This research explores the phenomenon of design fixation by studying undergraduate design students undertaking an information product design problem. The research is based on a case study, with 64 students. The students were given a design problem, and their design processes were documented in a weblog, which was analyzed jointly with handouts and slide presentations. The research suggests that the formulation of ideas in and recording of an early group brainstorming sessions may contribute to fixation of the finale design solution.
In this paper we report on an attempt to let students, companies, and organisations themselves discover the kinds of technologies that could be useful when co-producing knowledge in a Master’s-level course in innovation and design. Traditionally, and for various good reasons such as security and stability, universities have had certain online tools and systems for collaboration, while companies and municipalities have had others. These systems support internal communication within organisations but do not necessarily enhance communication with external contacts. This use of different systems creates barriers to the iterative, recurring, convenient, non-hierarchical, and open online collaboration needed in an innovative design process involving multiple stakeholders. During a ten-week Master’s-level course in innovation and design in 2016 and 2017 the 38 students divided into five project groups established contact with five companies and organisations and could choose their own online tools in dialogue with them. This paper presents the students’ and organisations’ emerging practices during the process based on observations and reflective evaluations conducted during and after the course. The results are discussed in light of how socio-material assemblages formed in this special setting and how the results might be used to improve the teaching of online literacy in design collaboration. The result indicates that for co-production of knowledge in innovation and design projects, three new social media literacies would be useful: meta communication, peak performance, and design awareness.
The possibility that physical space can support or disturb processes for innovation in production systems is overlooked in the manufacturing industry and in research. This article rests on three studies in manufacturing industries and one in a design firm, with a focus on the employees' subjective experience of the physical space in relation to innovation. The employees made photographs and used keywords (followed up with verbal interviews) to communicate the relationship they perceived between physical space and innovation. The study shows that there is a relationship between company culture and the individual’s choices of physical spaces understood to support or hinder innovation. From the results, it can be concluded, that manufacturing companies which were studied form cultures that produce few spaces that support divergent thinking, while such spaces are prioritized in the design firm. This article show clean and orderly spaces for innovation in the manufacturing industry; for the design company, informal, collaborative, and visually simulative environments.
Providing an environment in which both radical innovation and continuous improvement can exist, i.e. an ambidextrous environment, is one of the biggest challenges management faces. While having an ambidextrous organisation is of central importance to the competitive advantage of a firm, there is limited understanding of how to manage it.
In this article, we are reporting on our research on the design of workspaces and the relations between design and ambidexterity in innovation. We studied the workspaces as artefacts in innovation cultures. We analysed relations between users and spaces that could enable an explorative innovation culture to emerge, and found spaces related to explorative innovation that coexisted with an exploitative innovation culture in production in the manufacturing industry.
The results indicate that to develop ambidexterity on an individual level in a culture dominated by exploitative innovation, one strategy is spatial differentiation. The result shows that artefacts relating to a culture for explorative innovation in the studied manufacturing companies are artefacts in a marginalised culture. We present six spatial characteristics for artefacts in the marginalised culture: undercover spaces, grey zone spaces, satellite spaces, chameleon spaces, temporal spaces and accession spaces.
The availability of new research for IoT support and the human-centric perspective of industry 4.0 opens a gap to support operators in unleashing their creativity so they can provide improvements opportunities with IoT technology. This paper presents a case-study carried out in four Swedish manufacturing companies, where four different workshops were facilitated to support operators in the conceptualization of manufacturing improvements with IoT technologies. The empirical material gathered during these workshops has been analyzed in five different reflective sessions and discussed in light of previous research from industry 4.0, operators, and IoT support. Results indicate that operators can collaboratively create conceptual IoT solutions and that expressiveness in communicating their ideas and needs using IoT technology is more relevant than technical aspects and details of their proposed IoT solutions. This technological expressiveness is identified as a necessary skill to be cultivated on the shop floor and can potentially contribute to making a more effective and socially sustainable industrial landscape in the future.
Novel IoT market solutions and research promise IoT modules that do not require programming or electrical setup, yet shop floor personnel need to face problem solving activities to create technical solutions. This paper introduces the Karakuri card deck and presents a case study composed of four workshop sessions in four manufacturing settings, where shop floor personnel tested the cards as a means of ideating and presenting conceptual IoT solutions in the form of diagrams. The results indicate the validity of the proposed conceptual solutions and suggest prototyping as a next step.
Artificial Intelligence offers a wide variety of capabilities that can potentially address people's needs and desires in their specific contexts. This pilot study presents a collaborative method using a deck of AI cards tested with 58 production, AI, and information science students, and experts from an accessible media agency. The results suggest that, with the support of the method and AI cards, participants can ideate and reach conceptual AI solutions. Such conceptualisations can contribute to a more inclusive integration of AI solutions in society.
This conceptual paper presents a Living Lab model of how university, society and organisation may strengthen the co-creation capacity on regional and international level to improve quality in higher education. Our conclusions are that successful co-creation between universities and society/organizations is built on mutual contribution, knowledge sharing as well as engagement from all involved. Here, living lab methods can help improve quality. Further, from a university perspective, a challenge is to keep the engagement in the project from all involved, and to assure an equal status between stakeholders. This calls for a skill in how to conduct project in co-creation with several partners. A skill that has to be taught to students as well as to teachers and researchers.
For some forty years the eye-tracking technology has facilitated the study of eye movement patterns for sighted people during reading and other visual activities. Today - a newly developed automatic finger tracking system makes it possible to reconstruct blind people's tactile reading in real time and to automatically analyze finger movements during Braille text reading and tactile picture recognition. In this case study, the very first automatic finger tracking system is presented together with results indicating how Braille readers can increase awareness of their own readingstyles. This opens up for future Braille education to become more evidence-based and, at the same time, for a new research field: contrastive studies of language in its auditory, visual and tactile manifestations.
In order to evaluate who benefits, and how, from collaboration between universities and society, it is necessary to develop solid evaluation models. The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) has been commissioned by the Swedish government to present an evaluation model for university-society collaboration, which is intended to be included in the future distribution of funding to Swedish universities. This makes Sweden an interesting example of the challenges associated with the implementation of a national evaluation model for university-society collaboration. The objective of this study is to identify challenges for evaluation of university-society collaboration in an academic context. We analyse the actual implementation process of a national evaluation system for university-society collaboration, by putting Swedish policy in relation to international research. The results suggest that there is broad knowledge on the complexity of university-society collaboration, and of the difficulties associated with evaluation, even if certain aspects, like the importance of teaching, networking, and gender aspects, are often overlooked. However, the discussion tends to focus on the construction of relevant indicators, while there is a widespread lack of discussion and agreement on the objectives and goals of university-society collaboration, as well as discussions on how to define the concept. The importance of these aspects is illustrated by the difficulties in Sweden with developing a legitimate assessment system for university-society collaboration.
This paper describes the use of blended learning approaches in designing two courses in the two-years international master's program in innovation and design education. The paper discusses the benefits and challenges encountered during the implementation of the courses in a blended way. The guiding research questions for this study are: How can blended learning approaches be applied in innovation and design education? what are key benefits and challenges in designing and implementing blended courses in this education field? The paper is based on our three years' experiences in designing and implementing blended courses between 2016-2018. The Blackboard and Yammer micro-blog were used as the main course tools. Data was collected throughout the course periods between 2016-2018 from 55 students. The study observed following benefits with designing and implementing courses in a "blended" way: useful for learning different insights and perspectives, enables reflection and provide a good summary of face-to-face lectures, and fosters engagement and collaboration even outside the classroom. The identified challenges during the implementation of blended courses are students' limited engagement, errors due to technical, connectivity, and interfaces, new to the course management systems and blended courses, and difficulties to keep track and to follow-up over time. Moreover, the paper discussed six lessons learned in designing and implementing the blended courses in innovation and design education. The paper contributes to the blended learning research in soft-applied fields like innovation and design, where the blended studies are limited. In addition, the paper contributes to the discussion of using micro-blogs for designing blended courses in innovation and design education.
This study investigates the influence of different forms of media instructions on the process and outcomes of completing a specific procedural task. The experiment was conducted with four student groups having an education in the area of Information Design. In the experiment four media instructions text only, text plus drawings, a series of pictures and video with narration were considered. The findings show that the type of media has an influence on the ability to solve a procedural task and on group interaction and the way groups solve a task. Compared with the other instructions, video instruction triggered a different interaction and behavioural pattern during assembly. Participants considered both video and picture instructions as more usable in terms of facilitating the ability to understand, select and apply possible solutions to a given task. However, the video medium showed little influence on dialogue in the group during assembly. The instructions, such as text plus drawings, pictures and video had a similar influence on task performance times, whereas text instructions took three times longer to implement than other instructions.
Aim: To describe the systematic development of an evidence-based, tailored, interactive web application for self-management of work-related stress, and to test usability issues regarding how to proceed through the programme. Methods: Evidence from the fields of stress management, behaviour change and web-based interventions was the foundation for the theoretical framework and content. The next step was the development process of the web application and validation among experts and one possible end user. Last, a usability test with 14 possible end users was conducted. Results: The web-application, My Stress Control (MSC), was built on a solid theoretical framework. It consists of 12 modules including: introduction, psychoeducation, ambivalence, stress management strategies, lifestyle change, and maintenance. Self-monitoring, goal-setting, re-evaluating goals, feedback, and prompting formulation of intention to change are central techniques supporting behaviour change. The usability test revealed difficulties in understanding how to proceed through the programme. Conclusion: The development contributes to filling a gap in the literature regarding development of complex web-based interventions. MSC is dissimilar to existing programs in the field, considering the tailoring and multi-tracked opportunities. Although developed from the evidence in multiple fields, the web application would benefit from further development to support users in reaching the end module.
