Measuring the generative power of an organisational routine with design theories: the case of design thinking in a large firm

International audienceThis article studies how a large firm uses Design Thinking (DT) as a core process in specific design and development team whose mission is to bridge the gap between unidentified market needs and business units research & development effort. We analyse two cases where new concepts were developed and promoted to business units for implementation by following DT methodology. Our study shows that the DT routine reveals some generative power to explore the user perspective, yet it appears uncontrolled when it comes to generate a wider variety of ideas and knowledge challenging the design ecosystem ontology omitted and made invariant through user-focus hence it faces difficulties to engage with stakeholders and other organisational routines for an enhanced creativity and organisational change

Prototyping in Business Model Innovation: Exploring the Role of Design Thinking in Business Model Development

This study proposes a theoretical framework for business model prototyping (BMP), one in which design thinking is applied as a means of facilitating business model innovation (BMI). The value of design-led approaches in the development/management of innovation have received increasing recognition in the past decade, as the concept of design thinking (e.g., Brown, 2008; Martin, 2009) has gained broader application and credibility. In parallel, the concept of BMI has been discussed increasingly in research on innovation, as business models have garnered enhanced acknowledgement as a fundamental aspect in innovation management (Schneider & Spieth, 2013). Although experimentation for BMI is argued to be of importance (e.g., Chesbrough, 2010), the ways in which design thinking might inform prototyping of BMI is less articulated. Thus, the research provides a framework for prototyping business models in the process of BMI, and a first theoretical foundation for the subject. The framework is developed by combination of insights from a thoroughgoing literature review with expert interviews, multiple institution-level case studies, and a series of validation interviews. The literature review articulates the concept of prototyping in BMI and covers three topics in-depth: innovation, business models and design thinking. Expert interviews capture the perceptions and orientations of practitioners, and case studies explore various contexts of business model development in social enterprise, university division, governmental organisation and private company. The validation interviews use feedback from industrial experts to aid and revise the framework and combining theoretical and practical perspectives. On the basis of integrated findings, the thesis contributes to knowledge in three ways. First, it aims to bridge design methodology research and innovation management 3 research by articulating prototyping in design with business model innovation. Second, it proposes a theoretical framework for business model prototyping that incorporates four dimensions — purpose, process, context and engagement. This framework provides a theoretical foundation for further research in the area. Third, the thesis reframes prototyping not as a method or a tool but as a methodology (i.e., a conceptual framework and mode of thinking) that supports the management of business model development and innovation

Evaluating human-centered approaches for geovisualization

Working with two small group of domain experts I evaluate human-centered approaches to application development which are applicable to geovisualization, following an ISO13407 taxonomy that covers context of use, eliciting requirements, and design. These approaches include field studies and contextual analysis of subjects' context; establishing requirements using a template, via a lecture to communicate geovisualization to subjects and by communicating subjects' context to geovisualization experts with a scenario; autoethnography to understand the geovisualization design process; wireframe, paper and digital interactive prototyping with alternative protocols; and a decision making process for prioritising application improvement. I find that the acquisition and use of real user data is key; that a template approach and teaching subjects about visualization tools and interactions both fail to elicit useful requirements for a visualization application. Consulting geovisualization experts with a scenario of user context and samples of user data does yield suggestions for tools and interactions of use to a visualization designer. The complex and composite natures of both visualization and human-centered domains, incorporating learning from both domains, with user context, makes design challenging. Wireframe, paper and digital interactive prototypes mediate between the user and visualization domains successfully, eliciting exploratory behaviour and suggestions to improve prototypes. Paper prototypes are particularly successful at eliciting suggestions and especially novel visualization improvements. Decision-making techniques prove useful for prioritising different possible improvements, although domain subjects select data-related features over more novel alternative and rank these more inconsistently. The research concludes that understanding subject context of use and data is important and occurs throughout the process of engagement with domain experts, and that standard requirements elicitation techniques are unsuccessful for geovisualization. Engagement with subjects at an early stage with simple prototypes incorporating real subject data and moving to successively more complex prototypes holds the best promise for creating successful geovisualization applications

Artistic prototypes : from laboratory practices to curatorial strategies

PhDMy thesis introduces new kinds of understandings of artistic practice taking place in laboratories and engaging with the design, production and critique of technological artefacts. The recent spread of artworks based on physical computing widened and enhanced the role of prototyping in the making of new media art. Indeed prototyping can be now considered as a medium in its own right. My point of departure was an investigation of artists working in academic labs, which led me to question the relationship between research and aesthetic production. My initial argument was that the research process is having a specific impact on art practice, with artefacts understood at least by their makers as incomplete and expecting further manipulation. These artworks are open to transformation and collaborative intervention and refuse any form of material or conceptual black-boxing. The notion of artistic prototypes emerges to enrich the vocabulary to comprehend, evaluate and curate the outcomes of these practices. By analysing a range of artworks that could be conceptualised as prototypical, I soon realised that artistic prototypes are often created for activist purposes too, as a way to critique current behaviours and attitudes and to demonstrate that alternative ones are possible. A major contribution of the thesis is a theoretical framework that outlines the behaviour of artistic prototypes. Openness and fictionality are introduced as key features and it is explained how they support both activism and research. The thesis also provides a contingent aesthetics of prototyping addressing both practitioners’ choices and public reception. A further contribution comprises a number of curatorial projects that develop or respond to the framework. The latter can have an impact on creative practitioners, and on curators and heritage professionals, to the point of deeply affecting established principles of conservation and interpretation

DHRS 2009 Proceedings of the Ninth Danish Human-Computer Interaction Research Symposium.

Since 2001 the annual Danish Human-Computer Interaction Research Symposium has been a platform for networking, and provided an opportunity to get an overview across the various parts of the Danish HCI research scene. This years symposium was held in Aarhus, Denmark on December 14, 200

Pervasive Personal Information Spaces

Each user’s electronic information-interaction uniquely matches their information behaviour, activities and work context. In the ubiquitous computing environment, this information-interaction and the underlying personal information is distributed across multiple personal devices. This thesis investigates the idea of Pervasive Personal Information Spaces for improving ubiquitous personal information-interaction. Pervasive Personal Information Spaces integrate information distributed across multiple personal devices to support anytime-anywhere access to an individual’s information. This information is then visualised through context-based, flexible views that are personalised through user activities, diverse annotations and spontaneous information associations. The Spaces model embodies the characteristics of Pervasive Personal Information Spaces, which emphasise integration of the user’s information space, automation and communication, and flexible views. The model forms the basis for InfoMesh, an example implementation developed for desktops, laptops and PDAs. The design of the system was supported by a tool developed during the research called activity snaps that captures realistic user activity information for aiding the design and evaluation of interactive systems. User evaluation of InfoMesh elicited a positive response from participants for the ideas underlying Pervasive Personal Information Spaces, especially for carrying out work naturally and visualising, interpreting and retrieving information according to personalised contexts, associations and annotations. The user studies supported the research hypothesis, revealing that context-based flexible views may indeed provide better contextual, ubiquitous access and visualisation of information than current-day systems

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Legal Design Perspectives : Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field

This publication and its release in gold open access has been made possible thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module grant 599987-EPP-1-2018-1-BE-EPPJMO-MODULE for the course “European IT Law by Design”. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Publisher PD