Design Ltd.: Renovated Myths for the Development of Socially Embedded Technologies

This paper argues that traditional and mainstream mythologies, which have been continually told within the Information Technology domain among designers and advocators of conceptual modelling since the 1960s in different fields of computing sciences, could now be renovated or substituted in the mould of more recent discourses about performativity, complexity and end-user creativity that have been constructed across different fields in the meanwhile. In the paper, it is submitted that these discourses could motivate IT professionals in undertaking alternative approaches toward the co-construction of socio-technical systems, i.e., social settings where humans cooperate to reach common goals by means of mediating computational tools. The authors advocate further discussion about and consolidation of some concepts in design research, design practice and more generally Information Technology (IT) development, like those of: task-artifact entanglement, universatility (sic) of End-User Development (EUD) environments, bricolant/bricoleur end-user, logic of bricolage, maieuta-designers (sic), and laissez-faire method to socio-technical construction. Points backing these and similar concepts are made to promote further discussion on the need to rethink the main assumptions underlying IT design and development some fifty years later the coming of age of software and modern IT in the organizational domain.Comment: This is the peer-unreviewed of a manuscript that is to appear in D. Randall, K. Schmidt, & V. Wulf (Eds.), Designing Socially Embedded Technologies: A European Challenge (2013, forthcoming) with the title "Building Socially Embedded Technologies: Implications on Design" within an EUSSET editorial initiative (www.eusset.eu/

Designing the Sakai Open Academic Environment: A distributed cognition account of the design of a large scale software system

Social accounts of technological change make the flexibility and openness of interpretations the starting point of an argument against technological determinism. They suggest that technological change unfolds in the semantic domain, but they focus on the social processes around the interpretations of new technologies, and do not address the conceptual processes of change in interpretations. The dissertation presents an empirically grounded case study of the design process of an open-source online software platform based on the framework of distributed cognition to argue that the cognitive perspective is needed for understanding innovation in software, because it allows us to describe the reflexive and expansive contribution of conceptual processes to new software and the significance of professional epistemic practices in framing the direction of innovation. The framework of distributed cognition brings the social and cognitive perspectives together on account of its understanding of conceptual processes as distributed over time, among people, and between humans and artifacts. The dissertation argues that an evolving open-source software landscape became translated into the open-ended local design space of a new software project in a process of infrastructural implosion, and the design space prompted participants to outline and pursue epistemic strategies of sense-making and learning about the contexts of use. The result was a process of conceptual modeling, which resulted in a conceptually novel user interface. Prototyping professional practices of user-centered design lent directionality to this conceptual process in terms of a focus on individual activities with the user interface. Social approaches to software design under the broad umbrella of human-centered computing have been seeking to inform the design on the basis of empirical contributions about a social context. The analysis has shown that empirical engagement with the contexts of use followed from conceptual modeling, and concern about real world contexts was aligned with the user-centered direction that design was taking. I also point out a social-technical gap in the design process in connection with the repeated performance challenges that the platform was facing, and describe the possibility of a social-technical imagination.Ph.D

Alternative Workspaces: Changing Where + How People Work

The modern workspace is constantly evolving; what is in store for the future of how and where we work? Workspace creators need to provide a variety of activity landscapes intended for specific activities, and accessible to all. One size, one design, does not fit all! This thesis explores possibilities of connecting generations by transforming the traditional workspace to accommodate the ever-blurring boundaries between the workspace, hospitality spaces and the home spaces with the infusion of sophisticated modularity. Four generations contribute to today’s work environment including Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Post Millennials. All of these generations have different expectations, values and motivations about their work environments. How can we become attuned to this emerging generation of workspace users, who often have very different ideas about how work should get done? Moreover, this thesis analyzes the integration and emphasis of work/life balance, workspace flexibility and user wellbeing, reinforced ideas generated through an open design processes, and explores how co-creation can facilitate the diffusion of innovation within an organization’s common workspaces known as lounge space. This thesis builds upon an existing product portfolio of office furniture by implementing human centered design through co-creation, and finding inspiration for innovation through heuristic methodologies in order to inform design decisions. With an emphasis on workspace ideologies and theories, exciting propositions based on design principles and workspace psychology, such as the incorporation of sophisticated modularity, lounge-as-office principles, prioritizing play, and supporting working happy, provide interesting insights into this research. This collection of artifacts provides functional and flexible characteristics while being attractive enough to be enjoyed outside of workspaces.Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of DesignWellbeingCreative workspacesWorkspace cultureWork/life balanceModular furnitureUser choiceOpen desig

