Abstract
Social distancing has been a key strategy in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The practice of social distancing has reshaped co-production processes, which have typically been built on close interactions between people, often in physical encounters. In this chapter, an action research design is applied, describing four everyday examples from Sweden of how individuals and organizations handled the changes, and applying a theory of four interaction zones. The aim is to explore how the practice of social distancing has implications for consumer and participative co-production processes. The physical space in co-production is negotiated and alterations are made: cancellations, decreased interactions, increased physical distance, outdoor activities, and moving interaction online. The cases illustrate that human space is also negotiated in online interactions. Online co-production initiatives need to address the challenges of attendance, digital literacy, meeting designs, and sharing power in meetings. The future requires a broader mix of co-production activities.
TopIntroduction
In many cases, co-production processes are built on interactions with people in face-to-face encounters. As suggested by its name, co-production, means that least two or more individuals produce something together. The result is highly dependent on the quality and nature of their relationship. The co-production process is dependent on the individuals’ competences, communication, and levels of trust. Many of the co-production processes in the social and health field are also dependent on encounters in person. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the norms and rules for interactions with other people. Social distancing was a policy and a practice that required totally new ways of acting and behaving; it limited the frequency and closeness of physical contacts. This chapter has been written as the pandemic evolved and social distancing was applied, and aims to explore how the practice of social distancing has implications for consumer and participative co-production processes. The main research question is: How does social distancing alter and reshape co-production processes? The theory of human use of space is used as a theoretical tool to illustrate the consequences of distancing for physical and digital encounters.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social Distancing: The practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance such as 1.8 meters or more from other people and avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection.
Digital Literacy: The ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.
Participatory Co-Production: Focuses upon the intention to improve the quality of public services through participative processes at the strategic planning and design stage of the service production process.
Action Research: A democratic and participative orientation to knowledge creation. It brings together action and reflection, theory, and practice, in the pursuit of practical solutions to issues of pressing concern.
Consumer Co-Production: Focuses upon the engagement of the consumer at the operational stage of the service production process in order to balance their expectations and experience of the service.
Interactional Zones: The relative distances between people divided in in four distinct zones: intimate distance, personal distance, social distance, and public distance.
Proxemics: The study of spatial distances between individuals in different cultures and situations.