Chance + Choice + Change = Serendipity

Lennart Björneborn

a short suite of haiku & micro poetry

serendipity  
chances inviting choices  
inviting changes

even small changes  
can make a big difference — 
serendipity

stumbling upon stones
turned by serendipity 
into stepping stones

one of many doors
to new worlds just next to us —
freedom grasping life

serendipity  
taking a chance  
having a choice  
making a change

The Science

Serendipity happens when we encounter resources (information, things, people, etc.) we perceive as both interesting and unplanned, as defined here in my article. Serendipity deals with grasping affordances, that is, usage potentials, creating correspondence and resonance between environmental and personal factors. Serendipity thus plays a fundamental role in how we discover, explore, and learn, and are creative, in all fields of life; on a continuum from grand discoveries in science (like penicillin) to small curiosity insights and informal learnings we all make in everyday-life micro-serendipity. 

In line with my poem here on Chance + Choice + Change, I see serendipity as a control clash between perceived non-control (Chance) and perceived control (Choice), often leading to Change in our perceptions and directions in life. Serendipity leading to such changes in scientific knowledge as well as in our everyday life is the result of discovering and grasping so-called adjacent possibilities that are both available and new to us in a given situation. In the first-mentioned article above, an appendix contains many of my ‘serendipity haiku’ , often reflecting on different facets of Chance + Choice + Change, three essential components in serendipitous experiences.

The Poet

Lennart Björneborn, born in Sweden, is an Associate Professor Emeritus in Information Science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Vice Chair of the International Serendipity Researchers’ Network in The Serendipity Society. His research deals with how serendipity is stimulated in the interplay and resonance between people and their environments, whether physical or digital. Especially in libraries, museums, cities, social media, and recommender systems. Lennart likes writing haiku about nature, city life, philosophy, and the universe’s endless curiosity (planning his first haiku book this year). Also writing haiku and other micro poetry as arts-informed reflection tools in his research on serendipity. 

Next poem: Chickadee Ridge (for Nancy) by Patricia J. Franz