A website supporting sensitive religious and cultural advance care planning (ACPTalk): Formative and summative evaluation

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) promotes conversations about future health care needs, enacted if a person is incapable of making decisions at end-of-life that may be communicated through written documentation such as advance care directives. To meet the needs of multicultural and multifaith populations in Australia, an advance care planning website, ACPTalk, was funded to support health professionals in conducting conversations within diverse religious and cultural populations. ACPTalk aimed to provide religion-specific advance care planning content and complement existing resources. Objective: The purpose of this paper was to utilize the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) framework to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of ACPTalk. Methods: The CIPP framework was used, which revolves around 4 aspects of evaluation: context, input, process, and product. Context: health professionals’ solutions for the website were determined through thematic analysis of exploratory key stakeholder interviews. Included religions were determined through an environmental scan, Australian population statistics, and documentary analysis of project steering committee meeting minutes. Input: Project implementation and challenges were examined through documentary analysis of project protocols and meeting minutes. Process: To ensure religion-specific content was accurate and appropriate, a website prototype was built with content review and functionality testing by representatives from religious and cultural organizations and other interested health care organizations who completed a Web-based survey. Product: Website analytics were used to report utilization, and stakeholder perceptions were captured through interviews and a website survey. Results: Context: A total of 16 key stakeholder health professional (7 general practitioners, 2 primary health nurses, and 7 palliative care nurses) interviews were analyzed. Website solutions included religious and cultural information, communication ideas, legal information, downloadable content, and Web-based accessibility. Christian and non-Christian faiths were to be included in the religion-specific content. Input: Difficulties gaining consensus on religion-specific content were overcome by further state and national religious organizations providing feedback. Process: A total of 37 content reviewers included representatives of religious and cultural organizations (n=29), health care (n=5), and community organizations (n=3). The majority strongly agree or agree that the content used appropriate language and tone (92%, 34/37), would support health professionals (89%, 33/37), and was accurate (83%, 24/29). Product: Resource usage within the first 9 months was 12,957 page views in 4260 sessions; majority were (83.45%, 3555/4260) from Australia. A total of 107 Australian-based users completed the website survey; most felt information was accurate (77.6%, 83/107), easy to understand (82.2%, 88/107), useful (86.0%, 92/107), and appropriate (86.0%, 92/107). A total of 20 nurses (general practice n=10, palliative care n=8, and both disciplines n=2) participated in stakeholder interviews. Qualitative findings indicated overall positivity in relation to accessibility, functionality, usefulness, design, and increased knowledge of advance care planning. Recommended improvements included shortened content, a comparable website for patients and families, and multilingual translations. Conclusions: The CIPP framework was effectively applied to evaluate the development and end product of an advance care planning website. Although overall findings were positive, further advance care planning website development should consider the recommendations derived from this study

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS IN APPLIED VISUAL ART THINKING

Belonging to the Contemporary art movement, Applied Visual Art is a new discipline being developed by the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland and Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences. It emphasizes on enhancing communal and environmental development within the local areas. The project-based framework of AVA reveals the close relationship between art and design. Thus, this research interest is based on the process- oriented characteristic of AVA project, then aims to establish a connection between the importance of a art process and a design journey. The main research method used is Art-based action research, in which art making processes are used to develop project and framework study and the key points to be study are community art, user participations and designers’ roles. The data collected throughout different cycles of action in this research are cultural dialogues, art-based discussions and documentations, designer’s notes and visualizations. In order to obtain the data, the main approaches used in the research are contextual research, participatory design, data analysis, documentation and evaluation. The research shows the influences of AVA’s process on adding values to the product's communication and interaction with users, thus, improving a product design journey. Moreover, it emphasizes the significance of a designer's role in an AVA project, while establishing more active directions for a designer/an art practitioner involved in project development processes. Even though there are challenges in the development work of an AVA project, such as cultural differences or objective misunderstandings, the framework proves to be sustainable in terms of themes, application and future developments. For later research and application of AVA thinking and process, the framework has the ability to grow as a tool for local communities’ development and can also be employed by designers to improve a design journey in terms of product contextual development and users research. The need for AVA framework learning and educating, thus, may increase and result in a more active and multidisciplinary working environment for artists and designers

