Beyond any specific research questions we’re investigating, we engage in the research process based on a set of core values. We want to make these values explicit here, since they lead to a way of doing research that’s not quite traditional, but that we believe makes sense for Hive NYC. Beyond that, knowing that even the most well conceived plans may adjust and shift on the ground, having core values can act as a weathervane to ensure that we maintain the essential aspects of our approach.
Our core values in research are:
- Commitment – Engage in the research process as members of the Hive NYC community vested in the success of its mission and organizations.
- Openness – Conduct research in the open such that the nature of our activities are made transparent, accessible and responsive to network members and stakeholders.
- Utility – Create regular and actionable insights for network members and stakeholders such that research can be a formative value add for the network rather than solely a post-hoc reflection.
- Collaboration – Co-create strategies and insights through reflexive engagement with network members and facilitators so that these are grounded in the direct experience of practitioners.
- Accessibility – Be available to share expertise and resources in individual and collective contexts.
Our values come from a number of places. First and foremost is the intention with which the Hive Digital Media Learning Fund initiated this research initiative – to be in service of the Hive NYC network. We also draw inspiration from a number of contemporary research traditions – design-based research and participatory action research, both of which aim to collaborate and co-develop research processes and insights based on what practitioners actually articulate as challenges, and based on solutions they believe will work. Finally, we’re inspired by the “open ethos” of the Hive NYC network, and the Mozilla community more broadly, which advocates transparency, collaboration and working in the open.
Hive Research Lab 