43 research outputs found
Reimagining the future for retail and service design theory and practices
These proceedings were created by compiling the papers presented at the first colloquium of the Special Interest Group (SIG) Designing Retail & Service Futures from the Design Research Society (DRS). The SIG was established in 2021 under the guidance of the Design Research Society. The SIG strives to gain a better understanding of the value of design in the commercial sector, including disciplines, such as interior design, architecture, retail and hospitality, branding, marketing, strategic design, design management and consumer psychology. Design and its value have been a subject of study for many years and from many different disciplinary perspectives (ranging from product design to marketing, business economics, service design, management, environmental psychology, (interior)architecture, etc.). However, these perspectives have been developed in a fragmented way with discrete research methods and results that present limitations to practically applying these findings holistically across the inter-related fields of design, retail, and services.
Recent developments, that have been accelerated by the pandemic and the current economic crisis, show that in practice, services are becoming integral to retail and vice versa. The consumers’ needs and the dedication of retailers to serve these needs have sparked new approaches that unite both service and retail design. Whether it be online or offline (or both), for a product or a service or an experience, or all together… It is only natural that the research community support the development of this field through furthering insights. This colloquium focuses on bringing together various disciplines to contribute their related knowledge and insights with the objective of calibrating terms and meanings that strive for consensus across disciplines related to retail and service design. This is to work towards knowledge and practice-based contributions that strive for a more holistic and encompassing retail and service design future
Re-Designing Planning Policy Processes and Embedding Technology: The Case of Neighbourhood Planning
Ph. D. ThesisNeighbourhood planning provided citizens with new rights through the Localism Act 2011, empowering them to organise together to produce their own policy which would be adopted by local planning authorities. By December 2020, over 2700 communities had embarked on the neighbourhood planning process with just under 1000 plans adopted. However, challenges remain in the way neighbourhood planning is enacted by citizens with a complex process, uneven geographical take up and a lack of appropriate support for citizens. At a broader level, citizen participation in policymaking processes has shown a contested picture over many decades with calls for more and better participation whilst questions of the level of influence such participation has on decisions have been raised. Furthermore, the configuration of citizen participation has long been questioned, particularly in relation to the methods used to reach out to communities. Alongside this, research regarding digital technology for policymaking and citizen participation has increased but has yet to have an impact in practice.
In this research, I explore how digital and non-digital tools could be designed to better support citizens to shape places through the example of the neighbourhood planning policy process. I engaged with neighbourhood planning groups and planners to learn from their experiences, particularly centring citizens’ needs in considering the need for support in the citizen-led policy tool. Using an action research approach, I used a cycle of action and reflection to inform research design, enabling participants to help direct research through their own experiences. To understand how citizens enact the neighbourhood planning process and explore the use of digital tools, I engaged in an exploratory deployment of a participatory media technology, then moved to deliver interactive workshops to explore the neighbourhood planning process in-depth and co-designed new modes of digital and non-digital engagement.
Through this research, I first demonstrate the complexity of neighbourhood planning, exploring the nuances of the process from a citizens’ perspective and, second, I identify both opportunities and barriers to the use of digital modes of participation. Through identifying the issues within the neighbourhood planning process, I put forward approaches to designing better support mechanisms to enable citizens to shape places, including two key design principles, cross-disciplinary design thinking and inclusive design, which can ensure an inclusive and equitable approach to the design of policy and support tools. I demonstrate how these design principles should manifest within the neighbourhood planning context and provide recommendations for specific policy changes and the development of digital and non-digital support. Ultimately, I argue the need to design and embed digital and non-digital tools and technologies within a re-designed neighbourhood planning process to enable an appropriate, navigable and sustainable citizen-led policy tool where modes of participation can link directly to policy outcomes allowing citizens to shape places
Designing interactive technology for cross-cultural appreciation of intangible cultural heritage: Chinese traditional painting and puppetry
Ph. D. ThesisDigital heritage is becoming a significant component of cultural heritage, and cultural
organisations are increasingly using interactive technologies to showcase and safeguard
heritage assets. However, few studies focus on using interactive technology to enhance the
appreciation of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) amongst cross-cultural audiences.
This dissertation explores the design of interactive technologies to support the cultural
appreciation, learning, and experience of Chinese ICH. In addition, the research seeks to
explore the value of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design strategies in supporting the
appreciation of ICH. The research uses HCI design strategies to specifically explore how
interactive technology might be effectively utilised in two case-study contexts, supporting
traditional Chinese painting and traditional Chinese puppetry.
To this end, in stage one of the research, a qualitative study involving interviews, workshops,
and fieldwork for design was undertaken with potential cross-cultural audiences and both
Chinese and international painting and puppetry practitioners. Based on the results of these
studies, several suggestions were developed for safeguarding ICH across cultural boundaries.
