Exploring the future of data-driven product design

Connected devices present new opportunities to advance design through data collection in the wild, similar to the way digital services evolve through analytics. However, it is still unclear how live data transmitted by connected devices informs the design of these products, going beyond performance optimisation to support creative practices. Design can be enriched by data captured by connected devices, from usage logs to environmental sensors, and data about the devices and people around them. Through a series of workshops, this paper contributes industry and academia perspectives on the future of data-driven product design. We highlight HCI challenges, issues and implications, including sensemaking and the generation of design insight. We further challenge current notions of data-driven design and envision ways in which future HCI research can develop ways to work with data in the design process in a connected, rich, human manner

Blood sampling: two sides to the story

This study aimed to investigate why there is variability in taking blood. A multi method Pilot study was completed in four National Health Service Scotland hospitals. Human Factors/Ergonomics principles were applied to analyse data from 50 observations, 15 interviews and 12-months of incident data from all Scottish hospitals. The Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) was used to understand why variability may influence blood sampling functions. The analysis of the 61 pre blood transfusion sampling incidents highlighted limitations in the data collected to understand factors influencing performance. FRAM highlighted how variability in the sequence of blood sampling functions and the number of practitioners involved in a single blood sampling activity was influenced by the working environment, equipment, clinical context, work demands and staff resources. This pilot study proposes a realistic view of why blood sampling activities vary and proposes the need to consider the system’s resilience in future safety management strategies

ReseArch with Patient and Public invOlvement: a RealisT evaluation - the RAPPORT study

Background Patient and public involvement (PPI) is a prerequisite for many funding bodies and NHS research ethics approval. PPI in research is defined as research carried out with or by the public rather than to, about or for them. While the benefits of PPI have been widely discussed, there is a lack of evidence on the impact and outcomes of PPI in research. Objectives To determine the types of PPI in funded research, describe key processes, analyse the contextual and temporal dynamics of PPI and explore the experience of PPI in research for all those involved. Mechanisms contributing to the routine incorporation of PPI in the research process were assessed, the impact of PPI on research processes and outcomes evaluated, and barriers and enablers to effective PPI identified. Design A three-staged realist evaluation drawing on Normalisation Process Theory to understand how far PPI was embedded within health-care research in six areas: diabetes mellitus, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, dementia, public health and learning disabilities. The first two stages comprised a scoping exercise and online survey to chief investigators to assess current PPI activity. The third stage consisted of case studies tracked over 18 months through interviews and document analysis. The research was conducted in four regions of England. Participants Non-commercial studies currently running or completed within the previous 2 years eligible for adoption on the UK Clinical Research Network portfolio. A total of 129 case study participants included researchers and PPI representatives from 22 research studies, and representatives from funding bodies and PPI networks

Maker Library Network

The exhibition curated by Daniel Charny explains the underlying concept of the global network, and is itself a Maker Library. Projects and objects created across the network are presented together for the first time, inviting visitors to read, observe and participate in the process of making. For each day of Art Basel/Design Miami 2015, members of the network will invite visitors to work alongside them in open workshops or to create their own projects

Brave fixed world

The flagship exhibition of the Lodz Design Festival 2014, attended by 40,000 visitors. The future needs a new relationship with making. A making born of the imaginative use of skills. Something like fixing. The world we live in is shaped by the heroic successes of mechanisation and mass-production. The democratisation of access to goods and improved quality of life brought about by industrial production has come at a price. While the abundance of cheap standardised products strain our environment, we are distanced from the experience of making, so leaving many with the limited choices of buying new or doing nothing. This ‘Brave New World’ needs fixing. The Fixhub prototyped in the Brave Fixed World exhbition explores other options, those of repair or making things ourselves, showcasing what people do when they fix and what is the role of fixing in the future. It proposes a platform for fixing in day to day life, building on models of public-facing makerspaces like the Fablabs and repair cafes. The aim is to offer access, experience, engagement and confidence in making, and in this case with a focus to inspire fixing and repair. In collaboration with the emerging Maker Library Network it further includes a library and a gallery

Think-ahead-tank

A two day hands on seminar for the British Council's Maker Library Network. Bringing together designers and curators who are active Maker Librarians from South Africa, Nigeria, Ukraine, Turkey, Mexico and the UK to reflect on their involvement over the last four years and to discuss the legacy of how the Maker Library Network can continue, as they take up ownership when the British Council steps back from its management of the project this month

Development of an ethical roadmap

Ethics are a system of moral principles and branch of knowledge enquiry defining what is good for individuals and society. Academic disciplines operate within publicly defined ethical parameters created to support researchers through complex dilemmas. However, paradigms in interdisciplinary research, a growing focus on emancipatory and participatory methods and questions relating to an ethic of technology call for a rethinking of existing frameworks that are largely predicated on bioethics. This paper describes an enquiry that used a design-lens through which to explore existing ethical frameworks operating in health. An Ethical Roadmap resource was created in response to issues and questions raised during the enquiry. We suggest that the Roadmap creates the space for discourse, discussion and a level of rehearsal as potential ethical dilemmas are encountered and responses are worked through. The process potentially enables a reflective and reflexive process that may build self-awareness of how researcher values may manifest themselves in particular contexts and from the different disciplinary backgrounds of members within a team. We describe the Ethical Roadmap as ‘becoming’ rather than ‘finite’ and as a solid starting point from which researchers can develop the resource offering further, through use, introducing the open source version of the Roadmap

Innovation is everybody's business

6. UK Innovation lecture given London (GB) 27 Feb 1997SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9096.348(1997) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo