Healing Communities: PhD thesis

Overview
Title: Healing Communities. What if we collectively had the capacity to overcome any crisis in a matter of days? A method for teams of teams to: listen to each other, agree on priorities, put in commons resources, create few but essential and freely adaptable solutions.

Author: Fabio Balli

Supervisors


 * Marguerite Mendell, social economy
 * Warren Linds, arts-based participatory research
 * Satoshi Ikeda, political sociology
 * Philippe Caignon, experiential learning (chair)

Institution: Concordia University, Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, Canada

Programme: Individualised PhD in Social Science, a program "to promote innovative and creative approaches to issues that are outside the normal boundaries of investigation"

Methodology: creation-as-research, that is "the elaboration of projects where creation is required in order for research to emerge. [...] The ‘results’ produced also include the creative production that is entailed, as both a tracing-out and culminating expression of the research process. [...] Knowledge is produced as creative work, and not simply through their analysis and interpretation. It is in this sense that such creative work can be understood as a strong form of intervention, contributing to knowledge in a profoundly different way from the academic norm”.

Ethics: participatory action research ethics, that is the duty, as a privileged person, to generate value for the community.

Funding: Concordia University (C$ 67K), Quebec bursaries (25K) – see value accounting regarding project funding.

Accessibility: Many elements of research were published in open access, see below. Thesis to be published under a CC BY-SA licence in editable LaTeX format.



Thesis abstract

 * Pre-print abstract
 * 3-minute video (open archive)

Core of creation

 * Breathing Games
 * Website
 * Videos of co-creation
 * Repository of source codes and designs
 * Synthesis: Balli et al. Open-source games for health, multiplayer and gamepads. Co-creating fun care with children with asthma, young adults with cystic fibrosis, elders with COPD. General meeting of the Global Alliance against chronic Respiratory Diseases 2020-2021. Zenodo 2021.
 * Festival 'taking care together'
 * Website
 * Videos of co-creation
 * Synthesis: Balli. Preserving our health: a common heritage. Festival 'taking care together' 2022. Zenodo 2023.

Core of research
Book chapters Articles Other communications
 * Balli, Gingras. Cinq leviers pour révolutionner la recherche et l’enseignement supérieur. In Pérusse et al. L’université du XXIe siècle : enjeux, défis et prospectives. Acfas 2020.
 * Bousquet et al. Asthma in the digital world [CLOSED]. In Nadif. Asthma in the 21st Century. Elsevier 2023.
 * Wu et al. Mobile applications and wearables for chronic respiratory disease monitoring. In Gomez et al. Precision in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. Springer 2020.
 * Balli. Game jams to co-create respiratory health games prototypes as Participatory Research methodology. Forum: Qualitative Social Research 2018; 19(3).
 * Balli. Developing digital games to address airway clearance therapy in children with cystic fibrosis: Participatory design process. JMIR Serious Games 2018; 6(4).
 * Balli F. Quand l'autorité reconnaît la sagesse du groupe :  principes pédagogiques pour s’accorder et mettre en communs nos connaissances face aux défis de société [IN REVIEW].
 * Balli, Carpentier. Health and law-making: collectively re-creating narratives. In Haller, Soliev. Commons and Policy: Compilation of Inputs and Reflections – IASC Europe and CIS Colloquium Series 2022. Zenodo 2023.
 * Balli, Lebel. Éditorial : les savoirs en partage. Acfas Magazine 2019.
 * Balli, Roy. Collaborer et publier avec des logiciels libres. Acfas Magazine 2019.
 * Chelabi et al. Validation of a portable game controller to assess peak expiratory flow against conventional spirometry in children: Cross-sectional study. JMIR Serious Games 2020; 9(1).
 * Maheu-Cadotte et al. Effectiveness of serious games and impact of design elements on engagement and educational outcomes in healthcare professionals and students: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol. BMJ Open 2018; 8.
 * Silva-Lavigne et al. Acceptability of serious games in pediatric asthma education and self-management: a pilot study. JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting 2022; 5(2).
 * Valderrama et al. When thousands of citizens innovate: how policy-makers can contribute. Canadian Science Policy Center 2020.
 * Go to www.fabioballi.net/publications

Structure of defense, first version
Presentation of 20-30 minutes followed by questions of the examination committee and audience. Hybrid or in presence. Details.

Approach to research

 * origins: transdisciplinary, leading agile development
 * socio-constructivist, traceable reasoning
 * seven iterations, creation-as-research (vortex)
 * autobiographical narrative

Question
How can thousands of people put in commons their resources to achieve collective wealth? / What if we collectively had the capacity to overcome any crisis in a matter of days?

Practice of commoning

 * Breathing Games (SNSF tables)
 * Hackathons (table)
 * Emerging Change

Concept of commoning

 * definitions

Finding 1: Key elements for solidarity-driven ecosystems

 * listen to each other
 * agree on priorities
 * put in commons resources
 * create few but essential and freely adaptable solutions

Findings 3: Method

 * Method to tackle wicked problems within days

Practice of commoning

 * Makers (pres)
 * Open Village (brochure)

Acknlowedgements

 * Accessibility of thesis