1 research outputs found
Designing digital feedback technologies : exploring new forms of citizen engagement in public services
PhD ThesisThis thesis is an exploration of the design of digital feedback technologies that promote new forms
of citizen engagement in the production of public services. It draws on public policy documents,
health and social care literature and socially engaged work within Human-Computer Interaction
(HCI) to inform the design of new digital feedback systems. Novel feedback systems were produced
to explore how digital tools may capture peoples’ views and opinions, while investigating citizen
participation in service innovation. It is an exploration and examination of the emerging public
sector spaces of coproduction and cocreation that focuses on how those facing marginalisation, such
as citizens with a learning disability or special educational needs (SEN), can come to have a voice
in care service design and delivery.
Three case studies were conducted with community partners: Case study one describes my work
as part of a steering committee collaborating with local government staff, voluntary sector workers
and parents of children with SEN in designing an online directory of services. Case study two
reports my collaborations with charity organisations to design a digital feedback system,
ThoughtCloud, for capturing and sharing the views and opinions of users of care services with a
learning disability. Case study three documents my work with young people with SEN in designing
and trialling a mobile application, Appraise, supporting them in shaping service provision through
novel evaluation processes. These technologies were designed in partnership with users of care
services, iterated through in-the-wild testing and evaluated through observation and stakeholder
interviews.
The contributions of this work include: learning that emphasises the importance of designing digital
feedback systems that are accessible and legible across diverse stakeholders; how the use of video
and audio media as feedback can alert us to the provenance of the data collected and create
evidence of citizen participation in consultation; the need for developing sensemaking tools that
can help surface narratives and support perspective sharing; and a description of the concept of
‘middle-out’ design as a means to practically framing the voluntary service sector design space