The Secret Chamber of Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Negotiating OutSmart! A Serious Game for Adolescents

Abstract

This report explores the challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration underpinning the participatory design of OutSmart! (forthc.) – a serious game developed for and with adolescents to reflect on their social media use. We scrutinize how the process can be organized to manage contradicting tensions between disciplines and methodologies. OutSmart! was the result of three years of research conducted by a social and cultural anthropologist, a cognitive scientist and a computer scientist. The research involved workshops, a survey, interviews and participant observation. The focus of the report lies on the workshops (including discussions and prototyping sessions) with Viennese high school students. First, we discuss interdisciplinary issues and learning processes within our interdisciplinary research team. Second, we present examples of our knowledge co-creation process with students leading to a further renegotiation of our research focus and methodology. These negotiations helped us to critically assess our underlying assumptions and to reflect on our positioning as researchers. At times, the playfulness of the game design approach pushed us beyond the comfort zones of our academic disciplines.