Designing for sustainable behaviour in cross-cultural contexts: a design framework

This thesis investigates the influence that cultural differences have in the designing of products and services that encourage sustainable lifestyles. This was researched through a case study of dishwashing practices in Mexico and the UK, and the development of a methodological framework for supporting designers working in cross-cultural contexts. Designers can shift user behaviour to be more responsible, and by doing this, reduce a product s impact on the use phase of its lifecycle. Nevertheless, designing products that successfully drive behaviour towards a more sustainable path can only be accomplished if they are conceived to fit the user and the specific context of interaction. In order to do so, designers must truly understand the users, and take into account the complex web of factors that lay behind individual behaviour. A comprehensive review of the literature established an understanding of human behaviour and the emergence and evolution of practices and routines. This brought to light the diverse behavioural patterns in different contexts; and was further investigated with a scoping study in two different locations (Mexico and the UK), exploring general water consuming practices in the home, specifically manual dishwashing practices. The preliminary findings shaped a study that aimed to deepen the understanding of these practices in the selected sites, involving the use of Cultural Probes and videoing people in their common kitchen environment. A robust and clear image of washing-up practices emerged with rich and detailed data presented in different media, ideal to be implemented in a design process. To this end, a series of multicultural Personas were created as the direct outcome of the Cultural Probes and the scoping study, giving way to the design studies phase of the project, carried out with industrial design students in Mexico and the UK. A design brief for sustainable washing up practices was delivered. Design experiments were used to provide interesting evidence of the influence in the design process of the designers understanding of the target user. The findings indicate that designers benefit from exploration and creativity tools tailored directly from the user-research findings in the early design process. This increases the level of empathy towards the user, particularly making it easier to design for users with different needs and contexts than the designers themselves. It also helps designers to better apply design for sustainable behaviour framework to their concept designs

Designing for mod development: user creativity as product development strategy on the firm-hosted 3D software platform

The thesis is designed to improve our understanding of user participation in Web-based development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry. It aims to investigate whether the creative capacities of users and their contributions to the online firm-hosted 3D platform are indicative of a novel configuration of production that influences the processes of product development across firm boundaries. The thesis mobilizes the user participation literature developing in media research as its main theoretical framework. It builds on insights derived from work on user participation in media sites as seen through a cultural lens, in particular, as developed in Henry Jenkins' notions of 'participatory' and 'convergence culture'. The user participation literature is supported by a combination of insights drawn from work on communities of practice and user-centred innovation so as to offer a more robust approach to examine and appreciate the firm-hosted 3D platform as a site of user participation. More specifically, the conceptual framework for the study provides a basis for an examination of the ways a software developer finn encourages user participation in a market and of how this enables and facilitâtes particular modes of user creativity. These are shown to shape and maintain a firm-hosted platform that aids product development efforts that are expected to benefit the developer fimi. An empirical study of the platform, Second Life, provides the basis for the analysis of finn-user interactions which are shown to underpin a distinctive finn leaming process in the context of product development that occurs across permeable fimi boundaries. The thesis yields insight into the way a developer firm invites its user base to partner with it in product development, indicating how aspects of user participation associated with non-market dynamics are embedded in commercial activity and professionalism. The pivotal role of users is revealed in the design, development and sustainability of a firm-hosted 3D product. The findings point to interesting relationships between the distinctive creative capacities of users and the range of capabilities afforded by the firm-provided design space. Variations in user participation and contributions to product development suggest that particular patterns of learning opportunities occur. The analysis yields several new concepts including a 'modification effect market' which are used to extend existing conceptualizations of user participation in digitai development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry

