.

Press here for Dutch

Monday, January 27, saw the kick-off of 'Heal the Healer,' a new project aimed at improving mental health in the music industry. Thanks to funding from Centre of Expertise Prevention in Health & Social Care, this project, which will last one year, can get underway. Led by Koos Zwaan, professor of Innovation in the Music Industry, a team of researchers, teachers, welfare professionals and professionals from the music industry is working on sustainable solutions to mental health challenges in this sector.

Great urgency
Working in the music industry is not only inspiring, it also comes with risks. According to international research, as many as 70% of those working in the industry struggle with mental health problems, ranging from burnout and anxiety disorders to depression. The cause? A combination of economic uncertainty, performance pressure and a work culture in which stress is often seen as inevitable.

Professor Koos Zwaan explains: “The music industry is a wonderful but also demanding environment. The fact that mental well-being is such a wide-ranging problem became clear to me when I drew up the for the pop sector. Different mental challenges were mentioned from each expertise. With Heal the Healer, we not only want to create awareness, but also develop practical tools and interventions to better support both students and workers. This project offers an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the sector.”

What does Heal the Healer entail?
Heal the Healer focuses on two main pillars:
 

1. Prevention: Increasing the mental resilience of individuals so they are more resilient to the challenges of the music industry.
2. Amplition: Improving working conditions by encouraging structural change in the industry.

These interventions are being developed in collaboration with students from three Inholland programs - Haarlem Conservatory of Music, Leisure & Events Management and Creative Business -  and together with mental health professionals and coaches. In addition, work field organizations, such as BAM! Popauteurs and Music Managers Forum NL (MMF), are actively involved in testing and implementing the solutions.
 

Kick-off: inspiration and collaboration
During the kick-off of Heal the Healer, all parties involved came together for the kick-off of the project. Besides exploring the objectives and research design, knowledge was shared. Professor of media studies Mark Deuze (UvA) was a guest and outlined the mental challenges within the creative sector. Inholland alumni Mandy Delaporte and Lucas Garnier shared insights from their thesis research on mental well-being in the dance and pop rock scene, respectively.

The ambition of Heal the Healer extends beyond the music industry. The knowledge and interventions gained can also be of value to other sectors within the cultural and creative industries.

The future of sustainability starts with yourself. The Expertise Network for Systemic Co-Design (ESC) is proud to present the ESC-IDG Hub. This platform, launched on 27 January, brings together professionals, researchers and students to develop skills and devise solutions for sustainability challenges. The hub can be accessed at www.esc-idghub.nl. In addition to a website, the hub includes a traveling exhibition that than can be visited in the Expo space at Inholland, Amsterdam until 6 February.
 

Starting point for innovation
The ESC-IDG Hub focuses on addressing societal transitions and sustainability challenges. The platform combines the development of individual skills and capabilities with systemic co-design, a method for tackling complex problems together in a structured creative way. Think of problems such as climate change, social inequality and the transition to a circular economy.

Many of us can feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of such challenges and don't know where to start taking action. This is why authentic leadership has an important place in the ESC-IDG Hub. IDG stands for the Inner Development Goals and emphasizes how personal growth contributes to achieving a sustainable society and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides a starting point: From being to acting.

Collaboration and personal development

The ESC-IDG Hub responds to the urgent need for development and focuses on three main objectives:

• Creating awareness among students and teachers about the importance of inner development in relation to societal transitions.
• Community-building: creating a network in which students and teachers can exchange experiences, exercises and tools, among other things.
• Integration into education: providing practical tools to integrate the IDGs into curricula and projects within higher education.

Jürg Thölke, professor of the Authentic Leadership research group and involved in the ESC-IDG Hub, explains, “At the core, you can only meet societal challenges through awareness of yourself and your place in the world. That the topic is sufficiently highlighted and normalised is essential. This hub is an important part of that and helps us think, develop and learn from each other. So that together we can realise more impact.”

Traveling exhibition as a place for connection
In addition to launching an online platform, where interested people can subscribe to the WhatsApp group to stay informed about the various activities, there is a physical exhibition. This interactive exhibition gives visitors a glimpse into the hub's projects and methodologies and aims. On the one hand, it acts as a research instrument to collect information from visitors for the further elaboration of educational interventions and on the other, to create a place for meeting and connecting.

Philippa Collin, researcher and project leader explains, “With this hub we want to strengthen connections and initiate a local ecosystem where education, research and practice meet. The exhibition plays an important role in this: it provides inspiration, invites visitors to think about their own contribution and helps them make the connection with their intrinsic motivation. Ultimately, we hope that everyone in education, students, teachers and staff, will see themselves playing a role in the challenging social transitions ahead.”

The exhibition can be visited in the Expo space of Inholland, Amsterdam until 6 February. After that, the exhibition will start a journey to visit other partners in the Expertise Network for Systemic Co-Design: Inholland Den Haag, Hogeschool Utrecht, Haagse Hogeschool and Hogeschool Rotterdam. The exact exhibition dates will be listed on the website.

 Want to know more about ESC-IDG Hub?
Powering something big starts from something small within yourself. Those who want their work to be meaningful and to explore their own potential to contribute to societal transitions can join the hub at www.esc-idghub.nl or for more information contact Philippa Collin at philippa.collin@inholland.nl.

“Fabricated is designed to give visitors insight into how digital technologies are affecting our society. Our goal is to make complex topics such as AI and misinformation understandable and tangible. With interactive games and experiences, the exhibition bridges the gap between abstract digital concepts and everyday reality. I hope that visitors to the exhibition will feel more confident and better equipped to participate in democracy,” said Susannah Montgomery, researcher at the Media, Technology & Society Research Group at ARC research center.

From the Netherlands to the United States
After touring the Netherlands and other European countries from May to July, fabricated was on view in September as the first exhibition in the Expo space during the opening of Inholland's new building on Pina Bauschplein in Amsterdam. After that, the exhibition was on view at prominent events such as the Society 5.0 Festival (Oct. 9-10) and DigiQuest (Nov. 21-22). In the meantime, fabricated took a three-week trip across the United States ahead of the presidential election. There it made stops such as The LOVE Building in Detroit (Oct. 21-24), The Ohio State University's Translational Data Analytics Institute (Oct. 29 to Nov. 5) and The STEAM Factory in Columbus (Nov. 8).

The exhibition also received rave reviews in the US: “From the moment I ‘met’ Alex, the AI news reader, I was sold. In our polarized society, we need more bridges like fabricated to help people better understand each other and their digital world,” said an American visitor.

Fabricated returns to Inholland Amsterdam
In the coming months, the research team will publish articles and reports on how residents of the United States and Europe understand important digital issues, such as misinformation, AI and content moderation. These insights, based on interviews and surveys conducted during the tour, provide a better picture of how societies deal with digital challenges.

Part of the exhibition will return to Inholland's Expo space in January as part of an exhibition on Digital Rights. With this, fabricated continues to contribute to the conversation about the role of technology in our society for the time being.

Listen to the interview with Susannah and Andy on Instagram during the exhibition of fabricated at The LOVE Building in Detroit.

Research group, living labs and expertise networks: the research center of the Creative Business faculty of Inholland University of Applied Sciences sits at the intersection of theory and practice. It is the place where research, education and practice come together. Recently, the research center received a new name: ARC. Applied Research x Creativity. What does that mean? What are living labs and research groups? And what can ARC mean for Creative Business teachers and students?

In the second episode of this podcast series, Roos Gerritsma, associate professor at the research center, lab-lead of the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab and PD candidate, and Koos Zwaan, professor of innovation in the music industry and lab-lead of the International Music Industry Lab, answer these questions.

If you have questions or want to know more about opportunities to work with the research center? Feel free to contact the professors directly or email Hilda Bakmaz.

It's finally here! Working closely together, the courses in our faculty have developed a common offering of elective education for our students. And we are offering this new offer for the first time this semester and we have got off to a good start. That is truly a milestone and we are really proud of it; all credits to all cooperating teachers and team leaders who managed to realize this.

One of the project leaders of the Creative Business elective education faculty is Fiona Verhoek (team leader of Communication and a.i. Facility Management courses); in the first episode of our new podcast series about developments within our faculty, she and Marvin Hooft (teacher and educational developer of the Creative Business course) talk about the path they have taken in this process. And of course Fiona and Marvin will let you hear what students (and colleagues) can expect from this new education! You can listen to the (NL) podcast via Apple or Spotify.

When developing the range of elective education, we took the wishes and needs of our professional fields and students as a starting point. Based on current trends and developments and the learning outcomes of the courses, we looked at a current offering that reflects both the identity of the individual courses and the commonality that we share. For example, in this first semester the new and updated minors such as 'Event Experience', 'Social Impact Design', 'Entrepreneurship' and 'Audiovisual production' will start. The offering will be further enriched and adapted in the coming years based on current events and needs from the professional field and students.

The new education enables students to work together across courses from their own discipline. And extra fun: more and more students from other colleges are choosing a minor in our faculty via Kies op Maat. This gives students even more opportunities to shape their own study careers. Follow a minor (in-depth and/or interdisciplinary) within our college, at another college or abroad; there are more and more possibilities. Beautiful of course, but it is not always easy for the student to see the forest for the trees.

And precisely because it's all about the student, we have paid extra attention to the student's wishes and to communication with the student. How does he get his information and when does he most want it? We spoke to many students and employees from all our courses and based on their input we developed a new communication approach in which we opt for clear and unambiguous terminology and for a crucial role of the primary care teacher! 

Want to know more?  Then check out the Powerpoint Communication Elective Education in which you will find the most important principles and a detailed student journey.  

And of course your team leader can tell you more about the new optional education and the communication about it to students. 

Roos Gerritsma and Donagh Horgan, lableads of the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, contributed to the newly released book Tourism Interventions: Making or Breaking Places. This book discusses ways to positively influence tourism. It provides students, researchers, and academics with new ideas on how to sustainably develop and manage tourism so that destinations can better withstand future challenges.

Roos and Donagh wrote Chapter 9 titled: ‘The Urban Leisure and Tourism Labs as Incubators for Sustainable Tourism Interventions: Sharing Insights from Educational Research Perspectives on Regenerative Placemaking in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.’ 

This chapter describes a case study in the Netherlands, where the first tourism living labs were established in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. These labs offer a unique environment for creating positive tourism interventions and involve a wide range of stakeholders. They encourage collaboration between the public, private, and community sectors, and view students as key partners. The chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities of the labs in their early years and showcases some of the most impactful ideas, such as the BMX-routes Zuidplein and the Inclusive Welcome Path. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, experimentation, and continuous feedback for successful urban tourism interventions.

Last week, representatives from training courses, knowledge center and staff from the Creative Business faculty location Diemen met during the 200 days session. They have been participating in the Activity Related Working pilot for this period. It is a methodology that fits perfectly with the new education of the courses and is also a good preparation for the way of working in our new school building in Amsterdam.

“Because that building is divided into rooms for all kinds of different activities; Through this pilot, employees and students have been able to get used to it and have gained valuable experiences that are being shared. With other courses in the domain, but also with the other domains that are moving to the Sluisbuurt," says project leader Myrthe Dortants.“During the entire academic year we organized sessions in which employees from the various courses, the knowledge center and the staff shared their experiences; with each other and with the Facility Affairs department. We identified bottlenecks and where possible we resolved them immediately. We also incorporated the experiences gained into the plans for the design of the new building.”

