Media Communication, Consumption and Use: The Changing Role of the Designer

Consumers are changing the way in which they create, experience and consume media. User Generated Content (UGC) marks a shift in the way in which ordinary people are now able to contribute to the creation of media. They have become active citizens in what is now a two way conversation. The advent of UGC has created new challenges for communication designers who now need to take on the role of a facilitator in this process. The challenge for communication design is not only to identify appropriate methods for communication, but to understand how best to facilitate connections between users such that they create structures that they can inhabit. This paper explores the changing role of design in UGC rich media communication and presents a Decision Making Framework (DMF) that engages designers in the consideration of the user in the development process. In-depth interviews with leading industry proponents ensure currency of the insights gained. Keywords: Design Process, User Generated Content, Communication Design, Fraimwork</p

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

A New Consumerism: The influence of social technologies on product design

Social media has enabled a new style of consumerism. Consumers are no longer passive recipients; instead they are assuming active and participatory roles in product design and production, facilitated by interaction and collaboration in virtual communities. This new participatory culture is blurring the boundaries between the specific roles of designer, consumer and producer, creating entrepreneurial opportunities for designers, and empowering consumers to influence product strategies. Evolving designer-consumer interactions are enabling an enhanced model of co-production, through a value-adding social exchange that is driving changes in consumer behaviour and influencing both product strategies and design practice. The consumer is now a knowledgeable participant, or prosumer, who can contribute to user–centered research through crowd sourcing, collaborate and co-create through open-source or open-innovation platforms, assist creative endeavors by pledging venture capital through crowd funding and advocate the product in blogs and forums. Social media- enabled product implementation strategies working in conjunction with digital production technologies (e.g. additive manufacture), enable consumer-directed adaptive customisation, product personalisation, and self-production, with once passive consumers becoming product produsers. Not only is social media driving unprecedented consumer engagement and significant behavioural change, it is emerging as a major enabler of design entrepreneurship, creating new collaborative opportunities. Innovative processes in design practice are emerging, such as the provision of digital artifacts and customisable product frameworks, rather than standardised manufactured solutions. This paper examines the influence of social media-enabled product strategies on the methodology of the next generation of product designers, and discusses the need for an educational response

Designing a product service system in a social framework: methodological and ethical considerations

Macroscopic social and economic changes in the last few years are forcing business companies and public institutions to redefine their approach to social intervention, focusing on local and highly individualised solutions. This change is also calling for a new design approach. The challenge for designers is not only to be able to provide local and highly individualised solutions, but also to propose strategies to transfer and reproduce the solutions, or part of them, into different local contexts, thus creating economy of scope. This would be possible by using forms of codification and modularisation of the most relevant components in local solutions. The code refers to the organisational knowledge included in local components and the way each component interacts with the others. Like software systems, local product-service systems can be built upon a source code. This paper will illustrate how this process was developed in a concrete case. Through this case the authors analyse the possibility to build something similar to a source code for initiatives based on social interaction and investigate the process of construction of such a code Furthermore, the author discuss differences and analogies between design intervention in a social context and in the normal business context. The question of codification suggests a methodological approach for supporting transferability both in the problem space (dealing with complexity) and in the solution space (dealing with contingency). The analysis of differences and similarities between business- and socially-oriented processes suggests a new role for designers and new opportunities for innovation. Keywords: Product Service Systems, Methodology, Design and Morality, Codification, Transferability</p

Exploring participatory design for SNS-based AEH systems

The rapidly emerging and growing social networking sites (SNS) offer an opportunity to improve adaptive e-learning experience by introducing a social dimension, connecting users within the system. Making connections and providing communication tools can engage students in creating effective learning environment and enriching learning experiences. Researchers have been working on introducing SNS features into adaptive educational hypermedia systems. The next stage research is centered on how to enhance SNS facilities of AEH systems, in order to engage students’ participation in collaborative learning and generating and enriching learning materials. Students are the core participants in the adaptive e-learning process, so it is essential for the system designers to consider students’ opinions. This paper aims at exploring how to apply participatory design methodology in the early stage of the SNS-based AEH system design process