A Theory of Tailorable Technology Design

Tailorable technologies are a class of information systems designed with the intention that users modify and redesign the technology in the context of use. Tailorable technologies support user goals, intentions, metaphor, and use patterns in the selection and integration of technology functions in the creation of new and unique information systems. We propose a theory of tailorable technology design and identify principles necessary for the initial design. Following a Kantian style of inquiry, we identified four definitional characteristics of tailorable technology: a dual design perspective, user engagement, recognizable environments, and component architectures. From these characteristics, we propose nine design principles that will support the phenomenon of tailoring. Through a year-long case study, we refined and evidenced the principles, finding found that designers of tailorable technologies build environments in which users can both interact and engage with the technology, supporting the proposed design principles. The findings highlight a distinction between a reflective environment, where users recognize and imagine uses for the technology, and an active environment in which users tailor the technology in accordance with the imagined uses. This research contributes to the clarification of the role of theory in design science, expands the concept of possibilities for action to IS design, and proposes a design theory of a class of information systems for testing and refinement

Designing for experience: Example experience design projects on workspace

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Industrial Design, Izmir, 2006Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 94-95)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxv, 96 leavesThe great experiences can be deliberate and are based upon principles that have been proven. This thesis study explored the most important of these principles before the practical study. After that, the study focused on making a practical study on the workspace domain in three main phases.In the data collecting phase, experience data was collected for a workspace domain by observing workspace activities. Used methods were photographing, informal interviews, field notes and ethnographic observation. In the data modeling phase, a data model were constructed. Pattern language was used as a base for re-modeling the experience data. The data model is simply a framework that allows the designer to document, collect, communicate and understand all design related information quickly and easily. During the design phase, this framework became the design guideline and was used as a roadmap for every single design idea.Framework also gives the opportunity of defining relations from patterns to patterns and from design ideas to patterns. This flexible opportunity lets the designer visualize experience scenarios with design ideas in a higher level of understanding. Framework has a special data encapsulation format which is inherited from pattern language. According to that format, short pattern names, short essence paragraphs and other sections makes easier to remember, communicate and connect the patterns with new ideas. At the end of the design phase, three different products which are actively related with the experience patterns were designed

Proceedings of the ECSCW'95 Workshop on the Role of Version Control in CSCW Applications

The workshop entitled "The Role of Version Control in Computer Supported Cooperative Work Applications" was held on September 10, 1995 in Stockholm, Sweden in conjunction with the ECSCW'95 conference. Version control, the ability to manage relationships between successive instances of artifacts, organize those instances into meaningful structures, and support navigation and other operations on those structures, is an important problem in CSCW applications. It has long been recognized as a critical issue for inherently cooperative tasks such as software engineering, technical documentation, and authoring. The primary challenge for versioning in these areas is to support opportunistic, open-ended design processes requiring the preservation of historical perspectives in the design process, the reuse of previous designs, and the exploitation of alternative designs. The primary goal of this workshop was to bring together a diverse group of individuals interested in examining the role of versioning in Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Participation was encouraged from members of the research community currently investigating the versioning process in CSCW as well as application designers and developers who are familiar with the real-world requirements for versioning in CSCW. Both groups were represented at the workshop resulting in an exchange of ideas and information that helped to familiarize developers with the most recent research results in the area, and to provide researchers with an updated view of the needs and challenges faced by application developers. In preparing for this workshop, the organizers were able to build upon the results of their previous one entitled "The Workshop on Versioning in Hypertext" held in conjunction with the ECHT'94 conference. The following section of this report contains a summary in which the workshop organizers report the major results of the workshop. The summary is followed by a section that contains the position papers that were accepted to the workshop. The position papers provide more detailed information describing recent research efforts of the workshop participants as well as current challenges that are being encountered in the development of CSCW applications. A list of workshop participants is provided at the end of the report. The organizers would like to thank all of the participants for their contributions which were, of course, vital to the success of the workshop. We would also like to thank the ECSCW'95 conference organizers for providing a forum in which this workshop was possible

Semantic linking through spaces for cyber-physical-socio intelligence:a methodology