The last meeting (the 200 days session) took place last week. With this PowerPoint as a starting point, the participants talked to each other and discussed the developments in the pilot. The input collected in this way is used to further shape the design of the new building. You will find this input (in the form of post-its) as photos at the end of this article. If you want to view the flaps as a document, check the messages in our TEAMS environment. There you will also find all background to this pilot, including reports from previous sessions.

This 200-day meeting is the last in a series of sessions within this pilot. The pilot will continue until the end of the school year, but attention is increasingly shifting to the actual move and therefore to the new building.“And that really is a fantastic building!" according to Bas van Spréw. "As an employee, but certainly in my roles as branch director Amsterdam/Diemen and director of Creative Business, I am really looking forward to the move and am very excited to experience that new to move into the building!"

Would you like to know more about the new construction? Ask your questions via nieuwbouw.amsterdam@inholland.nl. This adress replaces the pilot-mailadress NieuweWerkomgeving.crb.diemen@inholland.nl.

We will keep you informed and thank you for your contributions!

Bas van Spréw, director faculty Creative Business and location Inholland Amsterdam/Diemen

Myrthe Dortants, projectlead  Activity Related Work CRB Diemen

Andy Sanchez, researcher at the Media, Technology & Society research group and the Sustainable Media Lab, has been awarded the SIDN Pioneer grant. He receives this €10,000 grant for the project 'Fabricated: Anti-Misinformation Games for the 2024 European Parliamentary Elections'. With this project, Sanchez aims to prepare European residents for the elections, teaching them how to recognise fake news and misinformation through interactive games. Follow updates about this project on their Instagram.

Digital Literacy
The Sustainable Media Lab explores the role of technology in society. With elections in the EU, US, India, and elsewhere, more people will vote in 2024 than any other year in human history. Concurrently, these voters are encountering political information online, in an environment increasingly driven by algorithms. Almost half of European residents lack basic digital skills. They may not be able to distinguish fake news from facts. This explains the urgent need for digital literacy and electoral resilience, so that users can make informed choices.

According to figures from the Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau, almost half of Dutch residents are concerned about misinformation online. In addition, deepfakes of Frans Timmermans, among other politicians, appeared in 2023 a day before the elections.Fabricated is an exhibition of games and will give residents a deeper understanding of their digital environment. It also helps them to critically engage with political (mis)information they encounter in the future.

Exhibition
This exhibition prepares voters for the elections and promotes digital literacy. You can visit the exhibition at the following locations:

• 5 May and 13-17 May: The Hague (Liberation Festival and city hall atrium)
• 20-24 May: Brussels (libraries and CPDP conference)
• 27-29 May: Berlin (re:publica 24 festival)
• 2-6 June: Amsterdam (libraries)

How do people from bi-cultural backgrounds view divorce and separation, and what information needs do they have in this situation? In what ways can the central government improve and expand its current range of information on this topic so that it better meets those information needs? Commissioned by the Department of Public and Communication (DPC) of the Ministry of General Affairs, the Research group Inclusion and the Creative Industries researched these questions in a design project, involving experts, people from bi-cultural backgrounds, self-help organizations and others. The goal of this design project was to gain more insight into the perspectives and information needs of people with a bi-cultural background when it comes to divorce and separation. And to come up with solutions that better support all those involved around divorce and separation.

The research team included project leader Ouafila Bejja-Essayah, Professor Joke Hermes and Mirthe van den Hee. Professor of Design Thinking Guido Stompff was also involved.

Saskia Soekhoe-Datadin, Strategic Advisor on Inclusion at the Department of Public and Communication (DPC) of the Ministry of General Affairs: "The design project yielded a wealth of insights about the different context of marrying, divorcing and separating and the perceptions about this among people from bi-cultural backgrounds. It also examined the influence of informal and formal helpers. The neutral role of the Inholland researchers during the co-creation session was crucial, among other things as a link between the system world of the government and the living world of those involved. The co-creation session also prevented unconscious assumptions from playing a role among creators of the information offered by the central government for people from bi-cultural backgrounds about divorce and separation."

Read more 

The Leisure & Tourism Lab (ULTL), with locations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, has been accepted as a member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). This makes them the first lab focused on tourism and leisure to be admitted to this network, a remarkable achievement! ENoLL is the international, non-profit, independent association of benchmarked Living Labs. Their objective is to foster the global development of Living Labs as open innovation ecosystems based on co-creation and cross border & cross-sectoral collaboration. In their assessment of the ULTL, ENoLL says: “ULTL shows a strong and inclusive governance model, engaging a wide range of stakeholders effectively. Also, a solid track record in running living lab projects, with a focus on urban leisure and tourism is presented and it demonstrates as well a clear interest in regional and international innovation. Their considerable experience in living lab operations is supported by compelling proof.

From the Creative Business Research Center, the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab was the first to apply for accreditation by ENoLL with the aim of gaining experience with membership of the network: what can we contribute to the network and how does it benefit us? With this experience, we can see if it could also make sense for the other labs within our faculty to apply for membership.

Peggy van Schijndel, managing director of the Creative Business Research Center: "I am proud of the colleagues and partners who, for years, have allowed these living labs to become beautiful places for learning and development, of the students who, year after year, demonstrate their valuable contributions, and of the unique blend of expertise that we as Creative Business Research Center bring to the research in these living labs: in the field of systemic co-design as well as regenerative placemaking and sustainable tourism. The issues are big and complex, and we feel the urgency to contribute to them though practice-based research every day. I am confident that membership of ENoLL is going to help us grow to the next stage!"

