Lego Serious Play (LSP) is a facilitation technique used in diverse settings. It has been widely adopted for use in business contexts to facilitate decision making and conflict resolution. We believe it is suitable for Open Scholarship because similar problem-solving and engagement can be used for research.
LSP is an example of ‘Play with Purpose’ that allows you to explore without fearing consequences. This method improves group problem solving while utilising visual, auditory, and kinesthetic skills – talk with your hands and listen with your eyes! We will demonstrate how this can be used in an Open Scholarship context, by asking participants to build problem statements.
LSP is a practical and innovative technique in which everyone has an equal voice. We have all been to meetings or training where a handful of people dominate the discussion. LSP provides a safe environment to explore challenges, explain concepts, brainstorm solutions and much more. LSP encourages creative and innovative thinking, sharing ideas and reflection.
Open Scholarship makes research more sustainable by enabling more efficient knowledge sharing; reducing wasted resources; improving equity; fostering collaboration and enabling efficient scientific progress towards sustainability goals. Additionally, we believe that Lego kits themselves are sustainable as they can be purchased once and used for decades.
As a group of librarians and data managers working in Open Scholarship in Ireland, we have crafted a workshop on LSP and Open Scholarship. We believe this is an innovative and practical development in Open Scholarship.
During the workshop, we will explain the concept of LSP and do some Lego icebreakers with the room before devolving to individual groups to build. Each participant will get a chance to explain their build, and we will all gain insights.
Hardy and Aisling started a group of like-minded Open Scholarship Librarians in 2021. This submission is on behalf of that group and will be presented by Aisling and Hardy, with help from Séan Harnett (ATU), Edie Davis (TCD), Armin Straube (UL), Sinéad Hanrahan (MTU) and Aoife Quinn Hegarty (UCD).