The aim of the current study was to investigate the feasibility of a Web-based program that promotes behavior change for stress-related problems in terms of the program’s acceptability, practicability, and any possible effects. In addition, the aim was also to study how appropriate and realistic the study’s process and resource management would be for conducting a randomized controlled trial. A convenience sample consisting of 14 individuals was recruited from a university in Sweden. The participants had access to the program for a duration of 9 weeks. Questionnaires were answered before accessing, during use of, and after completing the program. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. The program was considered acceptable and practically feasible, though small adjustments have to be made. The program was considered time-consuming, extensive, and in need of some clarifications. Regarding process and resource management, the study participants required minimum support. It was difficult to identify the time point when to send out the process measures because the participants worked at their own pace. Also, one of the process measurements, the motivation to change, remained stable. With some adjustments to the instructions to the study participants and minor changes in the program, the intervention and study’s procedure were considered as feasible and can be carried out in a randomized controlled trial.
Objectives: To explore users’ experiences of a tailored, interactive web application that supports behaviour change in stress management and to identify if and in that case what in the web-based programme that needed further development or adjustment to be feasible in a randomised controlled trial.
Method: The design of this study was explorative with a qualitative approach. Nine individuals were recruited among the staff at a university. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted and analysed using qualitative content analysis, after the participants had completed the web-based stress management programme.
Results: One theme was identified, Struggling with what I need when stress management is about me, describing the paradox in having a programme that is perceived as supporting stress management while also being perceived as extensive and time consuming. The theme was divided in two categories: Defining the needs, where the users expressed what they needed from the programme and their everyday environment, to be able to use the programme, and It is about me, where the programme was described as helping the users understand their own stress.
Conclusion: The participants expressed acceptance of using a web-based programme for stress related problems. The perceived extensiveness of the programme must be considered in further development.
This paper presents the results of a case study aimed at investigating how decisions are made on managing deviations in complex product development projects. The results are based on the analysis of data collected from participant observations, as well as interviews with project managers from seven large manufacturing companies. The data is analysed according to four types of sensemaking processes. This research examines why these processes are used in different situations and further explore their characteristics and at their relationship with the different roles decisions play in organizations. The factors driving controlled and uncontrolled sensemaking are also examined. This research contributes to knowledge of how project managers use different praxes to manage deviations in complex, socially and politically sensitive environments. The results can be used by decision makers within complex product development in order to assist them in managing deviations, proactively as well as reactively.
This case study is based on a research through design project (RTD) that focuses on a technical communication video of the live-action format. It investigates the usability and design-implications of a live-action how-to video, by means of analyzing user-centered data such as YouTube analytics data, usability, and comprehension assessments. In the study, four key live-action video affordances are identified: verifiability, comparability, recordability, and visibility. The identification of these affordances when related to the users’ assessments resulted in several design implementations that would warrant sought-for communication efficacies. Findings show that some assumed efficacies appear to be mitigated by the complexity and the density of the video information. One implication of this is that the implementation of conventional video editing techniques and the addition of on-screen text that serve to make content briefer and more concise into instructional live-action videos requires the technical communicator’s careful consideration.
Abstract: This article will address the question of how fiction films are individuated in terms of image quality on the grounds of the recording technology used. As new cost-effective digital recording technologies are introduced to the marketplace, this becomes a salient issue to understand for producers and production teams. In order to define cameras’ image quality capacities, three almost identical short fiction film sequences were tested on a young audience in a comparative blind test. Surprisingly, the result unambiguously showed that most viewers preferred the film recorded on an iPhone. Based on Barbara Maria Stafford's theoretical framework on the cognitive work of images and theories that concern ecological moving image theory, the analysis of this article aims to explain the reception study's result by illuminating the sublime and ambiguous figure–ground constellation of the iPhone video and its cognitive ramifications.
This paper describes a project that aims to come up with a suggestion for guide-lines and new work- flow models concerning the demand of tailored content that influence every design process of moving images as well as the distribution of creative decisions within contemporary production organizations in the audio-visual industry. In this context we define creativity as the social and psychological process that enable people to generate new ideas and concepts or to come up with new associations between existing ideas and concepts. From a theoretical perspective, the purpose of this paper is to discuss new design processes and workflows in the production of moving images in order to establish a general comprehension describing contemporary digital production chains for moving images. A purpose of the project is to find and analyze the weak and problematic links of the production chain, in order to suggest a solution for the problems, namely a flexible workflow model for the production of moving images. By flexibility we mean an ability to adapt to new challenges and changes, both external and internal. We have recently initiated this unique collaborative research project that focuses on how small and mid-sized audio-visual production enterprises in Sweden have developed and are developing new design processes due to a number of recent socio-economic and technological challenges. For the first time a number of the front-line production companies in Sweden participates in a scientific research project on common issues. Research questions to be addressed: - Has digitalization of film/TV production increased the flexibility and responsiveness of the production system? - Does this lead to more diffuse or better-defined work-roles among individual film/TV-workers? - Do new workflows and the distribution of creativity lead to an actual decentralization of creative decisions and responsibility in the design process of moving images?