We are currently facing several crises that deal with the disturbed balance between humanity and the earth. To change this, no solutions are yet available and looking for them alone is insufficient to restore the balance. The process of how to get there will also have to change, with not only the interests of people at heart. Our relationship with nature must change.  But how do we do that?      

Symbiocene   
The term symbiocene was introduced by author and environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht¹. The term is derived from the word symbiosis, which in biology stands for the long-term coexistence of two or more organisms of different species. In the symbiocene, relationships and connection of all living things are central. Albrecht's premise is that all living things such as humans, animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, microorganisms, form an integrally connected whole. Man is not at the top of the pyramid, but is an equal part. That gives humans a more humble place. That helps to deal with climate issues differently.   

But what does it mean, living in the symbiocene?   

Summer Research School  
From June 28 to 30, 2023, the Summer research school Symbiocene took place on Zeeburger Island, a collaboration between the Inholland Sluislab and the Centre of Expertise for Creative Innovation (CoECI) initiated by An Kramer. An is a researcher at the Inholland Research group Design Thinking and also the linking pin between the Creative Business Research Center and CoECI. During the Summer research school, thirty participants examined together the question: What does the Symbiocene mean on the Zeeburger Island?   

Co-research   
Ten students from various programs, ten residents and ten researchers worked together in small diverse teams. Precisely the varied composition made that everyone's individuality was in demand. Where one person knew everything about edible plants, another knew about sound engineering, and a third person just had two right hands and could turn an idea into something tangible.  

No fixed goals, but results  
Precisely because of the open approach of the research question, the participants were able to choose their own fascination, such as protecting nature, or, on the contrary, speculatively seek how nature would make devices to communicate with us humans.   

Making and sharing art as a research outcome  
The assignment to the participants was not entirely open-ended. They were asked to work toward an experience circuit: a route across Zeeburger Island offering guests an experience, based on their researched fascination. In between, the teams shared their ideas and showed prototypes they made. The very act of making things together produced different end results.  

Documentary and book  
The search for symbiosis on Zeeburger Island has been recorded in a documentary and a booklet. For inspiration for everyone who, on a small or larger scale, is looking for ways to connect with nature in an essentially different way.  The documentary follows one of the teams. You see how they search together for what the symbiocene could mean and eventually arrive at a surprising idea and result. You also see the joint assignments, and the final experience circuit.  

In the booklet you will read the background of the concept of the symbiocene, and find the different results of the teams and the background of their search. In addition, you will get to know the participants through small nature portraits. 

Follow-up event - Make Place! 
There will be a follow-up to the Symbiocene Summer research school on Sunday 7 April, including a keynote by Glenn Albrecht, the founder of Symbiocene, live from Australia! More information about the programme will follow soon. You can already register via an.kramer@inholland.nl 

Pieter Breek, researcher at the Inclusion in the Creative Industries research group, and lab coordinator at the International Music Industry lab, has won an Emerald Literati Award for his paper titled "Street-level bureaucrats: tensions and challenges in online placemaking" , published in the Journal of Place Management and Development. The paper shows the influence of social media on placemaking: activities aimed at the physical and social environment of a neighborhood.

The article is part of Pieter Breek's thesis and is currently being reviewed by the PhD committee. In his thesis, he examines the notion that social media automatically contributes to inclusive and democratic placemaking with a critical eye. This thesis reveals the obstacles and tensions associated with social media, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, in conjunction with placemaking. It also provides valuable insights to professionals in the public domain for meaningful neighborhood development.

Read Pieter Breek's article on the impact of social media on placemaking.

According to Frank Radstake of ANVR, developing a new sustainability ambition for the travel sector is important and urgent: “There is a political and social reality that we as travel companies have to deal with such as the Paris Climate Agreement, the blending obligations for airlines in 2030 and the UNWTO Glasgow Declaration. In addition, there are also moral and ethical reasons why we will have to work on this. Above all, there is also an economic necessity; if we want to continue to have a 'license to operate' in the future, we will have to undergo a transformation to a sector where intrinsic sustainability, equality and inclusiveness are the norm.”

Read the entire news release here.

Wina Smeenk, Professor of Societal Impact Design, has published her new book The Co-design Canvas. The Co-Design Canvas is a proven, practical and user-friendly tool to start openly and transparently, plan, execute and evaluate collaborations around societal challenges with different stakeholders. Understanding and addressing these challenges is difficult because no single stakeholder or organization is solely responsible. Everything is interconnected and constantly changing, resulting in challenges being neglected and stakeholders being unable or unwilling to make important decisions.

“Co-design is inherently collaborative. To achieve societal impact, all stakeholders are needed. Only when all different perspectives are represented can you achieve meaningful design opportunities," says Wina Smeenk. "If we want ideas from socially engaged residents to take effect, it can only be done through good collaboration with other stakeholders.”

The Co-Design Canvas is a tool for governments, citizens, businesses, nonprofit organizations, knowledge institutions and other stakeholders to communicate and collaborate transparently. It clarifies and discusses differences in interests, knowledge, experience and power relations, dwells on desired positive impact and concrete results from the beginning, and ensures that everyone’s voice is truly heard.

The Canvas consists of eight cards about co-design decisions that can be placed together. "Together with the stakeholders you navigate through the cards flexibly”, Wina explains. "You can take different routes through the Canvas. Sometimes you have to backtrack. It's revisiting decisions and thinking ahead." But crucial above all is that everyone has a say, Wina believes. "If people can really bring in their interests and feel that their interests are served by the portfolio of collaborative projects, then you see people put their shoulders to it and give it all their enthusiasm. Then something beautiful is created."

The Co-Design Canvas is available through BIS publishers.

Book presentation

On Tuesday, October 10, the festive presentation of the book The Co-Design Canvas will take place at Pakhuis de Zwijger. You are cordially invited to attend.

