Purpose

Helping participants map out their individual and collective knowledge landscape

Description

In interdisciplinary collaborations, scholars from diverse fields and backgrounds come together. To be able to work together, and find common ground, it’s necessary to get an understanding of where each scholar is coming from. 

Where some scholars are primarily grounded in one field or discipline, others draw from different fields and disciplines – hence the term knowledge landscape.

Instructions

Step 1: Individual Mapping

Invite participants to map out their individual  knowledge landscape on an A3 sheet of paper, using any form they like, and the following prompts:

• What are the key concerns or phenomena that you are studying?
• From which fields of knowledge or bodies of work do you draw in your work? 
• What disciplines have informed those bodies of work? 

Step 2: Collective Mapping

Invite participants to briefly share & explain their maps one by one. Do so by inviting participants to physically place their maps in space, closer or further away depending on affinity.

Take a moment to reflect on the collective knowledge map: notice where clusters emerge, but also notice which gaps emerge.

This activity can also be used as a starting point for forming groups of participants with diverse backgrounds. Mix people that are further removed from each other.

Phase

From the stage of getting to know each other onwards

Competence

Disciplinary Grounding

Time

30 – 40 minutes

Group size

2 – 20 persons

Required space & materials

• Floor space to place the knowledge landscape maps
• A3 paper
• Pens, pencils, markers

Related tools

This exercise can be combined with Interplanetary Travel

Relevant resources

This method was brought to us by Jonas Torrens

Repko & Szostak on interdisciplinary research

Tips & experience

Make sure no one feels left out