Stakeholder Oriented Analysis for Information Intensive Applications: A Case Study

We present an approach to Requirements Elicitation based on AWARE, a goal oriented technique conceived for Web applications. The approach integrates a goal-oriented analysis of the needs of each stakeholder class with a subsequent phase of function-oriented analysis. Goal-oriented analysis facilitates an active participation of users and, therefore, can be considered as a substantial step towards user acceptance of the system. Our approach introduces the use of predefined diagrams of user’s needs and confirmation/disconfirmation interviews, that easies and fastens user interaction. The approach was tested on an Information Intensive Application, namely a collaborative document management system for a fast growing Management Consulting organization. The system will support both marketing activities and consulting work on the whole life cycle of consulting projects. In our case study the goal-oriented approach actually encouraged active participation of future users in the dynamic and unstructured environment typical to a Management Consulting organization. The active user participation helped analyst to maximize the potential value supplied to each professional and to minimize the future effort required to use the system. The consulting organization is currently implementing the system and decided to adopt the approach also for their customers

System Dynamics in Transition Management : Participative modeling for transitioning towards a circular construction material industry

Climate change and biodiversity degradation are only two of humanity's major social and environmental issues. Scientists, global policy experts, and the general public are increasingly concluding that traditional interventions to reduce un-sustainability are inadequate and that change in all sectors of society is needed. Change processes of societal innovations are complex, non-linear, and dynamic transitions, for which scientific research increased in recent years. However, the concept of transitions and the proper role of science in promoting change is still debated. In this dissertation, I am especially interested in using scientific methods to understand drivers and barriers of societal innovation, engaging with societal actors, and increasing the effectiveness of interventions. To test the adequacy of System Dynamics modeling as a tool to support transition management, I conduct a case study in the construction material industry in Switzerland. The construction material industry is a traditional industry sector that faces public pressure to change dominant practices towards more sustainability. Yet recycling activities stagnate, and the potential of secondary resources is not utilized. I use six participative modeling workshops with public policy experts and seven interviews with extraction, disposal, recycling companies to develop a quantitative simulation model. This simulation model allows for virtual experiments to accelerate the transition of Switzerland's mineral construction material industry towards a circular economy. In this simulation model, I explain how the dynamic interaction between public policy and industry actors complicates the management of natural resource stocks. The co-production of extraction and disposal policies emerges as the central structure that forms a barrier to a circular economy. These spatial planning policies increase the incentive for companies to extract resources to generate volume for waste disposal. The resulting oversupply of primary resources locks out the use of secondary resources. I suggest experimenting with cooperative spatial planning between urban resource consumers and the hinterlands as a resource supplier to overcome this barrier. This cooperative spatial planning format is a leverage point for the local utilization of secondary resources without increasing material transports between regions. Based on this case study, I discuss integrating system dynamics in applied research for sustainability transitions, providing an empirical perspective on the intersection of System Dynamics (SD) and Transition Management (TM). Beyond the empirical findings for the governance of the transition of the industry sector in the case study, I focus on the methodological contribution of SD for TM. The findings are twofold. Firstly, by documenting participants' mental models during the participative modeling workshops, I gain insights into their learning process. These insights are essential to understand common misperceptions about the governance of the industry sector. For example, identifying the informal policy of extending gravel licenses rather than foreclosing after the expiration of the licensed duration was a critical insight. Furthermore, the discussion surrounding this policy clarified the role of adaptive expectations for the uptake of secondary resources. If new licensing processes do not consider the potential of secondary resources, a structural oversupply of primary resources results. Secondly, SD modeling adds operational guidance to the identification of fields for governance experimentation. These fields for governance experimentation are presented as more than just policy recommendations. They intend to induce more systemic changes, e.g., move from local spatial planning towards interregional spatial planning concepts. The insight that such systemic changes are necessary results from a formal model that clarified the scale of the problem (e.g., interregional arbitrage inhibits local recycling initiatives) and scope for required solutions (interregional spatial planning instead of local policy adjustments). I conclude that SD adds to the orientation phase of TM processes by providing an operational toolbox to engage with policy-relevant actors in a learning process and point at fields for experimentation. However, I also identify that the formal SD perspective in parts inhibited more daring and radical propositions for experimentation. While some might argue this is a weakness, I respond that SD modeling provides feasible recommendations based on identifying leverage points for long-term change.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Making Leaders: Leadership Characteristics Of Makers And Engineers In The Maker Community

This study examines the emergence of leadership characteristics within a new organizational community of individuals: the Maker community. The Maker community is a group of individuals that classify themselves as “Makers” and have become innovators and entrepreneurs through the creation of technological gadgets, artistic projects, and other end products. Historically, so-called Tinkers were motivated to design and develop objects in their garages apart from other people with similar motivations. Drawing from Quinn’s Competing Values Framework, these Maker communities exemplify emergent leadership characteristics within collaboration frameworks. Forty critical incident interviews with Makers express the leadership characteristics of these individuals. Characteristics may differ from individual to another, but a general representation of the community as a whole can be made from observing sub-groups within the community. The results hold important implications for leadership growth, cross-cultural management, and the future for what has become an emerging organizational community. The growth of this community has implications for the field of engineering education and new project-based learning coursework. The emergence of the Maker community including maker spaces has also become relevant in this context and the future of how we education engineers

Empowerment and Participation: How could the wide range of social effects of participatory approaches be better elicited and compared?