WITH CONTRIBUTIONS OF
Agnes Willenborg, Claudia Mayer and Koen van Turnhout

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: 10 October 2023
Time: 19:00h - 21:30h
Location: Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179, Amsterdam

REGISTER
Tickets for this event are available free of charge through Pakhuis de Zwijger: https://dezwijger.nl/programma/the-co-design-canvas

On September 15 and 16, Guido Stompff, professor in Design Thinking, and Roos Gerritsma, associate professor in Societal Impact Design, were present at the SMARTDEST final conference in Barcelona, on behalf of the entire Inholland team that has been working on the Amsterdam case for this EU H2020 project for the past 3.5 years. Also on the team were our Creative Business Research Center colleagues Swen Waterreus, Ko Koens, Donagh Horgan and Ellen Bulthuis. 

On Friday, September 15, Roos presented the work that zooms in on insights gained around the unclear field of who all is (not) involved in developing new tourism policy. On the basis of almost 30 interviews with various stakeholders, it became evident that there is no clear picture about this and that this once again indicates the complexity of shaping such a policy. The obvious way to do this in the Netherlands is through participatory methods, but participants in such processes increasingly fail to see the point. ‘Cuckoo-clock participation’, in which a party comes to collect or bring information once, is not helpful either, but it is common. Congressmen from cities like Vienna, Lisbon, Naples and Barcelona recognized this. One of the questions we continue to ask from our Research Center is: how then? Can our Urban Leisure & Tourism Labs in Amsterdam and Rotterdam change this? Three policy makers from the City of Amsterdam also traveled with us; we will explore these questions with them in the coming years. 

On Saturday, Guido was the moderator of the public debate that was led by him around four central themes. Representatives from various backgrounds were invited, ranging from activists, scientists and journalists to the hotel industry, and managing director Maya Janssen participated from amsterdam&partners. Among other things, she explained that amsterdam&partners focuses on the common interest in helping to shape the city in which we want to live, work and recreate. These were fascinating conversations, during which we realized once again that the more southern countries seem to focus more explicitly on the political arena and the importance of the ‘urban commons’. These were fascinating conversations, once again realizing that the more southern countries seem to be focusing more explicitly on the political arena and the importance of the 'urban commons' (shared facilities in a city, such as infrastructure, hospitals, parks, etc.). 

European cities are changing rapidly and increasingly becoming a 'mobility hub' of a mix of temporary users (from expat to exchange student, from resident to tourist), with all the consequences that this entails. This phenomenon will also remain on the research agenda for colleagues in the New Urban Tourism research group in the coming years. 

In the coming weeks, all research data will be collected from all cities, you can find more information via this link: www.smartdest.eu

Even during the quiet summer months, the international media knew where to find professor New Urban Tourism Ko Koens. He was interviewed by The New York Times about the intention of the Amsterdam city council to no longer allow cruise ships to moor in the city center, at the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam right next to Central Station. This is to deal with the pollution and the large number of tourists brought by the more than one hundred cruise ships that visit Amsterdam every year.

And nonprofit online magazine Reasons to be Cheerful also wanted to hear Ko's views in an article about Barcelona's strategy to combat over tourism.

The New York Times: “Party time is over”
Ko Koens says in the article:

Reasons to be cheerful: “Barcelona’s bold strategy”

The article includes the following quotes from Ko:

The Hague, August 30, 2023 – The Sustainable Media Lab at Inholland University is bringing attention to the crucial topic of digital rights right in the heart of The Hague. The Digital Rights Expo, led by three student project groups, sheds light on the importance of safeguarding citizens' digital rights, particularly within The Hague's Morgenstond neighborhood.

Last semester, students dug into the impact of digital rights on the lives of Morgenstond residents through conversations and engagement. Building on these insights, the three student groups have created prototypes that each showcase a different aspect of digital rights. In collaboration with Digital Rights House, this initiative aims to increase awareness and open discussions about this important issue.

Event Details

Date: September 11th - 22nd
Location: The Hague City Hall, Atrium Spui
Admission: Free

For more details, read the full article about the Digital Rights Expo in The Hague city newspaper at Newspaper Link. If you can't make it to the exhibition in person, you can explore the digital version of the exhibition here: Digital Exhibition Link.

Susannah Montgomery, Deputy Director of the Sustainable Media Lab, explains the students' approach: "Our students come from different creative backgrounds within our institution. We challenged them to use their creativity to find playful, participatory, and portable ways to get every day citizens thinking about what a responsible digital society means. Their exhibits, from funny comics to touching true stories, thoughtfully explore how technology in our digital age affects the quality of peoples’ lives."

The Digital Rights Expo demonstrates the power of innovation and teamwork in sparking conversations about the significant impact of digital rights on our lives today. Ready to join the conversation? Stop by for an informal Q&A about the exhibition, featuring current and past students along with our partners at The Hague City Hall on Monday, September 18th, from 15:30 to 16:30.

This project is part of the larger Inholland Digital Rights Research initiative, co-founded by Professors Wina Smeenk, Ander de Keijzer, and Ben Wagner. To learn more about their research, visit Research Link.

The Expertise Network Systemic Co-design, the Systemic Design Association and Pakhuis de Zwijger are joining forces and organizing the Amsterdam hub of the RSD12 Symposium from October 10 to 12. RSD stands for Relating Systems and Design Thinking and is an annual conference where several ESC professors have presented before. Instead of having everyone fly to Georgetown, where RSD12 takes place, this year the conference has 12 hubs around the world. This will allow everyone to be inspired without flying long distances.

