A fuzzy front end model for concurrent specification in new product development

This research reports on the development of a new model for an early design stage in new product development (NPD) programmes called the Fuzzy Front End (FFE). The new FFE model aims at overcoming two kinds of limitations identified in previous FFE models. The first limitation concerns current trends in FFE model improvement including the need for a data-driven model, and to address agile development, incremental and radical NPDs, balanced explicitness and responsiveness characteristics, and balanced procedural and performative structures. The second limitation concerns deficiencies in the performance structure and operating mechanism regarding contextual performance and concurrent collaboration. This means that performances in the FFE do not systematically link with each other, either in a single functional domain or multidimensionally across diverse functional domains, but instead exist independently. A pragmatic-prescriptive model has been functionally embodied by analysing real-world FFE scenarios using inductive reasoning. The model is data-driven with a performative structure wherein parameters can interlock for contextual performance and concurrent collaboration throughout the entire FFE process. With this interlocking structure, once an initial parameter is produced, all remaining parameters considered from both perspectives can be obtained successively. This model allows performers to explicitly understand the purpose and roles of parameters and their relationships from both perspectives when processing parameters. The model thus leads to more agile FFE execution by reducing the iterative work needed to correct defective parameters which have not been handled with contextual performance and concurrent collaboration in mind but instead exist independently. A theoretical-descriptive model, produced by validating the developed pragmatic-prescriptive model, using deductive reasoning, consists of mathematical formulas, providing the underlying concept of an overall FFE as well as that of its parts. Consequently, the pragmatic-prescriptive model can serve as functional performance guidance, while the theoretical-descriptive model can serve as conceptual performance guidance when employing the pragmatic-prescriptive model.Open Acces

Mosaic: Designing Online Creative Communities for Sharing Works-in-Progress

Online creative communities allow creators to share their work with a large audience, maximizing opportunities to showcase their work and connect with fans and peers. However, sharing in-progress work can be technically and socially challenging in environments designed for sharing completed pieces. We propose an online creative community where sharing process, rather than showcasing outcomes, is the main method of sharing creative work. Based on this, we present Mosaic---an online community where illustrators share work-in-progress snapshots showing how an artwork was completed from start to finish. In an online deployment and observational study, artists used Mosaic as a vehicle for reflecting on how they can improve their own creative process, developed a social norm of detailed feedback, and became less apprehensive of sharing early versions of artwork. Through Mosaic, we argue that communities oriented around sharing creative process can create a collaborative environment that is beneficial for creative growth

vManagement: Initial Exploration of Management Practice

For several years, the authors have maintained a simulation (sim) in Second LifeTM, with management responsibility for allocating sim resources across research and instructional projects, some of which involved working with residents. Although not originally anticipated to be a research site in management theory and practice, the project presented an unexpected pattern of difficulty and an unexpectedly rich case study to examine why and how the virtual environment generated norms of power and empowerment for which traditional management practice was not effective. We conducted a theoretical thematic analysis on a body of conversation transcripts, meeting agendas and minutes, email messages and other administrative documents, applying concepts from the literature on presence, copresence, embodiment and social capital, seeking to identify the sociocultural context and structural conditions that shaped meanings and experiences of participants in this project. This exploratory analysis suggests a need for development of management theory and practice based on norms of empowerment shaped by designer-user role hybridization – in short, vManagement

The conceptualisation, practice and value of Design Thinking in Entrepreneurship Education – an Educator’s Perspective

The thesis illustrates how entrepreneurship educators understand Design Thinking (conceptual understanding), how and on what level they apply it in their entrepreneurship teaching (educational practice) and why and for what perceived value they choose to do so (perceived value). By adopting a more critical and differentiated perspective on this integration than previously reported in the existing literature, this research study provides novel insights to the question of the conceptualization, practice and value of Design Thinking for Entrepreneurship Education – from an educator’s perspective. It follows an interpretive and qualitative approach, drawing upon semi-structured interviews from 29 entrepreneurship educators from Higher Education in the UK andNorthern Europe. Thus, the thesis demonstrates that entrepreneurship educators integrate Design Thinking in many ways and for different reasons.As a result, this thesis synthesises existing perspectives on Design Thinking (toolset, process, mindset) and defines a framework for the four forms (selective, idea-centric, procedural, holistic) of Design Thinking integration in the context of Entrepreneurship Education. The findings suggest that perceived values of Design Thinking could be explicit and implicit and that entrepreneurship educators integrate Design Thinking to provide value for their students’ learning but also to develop their own teaching practice. Overall, this study contributes to unfolding the Design Thinking concept and advocating a common ground among educators’ sense-making of a Design Thinking integration in Entrepreneurship Education. In conclusion, this study reaffirmed the wide application of Design Thinking within Entrepreneurship Education but presented the new centrality of the educator’s perspective at the core of the discussion on its utility and thus, moving towards convergence of a common understanding. The findings of this research would be of interest for entrepreneurshipeducators and entrepreneurship education researchers who seek a more profound and reflective integration of Design Thinking within Entrepreneurship Education

A survey of outlier detection methodologies

Outlier detection has been used for centuries to detect and, where appropriate, remove anomalous observations from data. Outliers arise due to mechanical faults, changes in system behaviour, fraudulent behaviour, human error, instrument error or simply through natural deviations in populations. Their detection can identify system faults and fraud before they escalate with potentially catastrophic consequences. It can identify errors and remove their contaminating effect on the data set and as such to purify the data for processing. The original outlier detection methods were arbitrary but now, principled and systematic techniques are used, drawn from the full gamut of Computer Science and Statistics. In this paper, we introduce a survey of contemporary techniques for outlier detection. We identify their respective motivations and distinguish their advantages and disadvantages in a comparative review

Translating Scientific Content into Accessible Formats with Visually Impaired Learners: Recommendations and a Decision Aid Based on Haptic Rules of Perception

Students with visual impairments (VI) miss out on science because of inaccessible visual graphics (such as pictures and diagrams) of the phenomena that are the focus of curricula. My project examines how efforts to translate these into non-visual representations, such as raised line graphics, tend to be less effective than expected because they are perceived using “rules” of haptic perception by VI learners but developed using “rules”' of visual perception by sighted designers. In response, I introduce my recommendations, in the form of a decision aid, informed by a series of interlinked concatenated studies consisting of user testing, workshops, and co-design sessions composed of multi-disciplinary teams that included VI educators, learners, inclusive designers, musicians, and domain experts from engineering and the cognitive neuroscience

What is strategic design?:An examination of new design activity in the public and civic sectors

Design is increasingly appearing in the public and civic sectors in strategic contexts, like policymaking. However, data and literature examining new design activity is limited. This research aims to address the gap in current theory by defining and critically assessing ‘strategic design’ so that it can be adequately framed, understood and analysed. While the research is an academic study, the questions it asks are rooted in practice and initial observations about shifts in design activity were made when the researcher began to collaborate with designers in 2015 on UK government policy development. In this research, new design activity is explored through a case study, survey and qualitative interviews with leading practitioners and commissioners. Throughout, insights from applied contexts are used to develop an argument about the definition, strengths and limitations of this work. The research finds that the pragmatic, constructive and participatory attributes of design activity have much to offer in situations of ever-intensifying complexity surrounding public and civic sector organisations. However, this new design activity is limited by both structural and ideological factors, such as an absence of sector infrastructure and comprehensive definitions. Questions of potential, maturity and ethics are also relevant to almost every aspect of design discussed in this research. Although there are clear concerns about whether current practice is equal to the situations presented in new environments, the research frames design as a powerful set of tools to improve responses to challenging social situations. Overall, the research argues that design activity in strategic contexts in the public and civic sectors has developed beyond isolated individuals and initiatives, to form a new - albeit nascent - body of practice which can now be seen as an emerging design sub-field. This new field is defined as ‘strategic design’: a creative problem-framing and problem-solving practice that relies on material and participatory ways of working and is actively focused on understanding, articulating and responding to strategic challenges

Common ground

This project explores the potentials for landscape architects to work with public leisure space to promote socio-spatial integration. In order to explore this topic, the project aims to propose a site approach for promoting sociospatial integration through cross-group interactions in public leisure space. Through a literature review, this project finds that cross-group interactions in public leisure space can be considered a powerful tool for increasing socio-spatial integration. The literature indicates that this process decreases social divide by strengthening mental bonds, sense of belonging and psychological well-being. Furthermore, several theoretical approaches for promoting cross-group interactions through the physical configuration of public space are found in the literature review. These findings are synthesized into a matrix of socio-spatial design principles (SDP), which functions as a theoretical framework for the Common Ground approach. Most knowledge found through the literature review on how public leisure space can promote socio-spatial integration were tangible enough to fit into the design principles of the SDP. However, some found theories also pertain to the process of producing space for socio-spatial integration. Based on this knowledge, a process-oriented step focusing on public participation and engaged action was created within the approach, called Participatory prototyping. In this step, prototypes in scale 1:1 of certain design elements are placed on site to create discussion, social engagement and a spatial understanding of the design proposal. In order to practically apply and synthesize different theories found in the literature review, the Common Ground approach was created within this project combining theory, analysis and public participation to read, understand and design public leisure spaces. The purpose of using the approach is to promote cross-group interactions and socio-spatial integration. The five steps of the Common Ground approach are: 1) Site portrait, 2) Socio-spatial site analysis, 3) Design, 4) Participatory prototyping, 5) Adaptions. This project evaluates the Common Ground approach by testing it in Ögårdsparken, Malmö. The SDP was used throughout the approach for reading and designing the site. For example, the socio-spatial site analyses in step 2 provided a social interpretation of the park's spatial configuration. The analyses were in line with descriptions about social use in the park given by park visitors and experts, indicating that the SDP was a productive tool for interpreting socio-spatial tendencies in public leisure space. Site users' reflections on how to promote cross-group interactions in the park strongly correlated with findings from the SDP, indicating that the matrix may have practical applications. Furthermore, Participatory prototyping in scale 1:1 proved an efficient way to create social engagement and cross-group interactions on site, in addition to gathering insights about the project. By synthesizing knowledge found through all steps of the approach, a final proposal for the park could be produced. The Common Ground approach was used to read, engage and design Ögårdsparken for socio-spatial integration. In addition to a all steps informing a design proposal for increased socio-spatial integration, performing the approach in Ögårdsparken resulted in knowledge about the site's socio-spatial qualities through applying the SDP and social engagment from many user groups through the method Participatory prototying. As such, this project finds the approach to be a productive way to promote socio-spatial integration and cross-group interactions on site. Future applications and adjustments to the approach may illuminate more ways to work towards this goal