Research and support approaches to development that involve the stakeholders are the subject of criticism, due to their overly superficial approach to social dynamics, and the difficulties they encounter when organizing sustainable change beyond a purely local scale. Their evaluators as well as the majority of practitioners reckon that the quality of their social outcomes depends mainly on the social and political context as well as on the human qualities of the moderators and local leaders. It then becomes difficult to justify the investment in an approach whose very practitioners recognize that the greater part of the conditions for its success lie in social factors over which they have little control. That is why it is important to develop a common framework for participatory approaches, taking into account their different understandings of stakeholders, objectives, forms and limits. This will lead to a more rigorous and pragmatic way to propose to development policies as well as research action proponents some clear and practical positioning of participation, face to the critical questionings. This paper propose thus a methodological avenue, tested with in several countries, to better elicit and manage the social constraints and objectives of a people centered approach

TIC para la inclusión. Proyecto investigativo sobre la voz del estudiante en España

ABSTRACT: This article is the result of a research project developed over 4 years (2011-15) in 13 schools in the region of Cantabria (Spain). In this research, students from different levels of education designed and implemented school improvement processes within a model of the student voice (SV) inspired by the pedagogy of participation and inclusion. This paper describes some of these experiences mediated by technology (photographs, 2.0 devices and video) in order to analyse what opportunities these devices offer as a means for contributing to a more participative and democratic school, where the stu¬dent voice is a tool for change.RESUMEN: Este artículo es el resultado de un proyecto investigativo de¬sarrollado durante 4 años (2011-15) en 13 escuelas de la re¬gión de Cantabria (España). En esta investigación, estudiantes de diferentes niveles de educación diseñaron e implementa¬ron procesos de mejoramiento escolar dentro de un modelo de Voz del Estudiante (VdE) inspirado en la pedagogía de la participación y la inclusión. Este artículo describe algunas de esas experiencias mediadas por la tecnología (fotografías, dis¬positivos 2.0 y vídeo) con el fin de analizar qué oportunidades ofrecen estos dispositivos como medio para contribuir a una escuela más democrática y participativa, donde la voz de los estudiantes es una herramienta para el cambio

Contextual Inquiry and Requirements Shaping

A primary purpose of traditional systems analysis is seen as ‘capture’ or ‘elicitation’ of user requirements, in order to produce specifications as a basis for information systems design. Such a view presupposes that user requirements are pre-existing and clear, and that the particular ‘users’ concerned know what they are, and can therefore articulate them. We would argue that none of these assumptions can be taken for granted. If a system is to be created which is useful to particular individuals, we suggest that they need to take ownership and control of the analysis themselves. By exploring their own experiences, aspirations and sense-making processes in the context of their problem space, they may enable richer and more comprehensive understandings to emerge. A creative process of requirements shaping may then be promoted. Our focus, therefore, moves away from problem description by an external analyst, towards contextual inquiry, which supports creative thinking and problem re-definition by those individuals most affected. We will discuss methods which may facilitate exploration of multiple, simultaneous and dynamic roles of the same autonomous individuals, separately and collectively. Such methods may enable emergence of reflective, shifting perspectives, leading to deepened understandings of problem experiences. This approach makes it possible for resolutions to be created that address experiences, rather than descriptions, of problems

Building relationships with remote participants through playful technology interactions in online codesign

“Hybrid is here to stay!” If that is so, then how we educate design students and the techniques they learn need to work in a technology-driven online environment as well as face-to-face on campus. Learning codesign typically involves students being in a design studio environment where they create activities using tangible materials, for use in workshops, giving participants hands-on experiences to gather useful design insights. The question is, how does codesign need to be adapted to be effective in an online environment? To identify those elements of codesign that work effectively online, we offer lessons learned from teaching codesign online during the lockdowns and the resulting isolation of academics and students imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This necessitated rapidly adapting on-campus codesign techniques to online versions using available technologies to engage remote participants in online participatory experiences. We describe codesign activities of design teams who created 24 unique online activities to explore designs for Welcoming Community onto Campus, trialling them in virtual workshops with the local community. Case study method was used to collect and analyse weekly student reflections and educator observations using thematic analysis and basic inductive coding. The unexpected finding is that online codesign activities need to remain tactile and include multisensory qualities. We argue that online codesign needs to focus on building relationships, engaging the senses, keeping it simple and allowing flexible timing. We identify the benefits, challenges and implications for online codesign and provide a checklist for designers wanting to prepare for a hybrid codesign future