This article explores whether GTS (gaze time on screen) can be useful as an engagement measure in the screen mediated learning context. Research that exemplifies ways of measuring engagement in the on-line education context usually does not address engagement metrics and engagement evaluation methods that are unique to the diverse contemporary instructional media landscape. Nevertheless, unambiguous construct definitions of engagement and standardized engagement evaluation methods are needed to leverage instructional media's efficacy. By analyzing the results from a mixed methods eye-tracking study of fifty-seven participants evaluating their visual and assembly performance levels in relation to three visual, procedural instructions that are versions of the same procedural instruction, we found that the mean GTS-values in each group were rather similar. However, the original GTS-values outputted from the ET-computer were not entirely correct and needed to be manually checked and cross validated. Thus, GTS appears not to be a reliable, universally applicable automatic engagement measure in screen-based instructional efforts. Still, we could establish that the overall performance of learners was somewhat negatively impacted by lower than mean GTS-scores, when checking the performance levels of the entire group (N = 57). When checking the stimuli groups individually (N = 17, 20, 20), the structural diagram group's assembly time durations were positively influenced by higher than mean GTS-scores.
Globalization and digitalization are buzz words in contemporary society. They affect both our private and our professional lives. Society has become more diverse with easier access to information and to virtual platforms that gives us opportunity to be in touch with colleagues, friends, family, etc. at any time. A complex environment is emerging wherein internet of things and big data are being integrated with products, production systems, healthcare, and daily activity and play an important part in decision making. This has an impact on future designs and the role of designers. Responsible designers with a holistic perspective are needed. The book highlights several aspects of design thinking such as Information Design and Critical Design. The meaning of culture, gender and disabilities are also discussed. The functions of Information Design are changing from 'showing the way', instruction manuals and graphic design. It will affect among others, healthcare technology, smart products and Industry 4.0. Design thinking perspective that includes users from the entire chain and from the producer to the end user of the product or service, is needed. This will also require gender and culture issues to be taken into consideration in designing products and services. Design thinking methods and critical aspects of design will contribute to an inclusive society.
As pointed out already by the French philosopher Dennis Diderot in the late 18th century, sight is a very efficient and elegant sense (Diderot, 1749). It is possible to see great distances and very close-up views. By looking, we can quickly get an idea of an environment or a specific milieu. Through pictures on the Internet, nonfiction books, storybooks for children or magazines, we get information about, for example, different parts of the world or fashion. Sight is used to orient us in many different ways, socially and geographically. It is possible to perceive space entirely from vision, but it could be apprehended from haptic experience as well as hearing. For sighted people, hearing and haptic understanding support the visual impression, while people with visual impairment have to depend on them. This chapter will address questions about how blind children learn to use touch for a better understanding of the environment. I will here focus on how tactile pictures in storybooks can support further discussions about everyday objects and episodes, and more abstract conversations. I will also address theories about tactile and multimodal reading processes that are involved in tactile decoding, and how they relate to visual perception and visual literacy.
A growing population of elderly people with an extensive knowledge of ICT is to be expected - a generation that has several decades of daily experience from using computers, cell phones and other devices at work situations and in their spare time. Today the discussion of elderly people and technology is dominated by the perception that the elderly are comparatively inexperienced with regard to digital technology. The challenge for the future is, however, to overcome the gradual loss of the senses with the help of technical devices that fulfill the needs of older technologically mature users.
The implications of robots’ design for their acceptance in nursing settings, particularly for elderly people and those involved in their care, have not been thoroughly considered from an information design perspective. This research gap is addressed here, as such a perspective enables consideration of several important socio-cultural aspects of robots, including potentially significant elements of visual culture. Since all these aspects influence views of robots as aids for elderly people, there is a need to understand how robots’ design (in terms of appearance) and perceptions of aging influence intended elderly users, their relatives, caregivers and decision-makers. Robots materialize digital technology, both metaphorically and literally. AI and embedded systems enable robots to act, but the shape and materials selected to make them influence our interactions with them. Thus, as shown in this paper, application of an information design perspective can provide deeper insights about the influences of current and historical culture and media on both the perceptions and experiences of aging, and relations of these perceptions and experiences to the acceptance (or lack of acceptance) of robots as tools for nursing old people.