The overall theme of the RSD conference is "Emergence in Entanglement," and in Amsterdam we have a program full of examples, stories and research around the question of how to navigate systemic change and transitions. We explore four different societal challenges: the sustainable and circular society, the healthy and vital society, a safe and fair digital world and education in times of transition. Around each theme there will be keynotes, workshops and presentations, both plenary and in breakout sessions.

"We could not have done this conference on our own as Inholland. The strength of ESC lies in the fact that we can pick up and organize larger projects together" - Wina Smeenk

Program and tickets

Each part of the day is dedicated to a social transition, which we consider a system. You can find the program on the website of Pakhuis de Zwijger, which will be added to in the coming weeks. Tickets for the three-day conference can also be purchased through this webpage.

Evening program

On October 10 and 11 two book presentations will take place. Wina Smeenk will be presenting her book "The Co-Design Canvas" on the evening of Oct. 10 (in English) and Bas van den Berg presents his book "Regenerative Education in Times of Transition" on the evening of Oct. 11 (in Dutch).

More info and registration for book presentation Wina: https://dezwijger.nl/programma/the-co-design-canvas 

More info and registration for book presentation Bas: https://dezwijger.nl/programma/onderwijzen-in-transities

Keep an eye on our website and LinkedIn to stay informed about the program.

For questions, ideas or workshop suggestions, please contact Frank Evers at frank.evers@inholland.nl

Curious about what is happening within our faculty? In four new episodes of Creative Business on Tour, colleagues and students take you on a tour through our faculty. Some places and initiatives you may know, others will be completely new to you. Hopefully this video series will give you an overview and information, but above all: inspiration!

In this fourth and final episode, we zoom out and look at student welfare from the Inholland perspective. When you visit Rotterdam, we will introduce you to the student buddies of the Study Success Center, to one of the communities that Inholland now has and to researchers from the Study Success research group.

Meet Teun Kwakernaak (SSC buddy and Creative Business student), Melissa van de Laar (Tourism Management alumna and coördinator SSC Rotterdam), Lisa Klinkenberg (researcher Study Success research group), Dioröna Spaans (founder CAMBES community), Jinke Boersma (study coach + Leisure & Events Management Diemen) and Jiska de With (SSC buddy and student Social work).

More information about the Study Success Centers at Inholland can be found here. Would you like to know more about the Study Success research group? Then click here.

Watch all episodes?

Episode 1: Watch the flexible education episode

Episode 2: Watch the living labs episode

Episode 3: Watch the supporting processes and student participation episode

Episode 4: Watch the student welfare episode

This is the last episode of Creative Business on Tour. We hope not only to have informed you, but above all to have inspired you! We wish you good luck with the last weeks of the academic year. And for after that: a very nice summer!

At the beginning of June, we had the privilege to participate in the European Media Management Association (EMMA) Conference, held on the 8th and 9th of June at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. With CB cluster manager Jannerieke Hommenga and we (Natalia Berger and Susannah Montgomery) dove headfirst into the conference's theme: "Perspectives on Media Trust".

As media experts assembled from all corners of the globe, we engaged in vibrant discussions and debates, highlighting the profound transformation our media landscape is currently experiencing due to advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

One of the standout moments for us was our presentation on the "hot" topic, "ChatGPT in the News: Examining the socio-technological phenomenon of artificial creativity in Dutch media discourse," as part of the Innovation and Media Trust section. Our work generated a compelling dialogue that extended well beyond our presentation, marking a milestone in the discourse around AI and media. 

Our exploration of ChatGPT, an AI text-generating model developed by OpenAI, underscored AI's intricate and sometimes contentious role in society. The launch of ChatGPT in Dutch print media sparked a multifaceted discourse, oscillating between admiration for its high-quality outputs and anxieties about its broader societal impact. We highlighted the necessity for wider public engagement, a better understanding of AI capabilities, and a shift in our approach towards content production and media management. We also emphasized the urgency for enhanced regulatory frameworks, verification technologies, and informed, interdisciplinary discourse to navigate AI's transformative potential.

This presentation was linked to our greater needs analysis research for the MediaNumeric Erasmus+ project. This was also an opportunity to promote to our academic peers the upcoming MediaNumeric Academy: an online course to develop crucial data-driven skills in content, journalism and storytelling.

Distinguished speakers like Dr. Eli Noam from Columbia Business School and Professor Emeritus Robert Georges Picard, a senior research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, enriched the discussions, expanding our understanding of the rapidly evolving media economics.

The EMMA Conference, as always, served as a platform for enriching intellectual exchange, invaluable networking, and warm camaraderie. As the EMMA president, Dr. John Oliver from the University of Bournemouth, aptly noted, "EMMA is like a wedding: a lot of familiar faces, far nephews, uncles and aunts are here, and you are happy to see them all."

We eagerly anticipate the next conference, which will take place on our home turf at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands. It will provide an excellent opportunity to continue the discussions sparked in Pamplona and delve further into the transformative potential and challenges that AI technologies like ChatGPT present to our society. 

Are you interested in learning more about our research, participating in EMMA 2024, or how to become an early tester of our MediaNumeric Academy? Reach out to susannah.montgomery@inholland.nl or natalia.berger@inholland.nl for more details!

As a student you want to take control and choose your own learning path. But to be able to do that, optimal student-oriented services are indispensable. That is why in this new episode of Creative Business on Tour we take a look behind the scenes of flexible education. We show how the Creative Business faculty gives substance to student-oriented services. And how students themselves make an important contribution to student-oriented education…

Curious about what is happening within our faculty? In four new episodes of Creative Business on Tour, colleagues and students take you on a tour through our faculty. Some places and initiatives you may know, others will be completely new to you. Hopefully this video series will give you an overview and information, but above all: inspiration!

Until the summer we publish a video every two weeks. This third episode focuses on student-oriented services. In Diemen, together with process coordinator Cath Kauffmann, we look “under the hood” of the Creative Business faculty. We also see the student panel in action and hear how active student participation leads to a better experience and greater satisfaction; for students and teachers.