Humans consciously and subconsciously establish various links, emerge semantic images and reason in mind, learn linking effect and rules, select linked individuals to interact, and form closed loops through links while co-experiencing in multiple spaces in lifetime. Machines are limited in these abilities although various graph-based models have been used to link resources in the cyber space. The following are fundamental limitations of machine intelligence: (1) machines know few links and rules in the physical space, physiological space, psychological space, socio space and mental space, so it is not realistic to expect machines to discover laws and solve problems in these spaces; and, (2) machines can only process pre-designed algorithms and data structures in the cyber space. They are limited in ability to go beyond the cyber space, to learn linking rules, to know the effect of linking, and to explain computing results according to physical, physiological, psychological and socio laws. Linking various spaces will create a complex space — the Cyber-Physical-Physiological-Psychological-Socio-Mental Environment CP3SME. Diverse spaces will emerge, evolve, compete and cooperate with each other to extend machine intelligence and human intelligence. From multi-disciplinary perspective, this paper reviews previous ideas on various links, introduces the concept of cyber-physical society, proposes the ideal of the CP3SME including its definition, characteristics, and multi-disciplinary revolution, and explores the methodology of linking through spaces for cyber-physical-socio intelligence. The methodology includes new models, principles, mechanisms, scientific issues, and philosophical explanation. The CP3SME aims at an ideal environment for humans to live and work. Exploration will go beyond previous ideals on intelligence and computing

Design Thinking in Education: A Case Study Following One School District\u27s Approach to Innovation for the 21st Century

The latest reform movement in education, known as 21st-Century Learning, is in response to the transition from a primarily industrial-based economy to a knowledge- based one. 21st-Century Learning demands that educational organizations become more receptive to societal changes and provide educational services that can make the contributions needed to sustain our economic position in the world. The purpose of this dissertation study was to understand how design thinking supports the implementation of 21st-Century Learning within a school district. Moreover, this project was designed to capture and understand how the strategic integration of design thinking, in the form of a District Design Team (DDT), promoted innovation within an elementary school district. An opportunistic, single-case study, this dissertation was focused on the particular phenomenon of innovation within a specific elementary school district (Merriam, 2009). A Conceptual Framework was used to interpret and discuss the findings. Known as artifact analysis, this dynamic model captured the process and the context of the DDT while bringing into focus the attributes of the Design Team\u27s role as a sophisticated artifact within the district (Halverson 2003, 2006; Halverson et. al., 2004). Findings from this study indicated that the use of the DDT supported the communication of a definition for 21st-Century Learning throughout the district. Affordances like the use of an Implementation Plan, generated from the newly adopted Strategic Plan and a shared vision among district and site level leadership, aided the DDT in their work. Members of the DDT reported that design thinking played an important role in the mindset of the team and approach of the leadership. Further, all members of the DDT identified benefits around the use of design thinking either as a problem-solving approach used to create opportunities to explore innovations in education or as a classroom application through design learning. The DDT also identified constraints and frustrations with the DDT process and the application of design thinking. This unique opportunity in public education yielded both practical and theoretical insight into the systemic change process of this small suburban school district

Transdisciplinarity seen through Information, Communication, Computation, (Inter-)Action and Cognition

Similar to oil that acted as a basic raw material and key driving force of industrial society, information acts as a raw material and principal mover of knowledge society in the knowledge production, propagation and application. New developments in information processing and information communication technologies allow increasingly complex and accurate descriptions, representations and models, which are often multi-parameter, multi-perspective, multi-level and multidimensional. This leads to the necessity of collaborative work between different domains with corresponding specialist competences, sciences and research traditions. We present several major transdisciplinary unification projects for information and knowledge, which proceed on the descriptive, logical and the level of generative mechanisms. Parallel process of boundary crossing and transdisciplinary activity is going on in the applied domains. Technological artifacts are becoming increasingly complex and their design is strongly user-centered, which brings in not only the function and various technological qualities but also other aspects including esthetic, user experience, ethics and sustainability with social and environmental dimensions. When integrating knowledge from a variety of fields, with contributions from different groups of stakeholders, numerous challenges are met in establishing common view and common course of action. In this context, information is our environment, and informational ecology determines both epistemology and spaces for action. We present some insights into the current state of the art of transdisciplinary theory and practice of information studies and informatics. We depict different facets of transdisciplinarity as we see it from our different research fields that include information studies, computability, human-computer interaction, multi-operating-systems environments and philosophy.Comment: Chapter in a forthcoming book: Information Studies and the Quest for Transdisciplinarity - Forthcoming book in World Scientific. Mark Burgin and Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Editor

Semiotic engineering : A new paradigm for designing interactive systems

This paper presents semiotic engineering – a semiotic theory of HCI. The theory has the advantage to integrate back end and front end design and development perspectives into a single metacommunication process that affects the user’s experience and, ultimately, the success of any system. By means of illustrative examples, we show the kinds of effects that can be achieved with the theory, and discuss why a semiotic perspective is relevant for the future of information systemsThe past and the future of information systems: 1976-2006 and beyondRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI