Applying a Taxonomic Framework to understand Co-Creation as an Approach to Information Systems Development

Our paper investigates how co-creation as an information systems development (ISD) approach is performed. Our empirical practice study of co-creation for and with youths involved in developing a digital game on a social media platform in a not-for-profit environment contributes to broadening the perspective on ISD and co-creation research. We apply an established taxonomy of co-creation and demonstrate how the taxonomy can be used as a framework to understand what co-creation is, how, when and where it can be performed as an instance of ISD practice. As a result we demonstrate the value and the shortcomings of the taxonomy

Disregarding History: Contemporary IS Contexts and Participatory Design

User participation has long been seen as a core topic of study within the IS field, yet its relevance to contemporary development environments and contexts has recently been brought into question. The aim of this article is to investigate the extent to which this rich history and experience is used to inform contemporary practices. We provide a survey that evaluates the degree to which PD (participatory design) is currently represented in the IS literature, the results of which reveal a low representation. Based on these findings, a number of propositions are offered

Integrando conhecimentos, aproximando disciplinas: a importância do Design e da Ergonomia no projeto e no desenvolvimento de softwares educacionais

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar à comunidade que desenvolve softwareseducacionais algumas técnicas e princípios ergonômicos e de design, que têm aimportante função de integrar os conhecimentos dos diversos membros da equipe e dosusuários. É sustentado que o papel do design não se resume à especificação gráfica doscomponentes da interface, da mesma forma que a Ergonomia não se resume ao empregode checklists. Desta forma, será feito um panorama de técnicas e procedimentos,organizados em relação ao momento indicado ao uso: projeto, implementação eavaliação

The Impact of User Involvement on Information System Projects

Information systems (IS) development has been studied from many perspectives. Information systems are being viewed as a service as the economy shifts from being industrial-based to service-based. This shift is motivating the business user to become more involved with the development of the system. The once clear roles of user-as-specifier and IT professional-as-developer are blurring. This research addresses three objectives. First, we survey the actual business users themselves for their perception of activities and satisfaction with the completed system. Second, we analyze the separation of business requirements into two constructs representing the functional and presentation dimensions of these requirements to advance our understanding of user involvement on information system projects. Third, we explore the combinations of user characteristics and their activities that can improve IS project performance. A new comprehensive model is proposed to represent the business user as an active participant in system development. A survey instrument is developed from a widespread literature review of IS project performance, user involvement and project management. The instrument was tested to ensure its ease of completion and its comprehensibility. The revised instrument was sent to 3,419 U.S. business users in multiple industries from which 205 valid surveys were received. Structural Equation Modeling was used to validate the measurements and analyze the hypotheses and the overall model. The results confirm some previous findings and document new discoveries regarding the users, their activities and the impact on user satisfactio

The Impact of User Involvement on Information System Projects

Information systems (IS) development has been studied from many perspectives. Information systems are being viewed as a service as the economy shifts from being industrial-based to service-based. This shift is motivating the business user to become more involved with the development of the system. The once clear roles of user-as-specifier and IT professional-as-developer are blurring. This research addresses three objectives. First, we survey the actual business users themselves for their perception of activities and satisfaction with the completed system. Second, we analyze the separation of business requirements into two constructs representing the functional and presentation dimensions of these requirements to advance our understanding of user involvement on information system projects. Third, we explore the combinations of user characteristics and their activities that can improve IS project performance. A new comprehensive model is proposed to represent the business user as an active participant in system development. A survey instrument is developed from a widespread literature review of IS project performance, user involvement and project management. The instrument was tested to ensure its ease of completion and its comprehensibility. The revised instrument was sent to 3,419 U.S. business users in multiple industries from which 205 valid surveys were received. Structural Equation Modeling was used to validate the measurements and analyze the hypotheses and the overall model. The results confirm some previous findings and document new discoveries regarding the users, their activities and the impact on user satisfactio

The Impact of User Involvement on Information System Projects

Information systems (IS) development has been studied from many perspectives. Information systems are being viewed as a service as the economy shifts from being industrial-based to service-based. This shift is motivating the business user to become more involved with the development of the system. The once clear roles of user-as-specifier and IT professional-as-developer are blurring. This research addresses three objectives. First, we survey the actual business users themselves for their perception of activities and satisfaction with the completed system. Second, we analyze the separation of business requirements into two constructs representing the functional and presentation dimensions of these requirements to advance our understanding of user involvement on information system projects. Third, we explore the combinations of user characteristics and their activities that can improve IS project performance. A new comprehensive model is proposed to represent the business user as an active participant in system development. A survey instrument is developed from a widespread literature review of IS project performance, user involvement and project management. The instrument was tested to ensure its ease of completion and its comprehensibility. The revised instrument was sent to 3,419 U.S. business users in multiple industries from which 205 valid surveys were received. Structural Equation Modeling was used to validate the measurements and analyze the hypotheses and the overall model. The results confirm some previous findings and document new discoveries regarding the users, their activities and the impact on user satisfactio

A framework to elicit user requirements for information systems: a localised participatory approach from Southern Africa

