The development of conceptual models and frameworks to inform design for co‐design in mass customisation

As mass customisation (MC) grows in both popularity and accessibility, there is an increasing understanding of its practical implementation. Much of the current research in the field of MC is quantitative; driven by the business, engineering and management perspectives crucial in operationalising the process. The customer codesigner is acknowledged as an integral part of the MC product and purchasing process, yet the experience of the customer as a co‐designer remains relatively unexplored in the literature. This thesis stems from the design research disciplines and reports on an investigation of individual customer co‐design experiences. This research study posits that the experience of co‐design consists not only of the specific activities at the ‘product configurator’ (as commonly described in the literature), but instead that a co‐design experience comprises four distinct stages that encompass the entire purchasing experience from the beginning of co‐design activity through to the receipt of the customised product and beyond; these stages being ‘explore’, ‘engage’, ‘anticipate’ and ‘own’. A multi‐method research design is used comprising: literature review; immersive research techniques; customer journey mapping and design probes. From case studies of each customer codesign experience, relatable information and insights can be drawn that inform designing for co‐design. This doctoral study presents series of new relatable models and frameworks that surpass anything currently available in the literature. They conceptualise and visualise the customer co‐design experience, and inform design for co‐design. These reveal not only what is happening now, but also support proposals for what could or should be happening now. The product envelope model brings together the findings from both the MC and customer experience literature to place the solution space within its broader context, highlighting the importance of service and brand within an MC product offering. The customer corridor model characterises the stages and phases of a co‐design experience within the product envelope and choreographs the interplay between co‐designer and producer. The experience matrix provides a visual representation of the placement and duration of key touch points that occur across the customer corridor, and offers a systematic approach to considering the role of enduring touch points throughout a co‐design experience. In concluding this phase of the work, new opportunities have emerged that provide alternative approaches for understanding and designing for customer co‐design experiences

Library websites popularity: does Facebook really matter?

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the utilization of social media (Facebook) is an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library site usage in Malaysian public universities. Nine top ranked Malaysian public universities involved in this research and number of Facebook followers for each library website is listed. Alexa software was used as the approach to study the issue of visibility. Alexa is able to determine web site usage, by showing the percentage of visitors of library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for each University website (domain) over a month. It is found that Universiti Utara Malaysia library website scored the highest percentage of visitors based on the library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for the University website in Alexa. To check such irregularities in access, this paper use EvalAccess 2.0 and it is found that Universiti Sains Malaysia’s library website scored higher irregularities. In term of number of Facebook followers, Univesity of Malaya library has the highest score. It is showed that the utilization of social media (Facebook) is not yet an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library websites. However, expectedly, top ranked universities’ library web sites, are more visible and popular. This research is limited to the situation in Malaysia where public universities are more noticeable and seldom face financial constraints rather than private universities. It is highly important for those universities’ library web sites that are not highly visible to initiate the necessary measures in improving the development of their web sites as the usage of the website is an indicator of online quality

Practices of Comparing: Towards a New Understanding of a Fundamental Human Practice

Practices of comparing shape how we perceive, organize, and change the world. Supposedly innocent, practices of comparing play a decisive role in forming categories, boundaries, and hierarchies; but they can also give an impetus to question and change such structures. Like almost no other human practice, comparing pervades all social, political, economic, and cultural spheres. This volume outlines the program of a new research agenda that places comparative practices at the center of an interdisciplinary exploration. Its contributions combine case studies with overarching systematic considerations. They show what insights can be gained and which further questions arise when one makes a seemingly trivial practice - comparing - the subject of in-depth research