OPENNESS AND DESIGN PRACTICES IN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

This paper explores openness and its role and relevance in creating an opportunity for sustained innovation through design thinking in organizations such as libraries. There is a growing recognition of design thinking as an effective approach to innovation. Many libraries, also academic ones, seem to have embraced the approach. However, to enable sustained, and not only short-term efforts to innovate, we believe that design thinking needs to be integrated with existing library practices. Furthermore, we consider that openness towards designerly ways of working is crucial in achieving that goal. In this paper, we discuss diverse ways in which openness plays a role in design thinking led innovation, including openness to learning new skills, question and explore, acquire new values, and continually integrate what is learned with existing practices. Two cases from our research on effects of design thinking on academic library practices are used to illustrate the importance of openness in this process

University library as a living lab: innovating with students

Ubiquitous and pervasive technologies are part of everyday life, including the portion of it that has something to do with the university libraries: all students use personal mobile technology and all books have embedded sensors. This paper describes three years long experience with student-lead innovation of student-oriented university library services. Stu-dents, as library users themselves, have a potential to initiate changes in the existing practices, or offer novel technological solutions based on ubiquitous and pervasive technologies that are easy to adopt and use for this user group. Within the project described in the paper, the library was established as a living lab for a student-lead innovation. At this stage, the innovators are recruited among interaction design students. The approach shows very promising results, some of which are showcased in the paper

IT-facilitated industries and competitive spaces: the dance of the elephants

Something very interesting is happening in the information-technology (IT) facilitated global economy: companies in industries that were previously quite separate are now rapidly converging on the same competitive spaces. This is resulting in a ‘dance of the elephants – firms such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, eBay, Apple and Microsoft, that did not even exist 30 years ago or were a small start-ups and quite agile, have become large and increasingly hobbled in their agility by the sheer size and scope of their products and/or services. The intent of this paper is two- fold: (1) to try to identify the forces behind the convergence of these once largely noncompeting firms (with some obvious exceptions in some segments of their businesses such as Apple and Microsoft in operating systems), and (2) to show how developments in the field of interaction design, and in particular, design thinking are facilitating or hindering this convergence process

The Child-to-Child (C2C) Method: Participatory Design for, with and by Children in a Children's Museum

In this paper, we present the Child-to-Child method (C2C) for co-designing with children for children. The method is illustrated using a design case, where an interactive space for young children in Children’s Museum was designed. A three dimensional interactive books are envisioned and explored with children, and consequently embedded into the “Book Nook” exhibit. This interactive environment, intended for young children aged 3-5, was developed and prototyped by an intergenerational design team. The paper reflects upon challenges and opportunities provided by working with C2C method and presents results of preliminary investigation of an interactive space design that employs a novel concept of a 3D book. Further, we argue that C2C method is indeed a participatory design method for, with and by children. Reprint of a paper published in: IADIS International Journal on WWW/Internet Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 92-113. Made available here with permission from IADIS. http://www.iadis.org

Key Performance Indicators in design for sustainable rural transport

Rural areas are less attractive and sustainable for people and businesses alike, partially due to inadequate transport services. In this paper, we address transport-related challenges in rural Norway. The focal aspect of our approach is to define a set of values for the design and mechanisms of transitioning towards more sustainable rural transport making a real-life difference for people living in rural areas. We connect UN sustainability goals and transition design to discuss how these can be operationalized and used throughout the design process seeking to innovate rural transport. Reflecting on how to find the initial ‘leverage points’ to scaffold the transition to more sustainable transport systems, we explore the possibility of introducing relevant Key Performance Indicators early on in the design process. We report on our experiences and findings regarding the use Key Performance Indicators in different phases of a design-led innovation process.publishedVersio

Librarians as Designers : Case Studies on Improvement of Library Services

This book is a result of our desire to show how service design works in selected libraries by means of case studies. It is certainly not an overview of everything that is going on in the field of design thinking in Czech libraries. The aim of the examples of use, which are described in this book, is to serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to those who think about the needs of users in their own libraries

Scaffolding Sustainability in the Academic HCID Practice

This paper is concerned with a sustainable academic human-computer interaction design (HCID) practice. We are interested in examining what such practice could involve, and how to implement changes towards increased sustainability. Reflecting over the fate of 120 prototypes, both analog and digital, developed during the last eight years as part of author’s research projects or with students as part of the HCI course work, it is deduced that the process of establishing a more sustainable design practice in the academic HCI is related to increased awareness of sustainable alternatives in and through design, enabling factors such as providing for materials and giving good examples of sustainable practices and design, and satisfaction factors. Further, the following points clearly come forth from this reflection: 1) prototyping in HCI is about incremental improvement (incremental innovation), some novel ideas do turn up (real innovation), but most of the time, the fate of prototypes is to be abandoned 2) making HCID practice sustainable starts with building awareness around sustainability through education 3) there is a need for discussion within HCID community around best practices in this area. Reprint of a paper published in: Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Interfaces and Human-Computer Interaction 2014 , pp. 45-54. Made available here with permission from IADIS: www.iadis.or

Later Life: Living Alone, Social Connectedness and ICT

The paper presents a qualitative, interview-based study that seeks to describe participants’ perceptions and experiences with information and communication technology. The participants in the study were active people, aged 67 and over, who live alone in an urban setting. Interactionist theory of loneliness was used to guide the inquiry, in particular regarding the perception of the relation between the quality and quantity of connections, loneliness, and technology. A set of visual tools such as communication maps and cards were made to aid reflections and associations during interviews

HCI Education: Innovation, Creativity and Design Thinking

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) education needs re-thinking. In this paper, we explore how and what creativity and design thinking could contribute with, if included as a part of the HCI curriculum. The findings from courses where design thinking was included, indicate that design thinking contributed to increased focus on innovation and creativity, as well as prevented too early fixation on a single solution in the initial phases of HCI design processes, fostering increased flexibility and adaptability in learning processes. The creativity and adaptability may be the best long-term foci that HCI education can add to its curriculums and offer to students when preparing them for future work practices. International Academy, Research and Industry Association (IARIA) www.iaria.org