Let’s finally breathe a sigh of relief! The WMF is over and has left us with many insights to work on. Of course, we made ourselves recognizable: our summaries captured the lectures on the main stage and its participants.
In our pavilion, however, we tried to gather your expectations about the future. Some did not have clear ideas, but neither did we!
To help us in the task of “putting the pieces together” the knowledge wall, which took shape during the event, came to our rescue.
But what exactly is a knowledge wall?
A knowledge worker’s job! It is a “cut-out” space, a moment of pause from the frantic schedule (in our case from the crazy, alienated time of the fair), to generate, create, trigger a process of engagement. The starting point is a sentence or a question, which serves as a trigger for reflection and generates the participation of the reader.
Our question was: what’s your future challenge?
Someone reflected on their personal life, someone else on their work life; in any case, it was a way to unleash the creativity and motivation of those present. Many stopped to interact with our wall because we were promoting interactive dialogue and, most importantly, the opportunity to have fun while making it.
Although the starting point was clearly established, the outcomes that can come out of it were not. Sharing a part of oneself can lead to greater trust from the people involved, but not only that, friendships can also be born, precisely because of the sharing initiated by the wall!
The most exciting part of these creations lies in the relational aspect: a person can be inspired by nearby concepts and connect to what another has elaborated. One of the most beautiful scenes was shown us by a child, who saw himself as a video game developer in the future. The mother then combined her own dream with his: doing what she could to make it happen!
The results are “instinctive” collections of human, emotional data that would not be pulled out otherwise. A relationship is established between facilitators and participants, between participants themselves, between reflection and practice: you have to ask others (and ask yourself!) the right questions.
We created many walls. Some started with a key word and then expanded, becoming a group fresco of a mental process and of the suggestions of those who were with us. We were able to find solutions and, discovering different interpretations, put our view of the world back into perspective.
Or walls that would cascade directly from the discussion: confrontations are part of the experience itself and create a sense of community.
The uniqueness of these values is precisely in the human component, in the informative and, above all, relatable overview returned at the end of the activity: different questions, different outcomes!
In the context of the fair, we were not selling anything, but we were offering something essential and, maybe, overlooked: humanity in the middle of the machines. We went to WMF carrying our personal challenge and came out pondering our projects for the future as well, enriched with new ideas that we are excited to implement.
The wall was a way to collaborate, to bring different skills together and bring them on one blank canvas. It was not much different from scribing, although its focus was the real time of the event itself, of which it became a diary of spontaneous interactions.
This wall was special because it also talked a bit about us and we look forward to making many more!
