Identifying the interplay of design artifacts and decisions in practice: A Case Study

Interaction design is a complex and challenging process. It encompasses skills and knowledge from design in general as well as from HCI and software design in particular. In order to find better ways to support interaction design and propose methods and tools to further the research in this area we must first better understand the nature of interaction design in practice. In this paper we present two small case studies which attempt to analyse design and decision-making through the lens of one particular theoretical framework. The framework seeks to focus design activities via its artifacts and the design spaces that exist in order to support reasoning about the process and the evolution of the artifacts. Our case studies show that we can use such a framework to consider real-world design projects, and also that there are further considerations that might usefully be included in such a framework

Tension Space Analysis: Exploring Community Requirements for Networked Urban Screens

This paper draws on the design process, implementation and early evaluation results of an urban screens network to highlight the tensions that emerge at the boundary between the technical and social aspects of design. While public interactive screens in urban spaces are widely researched, the newly emerging networks of such screens present fresh challenges. Researchers wishing to be led by a diverse user community may find that the priorities of some users, directly oppose the wishes of others. Previous literature suggests such tensions can be handled by ‘goal balancing’, where all requirements are reduced down to one set of essential, implementable attributes. Contrasting this, this paper’s contribution is ‘Tension Space Analysis’, which broadens and extends existing work on Design Tensions. It includes new domains, new representational methods and offers a view on how to best reflect conflicting community requirements in some aspects or features of the design

Redefining innovation processes: The digital designers at work

As design in digital innovation has become a thing, we highlight the inconclusive concepts that describe design activity in innovation processes. Proposing an alternative theoretical lens - a sociomaterial practice lens - we claim that this view can reveal the contribution of digital designers to the work of innovation. This paper draws on a research study with digital designers in the UK. At the same time as we begin to reconceptualise the ways digital design activity can be described, we also illustrate a theoretical framework based on 1) action and knowing as ordered by collectively produced objects, 2) sociomateriality and the configuration of human bodies and materials in action, 3) the co-emergence of objects and sociomaterial configurations where each is the condition of the other. This alternative way of looking at design activity may pose some challenges to the theoretical traditions in the field. We however believe that it contains immense potential too

Cargo Cults in Information Systems Development: a Definition and an Analytical Framework

Organizations today adopt agile information systems development methods (ISDM), but many do not succeed with the adoption process and in achieving desired results. Systems developers sometimes fail in efficient use of ISDM, often due to a lack of understanding the fundamental intentions of the chosen method. In many cases organizations simply imitate the behavior of others without really understanding why. This conceptual paper defines this phenomenon as an ISDM cargo cult behavior and proposes an analytical framework to identify such situations. The concept of cargo cults originally comes from the field of social anthropology and has been used to explain irrational, ritualistic imitation of certain behavior. By defining and introducing the concept in the field of information systems development we provide a diagnostic tool to better understand one of the reasons why ISDM adoption sometimes fail

How to interest people for the hare instead of the chase, an exploration of open script design to change consumer behaviour

In this paper we raise the question: does our consumer behaviour make us happy? The infinite source of consumer desires seems to be the justification of an ever increasing amount of products that inundate our lives. Consumption itself is set free from any functional bond, bringing our current consumption levels to the point that it is ecologically destructive and unsustainable. By examining philosophical theories of well-being we argue that consumer satisfaction does not of necessity lead to happiness, and we reach the conclusion that it is in the act of appropriation -fitting the acquired artefacts into our lives- that consumption of goods renders a meaningful attribution to our well-being. Building on theories of Science and Technology Studies, we propose the design of objects with open scripts, as a means to facilitate and encourage this act of appropriation as a conscious process. This design perspective is made more tangible by the examination of several examples from fashion design and investigated further in a short design exploration. Five design professionals were asked to apply the open script design perspective in the design of new garment concepts. The results of both activities show that it is possible to design products that encourage the process of appropriation by demanding a certain dedication of the user in accomplishing her use-goal. We expect that this encourages product bonding and render our possessions less replaceable. Although the few products that employ an open script will not overcome consumerism and transform society at large, we do believe they can help bring about an attitude change and help to establish well-being as the purpose of consumptio

How to interest people for the hare instead of the chase, an exploration of open script design to change consumer behaviour

In this paper we raise the question: does our consumer behaviour make us happy? The infinite source of consumer desires seems to be the justification of an ever increasing amount of products that inundate our lives. Consumption itself is set free from any functional bond, bringing our current consumption levels to the point that it is ecologically destructive and unsustainable. By examining philosophical theories of well-being we argue that consumer satisfaction does not of necessity lead to happiness, and we reach the conclusion that it is in the act of appropriation -fitting the acquired artefacts into our lives- that consumption of goods renders a meaningful attribution to our well-being. Building on theories of Science and Technology Studies, we propose the design of objects with open scripts, as a means to facilitate and encourage this act of appropriation as a conscious process. This design perspective is made more tangible by the examination of several examples from fashion design and investigated further in a short design exploration. Five design professionals were asked to apply the open script design perspective in the design of new garment concepts. The results of both activities show that it is possible to design products that encourage the process of appropriation by demanding a certain dedication of the user in accomplishing her use-goal. We expect that this encourages product bonding and render our possessions less replaceable. Although the few products that employ an open script will not overcome consumerism and transform society at large, we do believe they can help bring about an attitude change and help to establish well-being as the purpose of consumptio