Design for impact (D4i): a framework for teaching sustainability in engineering design

Sustainability has become an integrative part of engineering education since it is not possible to discuss sustainable development without also talking about innovation capability. Political and environmental frameworks request for a drastic change in the industrial landscape and also in the way design is carried out. This paradigm change forces new approaches to education that align with the prospects of the industry and also embed considerations related to the Triple Bottom Line (i.e. economic, ecological, socio-cultural elements). Addressing the complexity of sustainability requires innovative practices for teaching and learning, leading to new methodologies that aim to develop the broad sets of competencies required from the students. In Engineering Design, theories and methods related to sustainability have been mainly focused on the Design for X elements, material circularity, and product lifecycle leaving behind the importance of contextualized knowledge of regulations, or human-related aspects that motivates the students to tackle these challenges. Therefore, this study proposes a holistic approach that encompasses a broader understanding of what educators can exploit for capacitating future engineers in sustainability-related complex problemsolving. The framework highlights three main areas to be considered when teaching sustainability for Design Engineers: i) Context & Resources, ii) Human factors & Competencies, and iii) The D4i design process. A simplified version of this framework in class as a lecture-workshop format are presented and discussed along with multiple directions for future research

Global product development : a framework for organizational diagnosis

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-128).The main purpose of this thesis is to present an approach for analyzing product development organizations in a globalizing world. The fragmentation and distribution of several product development activities in the global market have generated a variety of strategies. In addition, an increasing visibility of the influence of cultural diversity in these strategies and an intensified sensitivity to sustainability issues motivate this research. Retaking the questions of which is the best strategy for product development organizations to succeed and, even further, which is the measure of success for these organizations are also part of the motivation behind the research. The methodology followed for constructing the socio-technical framework presented in this document mainly consisted of gathering, analyzing, and integrating existing literature and frameworks from systems engineering, social, and management studies. Utilizing a macro-framework with three spectra -space, time, and context- the framework allows the decomposition of the product development system into three levels, identifying the key stakeholders and roles within the system. The framework includes four different angles -structural, human resources, political, and symbolic- from which a product development organization can be diagnosed. Also, the knowledge of predictable reflexive human responses is presented as a means for stabilizing an organization. In parallel, the study includes an exploratory approach for finding a robust way of measuring a product development organization. Finally, an intervention strategy is proposed as an outcome of both the research process and the framework presented. An automotive product development organization was selected for testing the applicability of the framework.by Víctor Takahiro Endo Martínez.S.M

Qi2He: A co-design framework inspired by eastern epistemology

The rapid development of rural societies mixed with the infrastructural transformation of emerging economies bring both challenges and opportunities to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design as illustrated through the emergence of the field of HCI for Development (HCI4D). A key challenge for HCI4D is how local knowledge, expertise, and culture can be constructively combined with global trends in digital innovation and socioeconomic development. Co-design and participatory design practices in HCI offer opportunities to engage diverse communities in design activities which embrace both transition and tradition in constructive ways. We present our co-design framework, Qi2He, which supports designers and local communities engaging in co-design activities. Qi2He is inspired by traditional Chinese epistemology and contributes (i) methods to support cross-cultural co- design engagement, and (ii) post-hoc critique of co-design participation. We illustrate the use of Qi2He through three case studies of HCI design over four years in rural China where local culture and traditions are in a state of flux from waves of migration to cities whilst also being an integral part of the broader national and global transformation. The first case study examines how local rural knowledge can be shared and acquired to create a design system for ethnic brocade production. The second case study explores how the creation of an interactive drama can be used as a driver for rural community engagement. The third case study focusses on the iterative design of cross-cultural interactive product innovation. We conclude by reflecting on lessons we learnt when structuring and restructuring our co-design process and offer suggestions for how our Qi2He framework could be used by others and in different cultural settings