In the next stage of the research, two interactive applications were designed and deployed that
supported cross-cultural audiences’ appreciation of traditional of ICH. One application
explored Chinese painting, the other Chinese puppetry. Using both qualitative and
quantitative methods, studies were conducted that examined the efficacy of both applications
and offered suggestions for a holistic approach to cross-cultural appreciation through the use
of interactive applications. The analysis focuses on the use of element-based archiving to
increase aesthetic appreciation, gestural/tangible interfaces for cultural engagement, and the
use of interactive access to inspire self-expression and collaborative appreciation.
Finally, this research relies on practical methods to deconstruct cultural elements from the
HCI perspective and enhance the cross-cultural appreciation of Chinese ICH. It thus provides
a framework for assisting non-Chinese people to better understand the cultural significance of
Chinese ICH. The findings have design implications for both HCI researchers and digital
heritage researchers
Book of short Abstracts of the 11th International Symposium on Digital Earth
The Booklet is a collection of accepted short abstracts of the ISDE11 Symposium
Adaptivity of 3D web content in web-based virtual museums : a quality of service and quality of experience perspective
The 3D Web emerged as an agglomeration of technologies that brought the third dimension to the World Wide Web. Its forms spanned from being systems with limited 3D capabilities to complete and complex Web-Based Virtual Worlds.
The advent of the 3D Web provided great opportunities to museums by giving them an innovative medium to disseminate collections' information and associated interpretations in the form of digital artefacts, and virtual reconstructions thus leading to a new revolutionary way in cultural heritage curation, preservation and dissemination thereby reaching a wider audience.
This audience consumes 3D Web material on a myriad of devices (mobile devices, tablets and personal computers) and network regimes (WiFi, 4G, 3G, etc.). Choreographing and presenting 3D Web components across all these heterogeneous platforms and network regimes present a significant challenge yet to overcome.
The challenge is to achieve a good user Quality of Experience (QoE) across all these platforms. This means that different levels of fidelity of media may be appropriate. Therefore, servers hosting those media types need to adapt to the capabilities of a wide range of networks and devices.
To achieve this, the research contributes the design and implementation of Hannibal, an adaptive QoS & QoE-aware engine that allows Web-Based Virtual Museums to deliver the best possible user experience across those platforms.
In order to ensure effective adaptivity of 3D content, this research furthers the understanding of the 3D web in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) through empirical investigations studying how 3D Web components perform and what are their bottlenecks and in terms of QoE studying the subjective perception of fidelity of 3D Digital Heritage artefacts. Results of these experiments lead to the design and implementation of Hannibal
Towards a National 3D Mapping Product for Great Britain
Knowing where something happens and where people are located can be critically important to understand issues ranging from climate change to road accidents, crime, schooling, transport and much more. To analyse these spatial problems, two-dimensional representations of the world, such as paper or digital maps, have traditionally been used. Geographic information systems (GIS) are the tools that enable capture, modelling, storage, retrieval, sharing, manipulation, analysis, and presentation of geographically referenced data. Three-dimensional geographic information (3D GI) is data that can represent real-world features as objects in 3D space. 3D GI offers additional functionality not possible in 2D, including analysing and querying volume, visibility, surface and sub-surface, and shadowing. This thesis contributes to the understanding of user requirements and other data related considerations in the production of 3D geographic information at a national level. The study promotes Ordnance Survey’s efforts in developing a 3D geographic product through: (1) identifying potential applications; (2) analysing existing 3D city modelling approaches; (3) eliciting and formalising user requirements; (4) developing metrics to describe the usefulness of 3D data and; (5) evaluating the commerciality of 3D GI. A review of current applications of 3D showed that visualisation dominated as the main use, allowing for better communication, and supporting decision-making processes. Reflecting this, an examination of existing 3D city models showed that, despite the varying modelling approaches, there was a general focus towards accurate and realistic geometric representation of the urban environment. Web-based questionnaires and semi-structured interviews revealed that while some applications (e.g. subsurface, photovoltaics, air and noise quality) lead the field with a high adoption of 3D, others were laggards due to organisational inertia (e.g. insurance, facilities management). Individuals expressed positive views on the use of 3D, but still struggled to justify the value and business case. Simple building geometry coupled with non-building thematic classes was perceived to be most useful by users. Several metrics were developed to quantify and compare the characteristics of thirty-three 3D datasets. Results showed that geometry-based metrics such as minimum feature length or Euler characteristic can be used to provide additional information as part of fitness-for-purpose evaluations. The metrics can also contribute to quality control during data production. An investigation into the commercial opportunities explored the economic value of 3D, the market size of 3D data in Great Britain, as well as proposed a number of opportunities within the wider business context of Ordnance Survey