The student panel (NL and EN) consists of 15 students. Every study program and every location of our faculty is represented, but more students are always welcome. Do you want to participate as a student or do you know a student who would like to participate? Or are you looking for more information about the student panel within the CRB faculty? Please contact Ellen Duit.

Would you like to know more about the scheduling program? Then please contact Cath Kauffmann.

Want to see the first episodes of Creative Business on Tour? Please watch here episode 1 (flexible education) and episode 2 (living labs).

Curious about what is happening within our faculty? In four new episodes of Creative Business on Tour, colleagues and students take you on a tour through our faculty. Some places and initiatives you may know, others will be completely new to you. Hopefully this video series will give you an overview and information, but above all: inspiration!

Until the summer we publish a video every two weeks. In this second episode, we show you what studying in an living lab environment entails. What makes it “different” from studying in a “regular” educational environment? To let you experience this, we will visit the Sustainable Media Lab in The Hague. That lab is one of six (!) urban living labs within our faculty. In these labs, various stakeholders (education, research, professional field partners and other stakeholders) work together on social issues in the urban areas where our faculty educates students.

Episode 2 can be found below. We wish you a lot of viewing pleasure!

In the first episode we took you to Schiphol to experience how we work with flexible learning routes. Episode 3 focuses on the supporting processes and student participation. In the final episode, we check the state of student welfare.

Would you like to know more about the living labs within the Creative Business faculty? Then click here!

For all questions about the Sustainable Media Lab, please contact lab coordinator Irina Stoyanova.

Or look at the TEAMS environment of our faculty.

Curious about what is happening within our faculty? In four new episodes of Creative Business on Tour, colleagues and students take you on a tour through our faculty. Some places and initiatives you may know, others will be completely new to you. Hopefully this video series will give you an overview and information, but above all: inspiration!

We will publish a video every two weeks until the summer break. The first episode is all about the flexibilization of our education and we are taking you to Schiphol for that. Students, lecturers and workfield partners talk about their experiences with the renewed flexible education in years 3 and 4 in the Facility Management programme. This was developed together with our Communication programme and has now been running for over six months.

Episode 2 focuses on our living labs, episode 3 focuses on supporting processes and student participation. In the final episode we will check the state of student welfare. 

You can find episode 1 below. We wish you a lot of viewing pleasure!

Do you want to know more? Please contact Arsjaad Imami, manager Onderzoek & Onderwijs Facility Management and Business Innovation. Or visit the TEAMS environment of our faculty!

“It was incredibly beautiful to experience how students from different backgrounds started working together in a short time, as if they had known each other for years. By working together on a game that is interesting and challenging for their peers, a mutual bond quickly developed. This resulted in hilarious moments, for example when testing the game, but it mainly led to very educational moments”. Says Ine Hustinx-Schaekers, learning coach and co-creator.

Games for Goals (G4Gs), an international Erasmus Blended Intensive Program on “creating games to inspire students to work with the Sustainable Development Goals and Inner Development Goals”, took place from 17 to 21 April in Citylab Haarlem. Students, teachers, researchers and professional field partners from the Netherlands (Creative Business Living Labs Inholland), Lithuania (Creative Industries Faculty Vilnius Tech) and Belgium (3ID-LABS Artevelde) worked in mixed teams to develop a game that can be used at universities of applied sciences in the field of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In five days, the participants developed new insights for their game through Design Thinking, which was related to a theme such as sustainable energy, poverty reduction, mental health or gender equality. An important step was the realization of prototypes. It soon became clear what should be an important basis of most games: achieving a goal, with obstacles that prevent the goal from being achieved. For example, an Escape Room with zero obstacles turned out not to be a good game (students could just walk out the door and the goal was achieved within a minute)….

In the test phase, second-year Tourism Management students tested the prototypes and in the last two days the “classic” roles of student and teacher were reversed. After the game was first played by teachers as a prototype test, the students and teachers continued to co-create together as equal partners. And this is especially valuable for students, says Business Information Management student Fahd Zoubair; "I learned a lot from co-creating with teachers and with 'strangers'. And Britt Vlug, student of Creative Business Haarlem, adds that “it is very special to get to know new people from other countries and cultures in this way and to step out of your own comfort zone”.

The week ended with a game pitch by the students and a reflection exercise using a LEGO artwork per team. Together at the LEGO leads to interesting insights and beautiful metaphors. Let's hope the games launch soon, just like the co-built LEGO rocket! 

Knowing more? Then check Citylab Haarlem or the other Creative Business Labs

Colleague Babs Geerlings does research for her Master thesis Media Innovation on ChatGPT. We are faced with students that are already experimenting with ChatGPT in several ways to support their education. Therefore, she is interested in understanding what your attitude towards ChatGPT is as a colleague and to what extend you accept and use ChatGPT. Your participation will help further developments within Inholland.

The English version of the survey on ChatGPT in Inholland can be accessed via the link.

The survey takes about 10 minutes. 

Xedule, Inholland's new scheduling program, has now been used for about a year in most CRB study programmes. The implementation of the program required (and requires!) everyone's time and effort, but a lot has already been achieved together. And we should be proud of that! It is therefore high time to come together and reflect on the milestones, learn from each other and look ahead.

For example, on Wednesday 5 April, schedule makers, education planners, deployment planners, team leaders, functional managers and advisors from Xedule gathered in Diemen. We worked together during workshops and inspiration sessions. For example, we talked about short-cycle scheduling and other possibilities that the program can offer. It resulted in interesting conversations that will help us to create an optimal scheduling process with the end product: beautiful schedules and satisfied users. In that context, we will, for example, look at a better request for availability and an improved process for implementing corrections.

