Entry and access : how shareability comes about

Shareability is a design principle that refers to how a system, interface, or device engages a group of collocated, co-present users in shared interactions around the same content (or the same object). This is broken down in terms of a set of components that facilitate or constrain the way an interface (or product) is made shareable. Central are the notions of access points and entry points. Entry points invite and entice people into engagement, providing an advance overview, minimal barriers, and a honeypot effect that draws observers into the activity. Access points enable users to join a group's activity, allowing perceptual and manipulative access and fluidity of sharing. We show how these terms can be useful for informing analysis and empirical research

A respectful design framework: incorporating indigenous knowledge in the design process

To stay within the planetary boundaries, we have to take responsibility, and this includes designers. This requires new perspectives on design. In this work, we focus on a co-design project with indigenous communities. Within such communities, indigenous knowledge is central. Indigenous knowledge acknowledges that the world is alive and that we, as humans, are merely a small part. Central in our approach is Sheehan’s respectful design, which ensures a central place for indigenous knowledge in the design process. However, Sheehan’s approach does not state in pragmatic terms how such a design approach can be achieved. Some of the co-design processes we engaged in led to respectful design spaces, others did not. This helped us to identify patterns of dynamics that are essential for respectful design. At the core of our findings lies the observation that in order to reach a respectful design space, in which indigenous knowledge is embedded, a shared dialogical space between community and designer is essential

Designing electronic collaborative learning environments

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues

The design of caring environments and the quality of life of older people

There has been little systematic research into the design of care environments for older people. This article reviews empirical studies from both the architectural and the psychological literature. It outlines the instruments that are currently available for measuring both the environment and the quality of life of older people, and it summarises the evidence on the layout of buildings, the sensory environment and the privacy of residents. The conclusion is drawn that all evidence-based design must be a compromise or dynamic and, as demands on the caring environment change over time, this compromise must be re-visited in the form of post-occupancy evaluation

Are housing tenure and car access still associated with health? A repeat cross-sectional study of UK adults over a 13-year period

Background: It is usually assumed that housing tenure and car access are associated with health simply because they are acting as markers for social class or income and wealth. However, previous studies conducted in the late 1990s found that these household assets were associated with health independently of social class and income. Here, we set out to examine if this is still the case. Methods: We use data from our 2010 postal survey of a random sample of adults (n=2092) in 8 local authority areas in the West of Scotland. Self-reported health measures included limiting longstanding illness (LLSI), general health over the last year and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: We found a statistically significant relationship between housing tenure and all 4 health measures, regardless of the inclusion of social class or income as controls. Compared with owner occupiers, social renters were more likely to report ill-health (controlling for social class—LLSI OR: 3.24, general health OR: 2.82, anxiety η2: 0.031, depression η2: 0.048, controlling for income—LLSI OR: 3.28, general health OR: 2.82, anxiety η2: 0.033, depression η2: 0.057) (p<0.001 for all models). Car ownership was independently associated with depression and anxiety, with non-owners at higher risk of both (controlling for income—anxiety η2: 0.010, depression η2: 0.023, controlling for social class—anxiety η2: 0.013, depression η2: 0.033) (p<0.001 for all models). Conclusions: Our results show that housing tenure and car ownership are still associated with health, after taking known correlates (age, sex, social class, income) into account. Further research is required to unpack some of the features of these household assets such as the quality of the dwelling and access to and use of different forms of transport to determine what health benefits or disbenefits they may be associated with in different contexts

From entry to access: How shareability comes about

Shareability is a design principle that refers to how a system, interface, or device engages a group of collocated, co-present users in shared interactions around the same content (or the same object). This is broken down in terms of a set of components that facilitate or constrain the way an interface (or product) is made shareable. Central are the notions of access points and entry points. Entry points invite and entice people into engagement, providing an advance overview, minimal barriers, and a honeypot effect that draws observers into the activity. Access points enable users to join a group's activity, allowing perceptual and manipulative access and fluidity of sharing. We show how these terms can be useful for informing analysis and empirical research

Contested cultures of care: research with and for the plus one community on the plus one experience - evaluation report

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Collaborative Outreach Projec

The Positive Energy Patrol: One Nursing Division\u27s Approach to Address the Issue of Morale in the Workplace

The purpose of this project is to develop an article for submission to a professional journal describing a staff led initiative to address employee morale in the hospital setting. It is well documented in professional nursing literature that the morale of a work environment has a direct effect upon the care provided to the patients and families served. Empowerment of staff, mutual respect, and transpersonal care as described by nursing theorist Jean Watson provide a healthy framework for a workplace where people want to engage and contribute. A morale initiative as trialed at one institution will be shared for consideration to potentially enhance a positive work environment, and thus enhance the patient care provided

Becoming an Ambidextrous Learning Organization: Leadership for Confidence in a Resource-Dependent Nonprofit Environment

A leader in a nonprofit organization needs the confidence of their team to deliver stable, high-value services to stakeholders while simultaneously adapting to environmental changes. This balance is critical for the Collaborative, the nonprofit organization at the centre of this organizational improvement plan (OIP). The Collaborative’s operating conditions are characterized by reliance on short-term government funding, environmental uncertainty, complex stakeholder relationships, and a dual focus on social mission and financial viability. The problem of practice is a loss of confidence in leadership, which is triggered by these complex conditions. At the heart of this OIP is the argument that the complex environment in which the Collaborative operates demands a paradoxical approach and organizational model that is ambidextrous, meaning it is oriented towards both managerial efficiency and emergent exploration. This OIP combines distributed, adaptive, and operational leadership approaches to construct a conceptual model that aids achievement of the Collaborative’s social mission and financial viability in a postmodern environment. Using a collaborative and caring lens as a guide, I present a co-constructed path to incremental organizational change through a pilot project aimed at cultivating individual and organizational learning for ambidexterity. The pilot project empowers organizational actors to explore ambidextrous work practices within psychologically safe environments to maximize learning, participation, and ownership. In the larger context of nonprofit leadership in Canada, this OIP illuminates a path to organizational ambidexterity that works within, rather than against, the constraints of resource dependency to promote the long-term viability and sustainability of high-value nonprofit organizations