The “What” and “Why” in information system development in resource restricted environments is already well covered in literature. However, the “How” to do it still has not been explored. This thesis reports on the development of a locally flavoured participatory user requirements elicitation framework for the development of information systems in resource restricted environments. It uses existing participatory design practices, user requirements elicitation literature and local participatory norms and traditions to achieve this. In doing so, it takes a step towards the way information systems could be developed in resource restricted environments. The topic of this thesis is mainly motivated by the recent calls in existing literature for developing countries to start developing their own information systems in order to address their own requirements. Accordingly, and to lay a foundation towards the realisation of this goal, this research is positioned within the user requirements elicitation region of information systems development. Current user requirements elicitation methods use traditional methods where experts/designers ask system users questions through interviews or learn about their environment through observations. This research proposes a shift from this approach to one that not only views users as equal partners in the elicitation process but in the whole information systems development process. This is in the spirit of participatory design, which was developed in Scandinavia more than four decades ago. Further, recent research in participatory design emphasises the importance of its contextual nature and concedes that there is no single best practice for participatory design in information systems that applies to all contexts. This research explores the information systems development discourse in resource restricted environments in Africa. Its purpose is to enhance understanding of the local contexts, thus providing new insights on how to develop a framework that speaks to local challenges using norms and traditions in order to develop information systems that address local requirements. Thus, the main contribution of this research lies in laying a foundation for a locally flavoured participatory approach for information systems development in resource restricted environments. It contributes to the existing information systems development, participatory design and user requirements elicitation body of knowledge by developing a framework for participatory user requirements elicitation. In addition, it contributes to the participatory design body of knowledge by introducing an age-old African participatory decisionmaking approach to the academic participatory design community. In doing so, it adopts the meaning of participation from an African value system point of view, which is something that has only been previously explored in the Nordic countries and North America. Finally, recommendations for the application, limitations and avenues for further research are incorporated into the findings of this research

Developing locally relevant applications for rural South Afica: a telemedicine example

Within developing countries, there is a digital divide between rural and urban areas. In order to overcome this division, we need to provide locally relevant Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services to these areas. Traditional software development methodologies are not suitable for developing software for rural and underserviced areas because they cannot take into account the unique requirements and complexities of such areas. We set out to find the most appropriate way to engineer suitable software applications for rural communities. We developed a methodological framework for creating software applications for a rural community. We critically examined the restrictions that current South African telecommunications legislation places on software development for underserviced areas. Our socially aware computing framework for creating software applications uses principles from Action Research and Participatory Design as well as best practice guidelines; it helps us address all issues affecting the project success. The validity of our framework was demonstrated by using it to create Multi-modal Telemedicine Intercommunicator (MuTI). MuTI is a prototype system for remote health consultation for a rural community. It allowed for synchronous and asynchronous communications between a clinic in one village and a hospital in the neighbouring village, nearly 20 kilometers away, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) combined with a store and forward approach for communication. MuTI was tested over a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) network for several months. Our socially aware framework proved to be appropriate for developing locally relevant applications for rural areas in South Africa. We found that MuTI was an improvement on the previous telemedicine solution in the target community. Using the approach also led to several insights into best practice for ICT development projects. We also found that VoIP and WiFi are relevant technologies for rural regions and that further telecommunication liberalisation in South Africa is required in order to spur technological developments in rural and underserviced areas

Une proposition de modèle de design pédagogique dans un processus de co-conception d'un jeu sérieux par des apprenants-concepteurs

Depuis les années 1990, on a souvent critiqué et questionné notamment à l’époque du edutainment et du CBT (Computer-based training), l’intégration des jeux sur ordinateur dans les situations d’apprentissage sans apporter d’études concluantes sur le sujet (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005; p.265). L’émergence des environnements d’apprentissage constructivistes, des approches pédagogiques constructivistes centrées sur les apprenants et des modèles de design pédagogique a tout de même facilité leur intégration des jeux éducatifs dans les écoles. Mais la venue d’une troisième génération de jeux éducatifs, fondée sur le socioconstructivisme et le constructiviste, a relancé le débat de cette intégration d’environnements d’apprentissage complexes en système ouvert (Squire, 2008). En d’autres mots, le développement de jeu sérieux à partir d’un outil de création favorise un « apprentissage par le design » (Kafai, 2005) tout en faisant émerger une nouvelle forme de « pensée design » ou design thinking où les apprenants deviennent des « créateurs de connaissances » (Perkins, 1991) Ce mémoire analyse les conditions préalables au design et développement lors de la mise en œuvre d’un modèle de design pédagogique où les apprenants eux-mêmes interviennent en tant qu’apprentis-concepteurs, cela afin de créer un jeu sérieux. Mots-clés : Apprentissage par le design, co-conception, processus de design pédagogique, modèle de design pédagogique, système, jeu sérieux.Since the 90s, integrating computer-based educational gaming into the learning process has been amply studied and criticized for not producing conclusive evidence, especially within the context of edutainment and CBT (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005; p.265). Nonetheless, the emergence of constructivist learning environments, constructivist- centered learning approaches and instructional design models are providing new ways for integration of educational game in classrooms. A third generation of educational gaming initiated by socio-constructivists and constructivism has provided complex open system learning environments. In others words, the development of serious gaming assisted by various authoring software is providing what has been termed learning through design or learning by design (Kafai, 2005) but it is also bringing about a new form of design thinking by students who are increasing being seen as knowledge creators (Perkins, 1991). This thesis analyses the requisite design and development conditions prior to the implementation of a user-based design model. Keywords: Learning through design, co-conception, instructional design and model, serious games