On Playfulness

I spent Saturday at a hackers camp. EMF, electromagnetic field, literally, a field ... in Milton Keynes. Being a lightweight, I did not pitch a tent and stay overnight, my mistake as I missed out on much of the fun. That is the keyword, fun. I toured the site on a souped up golf cart, learnt to pick a lock, stuck batteries and lanyards on the electronic badges, gave some thought to how to test a floating screen, admired blacksmithing and my friend's theatre makeup. I attended a few talks: geometric optimisation, launching high altitude balloons, 3-D printing of tissue, gender and computer science and more. I chatted with Ben 'Bad Science' Goldacre and assorted scientists, programmers, knitters and more.

What struck me more than anything else was the sheer playfulness of the event. From the 'data toilets' (wiring cabinets in portaloos) to the giant pacman and the cardboard yurt. All creativity, scientific, mathematical and certainly engineering needs playfulness to blossom. It needs improvisation and failure. It needs laughter and to not take itself too seriously. The most creative places I have worked have this playfulness. The most creative outcomes have an edge, a wit that suspends them between the significance of the goal and the enjoyment of creation.

Engineering education usually acknowledges seriousness of purpose and professional responsibility but all to often has denied the importance of playfulness. We need to concern ourselves with this, not simply because it makes learning easier but because it cuts to the essence of what we do in exploring ideas in design. Obviously, we cannot say 'now you will be playful' but rather we need to leave space, in curricula and in universities, for mess, disorder and things that do not quite work. We must tolerate the consequences. We need, in short, to lighten up. Playfulness cannot be a corporate undertaking but it is definitively a collective one.