Enterprise analysis of factors contributing to technical change

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-93).Engineering change management (ECM) is an essential but challenging cross-functional discipline within modern product development firms. ECM is best explained as a discipline because no single process can characterize the complex interactions between stakeholders, processes, information systems, knowledge management practices and cultural factors that enable the control of technical design change. One major challenge to product development projects is gaining actionable a priori insight into the risk of technical design change in order to allocate resources to mitigate specific risks. This thesis employs systems thinking skills to identify and analyze corresponding a priori factors within a product development firm that designs large complex systems. A case study framework provides qualitative ECM analysis from an enterprise perspective with supporting empirical stakeholder interview data. Furthermore, the research design employs more than 7,000 design defects from three large system development programs to experiment with data-mining models for classifying and predicting technical defects. This research reveals some ECM risk factors and corresponding enterprise policies in the context of process, information, and stakeholder interactions. This study also offers both executable and conceptual quantitative defect models that are appropriate for proactive risk mitigation within specific ECM processes. Ultimately, this holistic analysis provides policy recommendations for the selected enterprise, and identifies factors that have general implications for contemporary industry.by Matthew T. Knight.S.M.in Engineering and Managemen

Beneath the Surface: A Culturally Informed Approach to Regenerative Water Resource Management in Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti

A growing movement in the design fields toward humanitarian and socially conscious work expressed itself in the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010. However, humanitarian work begets skepticism. Four to five decades of foreign aid have not lifted the country out of its impoverished state. Common critique emphasizes the importance of cultural appropriateness, but this is difficult to achieve at a time when much help must come from abroad. Cultural anthropologists are experts in the study of cultural appropriateness. It is this discipline, and its methods, to which designers should turn for lessons on appropriateness. Landscape architects are in a unique position to help resolve friction between human industries and limited natural resources in Haiti. Being a “jack-of-all-trades,” a landscape architect is accustomed to borrowing methods from diverse disciplines and should, therefore, be capable of implementing anthropological tools. In this thesis I explore the benefits of incorporating participant observation into the design process as a method to create cultural appropriateness. Water resource management in Haiti is inherently linked to economic and social conditions, including poverty, community health, and education. Projects seeking to solve natural resources issues have achieved limited success because they have not addressed such interrelated issues. An integrated approach to water resources serves as an opportunity to test out the effectiveness of using participant observation to promote appropriate design because it allows the researcher to address a wide range of issues. This design consists of a system that addresses water resources and critical related issues through both material and cultural means. The product of the thesis can be considered a framework integrating physical water resources development as well as personal and communal development in the areas of health, education, and collective pride. The design of this system uses a multi-functional rainwater harvesting system to build collective agency and empowerment by its distribution and development through an annual academic competition. The design will improve the long-term water security of the Fond-des-Blancs region and beyond, in turn improving the capacity for rural Haiti to participate in the much-needed decentralization of the country

Integrating lean principles in automotive product development : breaking down barriers in culture and process

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design & Management Program, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-111).Lean principles have been applied throughout the manufacturing industry with noted success although the process of integrating them into the entire enterprise has been complex and slow. Certain areas of the automotive industry, specifically product development, require a deeper study of its readiness to transition to lean. This thesis analyzes the product development enterprise at a large North American based auto manufacturer with respect to cultural and procedural inhibitors to becoming lean. The traditional lean principles and historical advancements in lean techniques are presented along with a description of the area studied. The scope of analysis focuses on three major phases in product development; the early concept phase, the middle core design phase and the launch phase. Recently, there has been difficulty in translating the lean principles into the product development environment. In this study, unique product development definitions of the lean principles are required and used to develop a framework for analysis. Inhibitors or barriers were discovered through interviews, observations, documentation and experience, each causing significant amounts of waste (muda). By understanding how these inhibitors affect the product development lean principles, the course of transitioning to lean can be illuminated. The system effects of the barriers and inhibitors are also described using system dynamics. Finally, conclusions are developed in order to guide the company in its quest to become lean in product development and throughout the entire enterprise.by Laura A. Garza.S.M