Erehwon: For a cartography of change

We introduce a work-in-progress collaborative research project, which aims at creating an interactive real time cartography of socio-political performative projects within Europe and beyond. The cartography will be designed as a digital platform for rehearsing new ways of direct democratic practices and experimenting with potential forms of public space transformation that these practices can lead to.Creativeworks Londo

Human-Centered Approaches in Geovisualization Design: Investigating Multiple Methods Through a Long-Term Case Study

Working with three domain specialists we investigate human-centered approaches to geovisualization following an ISO13407 taxonomy covering context of use, requirements and early stages of design. Our case study, undertaken over three years, draws attention to repeating trends: that generic approaches fail to elicit adequate requirements for geovis application design; that the use of real data is key to understanding needs and possibilities; that trust and knowledge must be built and developed with collaborators. These processes take time but modified human-centred approaches can be effective. A scenario developed through contextual inquiry but supplemented with domain data and graphics is useful to geovis designers. Wireframe, paper and digital prototypes enable successful communication between specialist and geovis domains when incorporating real and interesting data, prompting exploratory behaviour and eliciting previously unconsidered requirements. Paper prototypes are particularly successful at eliciting suggestions, especially for novel visualization. Enabling specialists to explore their data freely with a digital prototype is as effective as using a structured task protocol and is easier to administer. Autoethnography has potential for framing the design process. We conclude that a common understanding of context of use, domain data and visualization possibilities are essential to successful geovis design and develop as this progresses. HC approaches can make a significant contribution here. However, modified approaches, applied with flexibility, are most promising. We advise early, collaborative engagement with data – through simple, transient visual artefacts supported by data sketches and existing designs – before moving to successively more sophisticated data wireframes and data prototypes

When situativity meets objectivity in peer-production of knowledge:the case of the WikiRate platform

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to further the debate on Knowledge Artefacts (KAs), by presenting the design of WikiRate, a Collective Awareness platform whose goal is to support a wider public contributing to the generation of knowledge on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of companies.Design/methodology/approachThe material presented in the paper comes from the first-hand experience of the authors as part of the WikiRate design team. This material is reflexively discussed using concepts from the field of science and technology studies.FindingsUsing the concept of the “funnel of interest”, the authors discuss how the design of a KA like WikiRate relies on the designers’ capacity to translate general statements into particular design solutions. The authors also show how this funnelling helps understanding the interplay between situativity and objectivity in a KA. The authors show how WikiRate is a peer-production platform based on situativity, which requires a robust level of objectivity for producing reliable knowledge about the ESG performance of companies.Originality/valueThis paper furthers the debate on KAs. It presents a relevant design example and offers in the discussion a set of design and community building recommendations to practitioners

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Mapping the Design Criterion Framework for Museum Exhibition Design Project

Currently, museums are struggling to develop and present their expertise by focusing on the interactive relationship with museum visitors. In order to meet the needs of museum exhibitions, an efficient and workable design process is of primary importance in order to work to develop high quality museum exhibitions. It would be advantageous to generate a design method which allows designers and curators to undertake design work in the context of museum exhibition project. Based on an empirical analysis, this paper suggests that a systematic transformation develops specific aspects of detailed design to carry out its principle, and that the implementation of these aspects can be viewed as a process of organizational criteria of museum exhibition design projects. The paper is concerned with design process in organizations seeking to act systematic criteria in the design activity on the application of museum exhibition project development in complex theories. In particular, this study is developed to address the following objectives: a) To identify the characteristics and concepts of the design activity as they relate to museum exhibition design; b) To contribute to a more complete understanding of design process by developing guidelines for adoption in projects. c) To establish the benefits of the application of design guide theory to the practice of museum exhibition design; Keywords: Museum Exhibition; Design Criteria; Design Process</p