This Xedule day was organized by Cath Kauffmann of the Education Logistics Team CRB. What gave her the idea to organize this day? “The aim of this day was to inspire everyone how we can continue working with Xedule and scheduling. We are not there yet, but we can continue to work on clarifying the processes around scheduling from this Xedule day. And to be able to do this as uniformly as possible so that everyone knows where they stand. After all, we want to make it easier for all users. And provide a good schedule; for students and teachers”. And of course that also means that we regularly sit around the table with students who, as direct users, can help us very well in optimizing the timetable process, but also the timetable program!"

So on to the next Xedule day; more information will follow. Would you like to know more about Xedule within the CRB domain? Or about the Education Logistics team? Please contact Cath.Kaufmann@inholland.nl

During the last week of February 2023, the third and final group of international students took part in the MediaNumeric training course in Warsaw, Poland. The University of Social Sciences and Humanities was the gracious host for the exciting week focused on data-driven journalism, creative storytelling and fact-checking. We couldn’t let the week go by without sharing the insightful, educational, challenging, but most of all fun experiences of our students Didi Baas (CB Haarlem/Sustainable Media Lab) and Marvin Ikoroha (TOI Diemen) and our colleagues Susannah Montgomery and Natalia Berger.

The project MediaMumeric (leading lector Joke Hermes), which started about two years ago, offered its final in-person weeklong intensive training program where students learn all about (1) exploration of multimedia data, (2) storytelling with multimedia data, and (3) tracking and debunking misinformation. Approximately 50 students from University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS, host) the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA, France), and Inholland, applied to be a part of this program. Ultimately, 16 students from Poland and four from France and the Netherlands were selected for participation.

An experience to never forget
Didi Baas: “I am still feeling honored to have been able to participate in the program! It has been a great opportunity to learn more about the topics that I consider to be interesting and important. This week has been incredibly interesting and inspiring, filled with lectures, workshops and events held by professionals and lecturers from Poland, France and The Netherlands. The main topic and case study of the program was the War in Ukraine. A topic with such importance and relevance left an impression on me, and showed me once again how important fact-checking and critical thinking skills are. During the program I have met and worked with a variety of inspiring and motivated students from France, Poland, Ukraine and the US. All with different study backgrounds, talk about interdisciplinary co-creation!”

Intense but rewarding training program
Indeed, it was very interdisciplinary! Trainers with impressive experience and skills helped students to explore what data can offer to those who know how to use it. Over the course of the week, students learned how to scrape when you need specific information, understand what a spreadsheet is telling you, visualise your story, check facts, and how to confront the ethical dilemmas you will encounter while working with data. However, our goal is not to create data scientists, but provide students a realistic and inspiring idea of what data-driven possibilities are out there for telling great stories.

Case-study project
This edition of the MediaNumeric training program coincided with the one-year mark of the War in Ukraine. As such, the MediaNumeric team decided to allocate half of our training time to a case-study project where students used data to craft nuanced and persuasive stories about the many lasting effects of this war. Together with her colleagues Kuba Piwowar (SWPS), Ewa Korzeniowska (SWPS), and Jacqueline Pietsch (AFP), Susannah Mongomery assisted the students' teams in creating these data stories.

Susannah Montgomery: “This week of storytelling was especially moving for me. I still vividly remember one year ago being in the AFP news offices in Paris for MediaNumeric when we found out this war started. This week, our new cohort of students took their journalistic and storytelling responsibilities very seriously when weaving together data-driven stories about the toll this war has had within Ukraine and beyond. From debunking human trafficking trends to understanding citizen perspectives on the energy crisis caused by the war, students took a thoughtful an multiperspective approach to the data they used and the stories they presented to our jury at the end of the week.”

What’s Next for MediaNumeric?
Over the coming months, the MediaNumeric team will launch the MediaNumeric Academy, an online course to develop crucial data-driven skills in content, journalism and storytelling. Building upon the physical in-person training courses in Paris, The Hague, and Warsaw, Natalia Berger is in the lead of developing the curriculum for this comprehensive online course. The future of content creation is data-driven. The MediaNumeric Academy will equip students, young professionals or anyone interested in the field of data-driven journalism, creative storytelling and fact-checking with the necessary skills to thrive in our digital age.

You can watch for updates about this online course on our Instagram and our website. You can see here some pictures of the week in Warsaw.

Only two months ago we met at the faculty conference in the DeLaMar theater and together we looked for creative solutions for the world of tomorrow.

Of course, that day was not an isolated one. The program was build on our previous faculty vision Creative Future and on the starting points described in the Strategic Plan of Inholland University of Applied Sciences and of course in our brand new  Faculty Plan Creative Business 2023!

Together we interpreted the text from these documents in all sorts of ways. And together we also searched for images, just like we did in our Faculty Plan….

At the end of the day, all those images together resulted in a image board  (English version) that can help us with the further elaboration of our plans. This elaboration naturally takes place within your own study program, but also in the collaboration between study programs, partly facilitated by the staff units of our faculty. And also in the collaboration with programs from other faculties within  Inholland.

Soon you will receive an invitation to help building and of course you will hear more about the next steps. Do you already want to know more? Please do not hesitate to contact me or your manager!

Bas van Spréw, on behalf of the Creative Business Faculty Management Team

The students of the Sustainable Media Lab have made creative and experiential media products to help you understand how and why media can shape, nurture, and impede justice in our society.  The Sustainable Media Lab will be hosting the Community Day on Friday, January 13th from 14:00-17:00 in the Mauritszaal at Inholland The Hague. 

The projects of the Sustainable Media Lab were made possible thanks to partnerships with Sound & Vision The Hague, Municipality of and The Hague Humanity Hub.