Open-Ended Interaction In Cooperative Prototyping: A Video-Based Analysis

Cooperative Prototyping can be characterized as the use and development of prototypes as catalysts during discussions between designers and potential users -- the overall intention being one of mutual learning. On the one hand, the designers learn more about the work practices of the users in ways that are tied concretely to some current version of the prototype. On the other hand, the users learn more about the potential for change in their work practice, whether computer-based or otherwise. This paper presents the results of a field study of the cooperative prototyping process. The study is based on a fine-grained video-based analysis of a single prototyping session, and focuses on the effects of an open-ended style of interaction between users and designers around a prototype. An analysis of focus shifts, initiative and storytelling during the session is brought to bear on the question of whether and how cooperative prototyping can be successful with users who are reluctant to "play..

Moving document collections online: The evolution of a shared repository

{trigg, blomberg, suchman}®'pare.xerox.com •• Abstract. This paper reports on a work-oriented design project concerned with the question of how to migrate shared, workgroup document collections currently kept on paper online. Based in a civil engineering work group, the focus of our project is a document collection called the "project files, " a heterogeneous mix of documents that serve as an ongoing resource for the group during a project's course as well as an archival record at its completion. We describe the dynamics of the standardized classification scheme in use for the project files, existing practices of document filing including routine troubles, and the prototype developed to move the project files online. The latter includes a configuration of hardware and software along with associated practices of document scanning, coding and search. We conclude with some reflections on the difficulties of maintaining alignment across paper and digital media in the migration to online document collections, and with a summary of the questions posed and answers provided by our project