The development and design of computational
artifacts and their current widespread use in
diverse contexts (from work/task oriented to
ludic applications) needs to take into account
end-users needs, likes/dislikes and broader
societal issues including human values. However,
the fast pace of technological developments
highlight the acknowledgment that the process of
defining the computational artifacts not only
needs to understand the user but also
engineering and designers creativity. In order to
take into account these issues, we have been
exploring the utilization of a framework to guide
our own development efforts. The Worth-Centred
Design (WCD) can be seen as a conceptual
framework that intends to facilitate the process of
making explicit the connections between high
level concepts related to desired
ends/worth/values and simple/basic/atomic
features composing an (or to be) artifact [1, 2].
In this paper, our insights as a heterogeneous
design team regarding the use of the WCD
framework are presented. More specifically, two
on-going cases studies are considered: (a) one
concerning the on-going development of situated
digital public displays and (b) the development of
games to assist therapists of children with
emotional and cognitive impairments to conduct
their daily therapeutic activities. The utilization of
the framework definitely improved our
understanding of the relationships between
features and high-level interaction goals. The
representational tools and the process of
constructing them helped making explicit the
design alternatives and the design team
assumptions regarding artifact use. However,
there are hurdles to conquer, in particular, the
creation of common ground within the team in
relation to the definition of the terms employed
and assuring that the emergence of common
ground does not hide fundamental differences
regarding the meaning of the design elements
uncovered. Furthermore, more research is
needed in order to understand how to elicit
values related to the artifact from the different
stakeholders of a particular social context