Introducing Norm Creative Perspectives in Engineering and Design Educations

The design of technologies, built environments, products, or services can result in inequalities, exclusion, and discrimination, possibly because designers–often unintentionally–reproduce social norms through their designs. This strongly relates to engineering and design educations, preparing future professionals and contributing to sustainable societies. The aim of this paper is to introduce and explore different ways to adopt such perspectives in education and training at the faculty of engineering at Lund University, LTH. Empirical materials were gathered through a literature review, discussions with critical friends and a teaching session about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Norm Creativity. Besides UDL, the Design Justice Framework was proposed to stimulate norm-critical thinking and thereby norm creativity in the design of new courses and as part of the education and training of future engineers and designers. The framework outlines three questions to be considered: Who participated in the design or development process?, Who benefited? and Who was harmed? As a result, we proposed teaching and learning activities, course module prototypes, on norm creative perspectives that could be adapted to different course contexts and situations. Based on this development, we discuss norm creative perspectives in relation to the benefits for students and educators, the complex social challenges in course design, and the wider ramifications of courses in engineering and design in terms of potential contributions towards the development of sustainable societies

Co-Designing with Extreme Users : A Framework for User Participation in Design Processes

The demand for user participation in design processes is increasing, and there is a need to formulate guidance on how to involve disabled users and their representative organisations. Their participation contributes an extreme user perspective to the design process. The aim of this study was to develop an empirically grounded framework for user participation in co-design processes, involving the users with wide range of characteristics. The study was theoretically grounded in ‘participatory design’ and ‘value sensitive design’ and used an exploratory study design with online workshops to iteratively collect and analyse data. All participants collaborated on an online Miro-board to identify themes and formulate guiding principles for the framework. We propose a framework consisting of three themes: participation fundamentals, participation ethics and participation practicalities, entailing 11 guiding principles. By applying this framework, the premises, methods and activities in the design process will be accessible to all participants, and user participation in design projects will become more transparent, equitable and easier to implement. It will enable all users, people with disabilities and others, to participate and contribute to a design that can be used by the widest range of people. © 2023 The Author(s)

The Use of Apps for Health in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease and Stroke - Barriers and Facilitators

Introduction: The importance of mobile health has increased during recent years but few studies have described the use of apps among persons with neurological disabilities. Aim: The aim of this paper was to describe how persons ageing with a neurological disability experience barriers and facilitators in relation to using apps in everyday life. Method: A qualitative approach was used. 16 persons with neurological disorders participated in two group discussions. Data were analyzed by content analysis. Results: The analysis formed four categories; Impairments make apps harder to use, Use of apps is increased by learnability and sharing, Valuating the information in an app, and Apps act supportive and motivating. Conclusion: The participants used apps in the same way as persons without disabilities. Impairments and trustworthiness were perceived as barriers, which need to be acknowledged when developing apps for this population. Use of apps was facilitated by the possibility to share data and to connect with others. Apps may have the potential to improve self-management for persons ageing with disabilities but further research is needed