Challenges and lessons learned by applying living labs in gender and IT contexts

Finding new approaches to overcome complex urban problems such as climate change has always been of interest to policymakers and academics. The changing dynamics of urban development result in the diversification of new practices during which experimentation is used to inform urban practice. Amongst these approaches, urban living labs (ULLs) have become a popular form of urban experimental innovation in many countries in the last decade. These ULLs respond to the increased complexity of future challenges calling for local solutions that acknowledge the local conditions—political, technical, and social. Even though a great deal of attention has been given to this form of urban innovation, there has been little consideration of the learning and innovation processes within ULLs. Based on a comparative case study of three innovation projects in a ULL in the city of Amsterdam, we analyse and discuss the claims of ULLs regarding innovation and the different orders of learning they foster. We argue that in the processes of experimentation within ULLs, combining mechanisms of learning and innovation is key to promoting the development of particular local solutions. However, since the learning processes are especially concerned within a particular ULL learning setting, there is a mismatch between the expectations of policymakers, industry, citizens, and knowledge institutes, as well as how the lessons learned can be useful for other contexts.

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Towards the Realization of the ICT Education Living Lab – The TechTeachers.co.za Success Story

10.28945/2157 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Albertus A. K. Buitendag ◽

Frederik Gerhardus Hattingh ◽

Matt Hains

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Best Practices ◽

Secondary School ◽

Community Of Practice ◽

South African ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Success Story ◽

Web Based ◽

Living Lab ◽

Living Labs

[The final form of this paper was published in the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology.] This paper presents the success story of the intuitive vision of an ICT high school educator in South Africa. The growth and evolution of a Community of Practice, towards a full-fledged living lab is investigated. A grounded theory study analyses the living lab concept and highlights some of the current challenges secondary high school ICT education face within the South African educational landscape. Some of the concepts, ideas, best practices and lessons learned in the establishment and running of two web based technologies to support secondary school ICT subjects is discussed. The researchers present a motivation for the use of living labs to address some of the issues identified and highlights how the existing platforms fits into bigger design.

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Community Living Lab as a Collaborative Innovation Environment

10.28945/3339 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jacobus van der Walt ◽

Albertus Buitendag ◽

Jannie Zaaiman ◽

J. C. Jansen van Vuuren

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

South African ◽

Systems Thinking ◽

Real Life ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Community Living ◽

South African Context ◽

Living Lab ◽

African Context ◽

Living Labs

A Living Lab is a new way to deal with community-driven innovation in real-life contexts. The Living Lab concept is fuelled by knowledge sharing, collaboration and experimenting in open real environments. This research explores the sustainable development of community Living Labs within a South African context. The members of rural communities need sustainable development support in order to create jobs and alleviate poverty. In order to do so they need an open multidisciplinary research and systems thinking support environment which is facilitated in the Living Lab environment. The Living Lab approach provides its user group with an opportunity to develop a much deeper understanding of how the various components in their functional environment operate and interrelate. In the research community the Living Lab concept seems to be gaining increasing acceptance as a way to deal with innovation and to get insight into the innovation process. Several Living Labs are currently connected in a network of Living Labs, both in Europe and in South Africa aiming to share best practices and lessons learned. Creating an innovative software based management model for Living Labs for the greater South African region is also part of the research objectives. This paper presents two interrelated frameworks for the establishment of a Living Lab within a South African context. The paper also highlights the important role of holistic Systems thinking in a Living Lab environment.

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Towards the Realization of the ICT Education Living Lab – The TechTeachers.co.za Success Story

Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology ◽

10.28945/2159 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 055-070 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Albertus A. K. Buitendag ◽

Frederik Gerhardus Hattingh ◽

Matt Hains

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Secondary School ◽

South African ◽

Communication Technology ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Success Story ◽

Web Based ◽

Living Lab ◽

Information And Communication ◽

Living Labs

This paper presents the success story of the intuitive vision of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) high school educator in South Africa. The growth and evolution of a Community of Practice towards a full-fledged living lab is investigated. A grounded theory study analyses the living lab concept and highlights some of the current challenges secondary high school ICT education face within the South African educational landscape. Some of the concepts, ideas, best practices, and lessons learned in the establishment and running of two web based technologies to support secondary school ICT subjects is discussed. The researchers present a motivation for the use of living labs to address some of the issues identified and highlights how the existing platforms fits into bigger design.

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Embedding Higher Education into a Real-World Lab: A Process-Oriented Analysis of Six Transdisciplinary Project Courses

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10103798 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 3798 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Richard Beecroft

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Real World ◽

Social Practice ◽

Vital Role ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

New Approach ◽

Teaching Activities ◽

Living Labs ◽

Urban Lab

Since the early days of the emerging research format of Real-world Labs (RwLs), higher education plays a vital role in them. Examples have been presented on teaching activities in RwLs, but the reasons for and evidence of their inclusion stays limited. To start a systematic discussion on the embedding of higher education in RwLs, this paper presents the case of six Transdisciplinary Project Courses carried out in the RwL “District Future—Urban Lab” in Karlsruhe/Germany. The paper presents the discourses on the role of learning in RwLs and compares it to those on Transition Labs and Urban Living Labs. To offer a new approach to address this aspect, the paper introduces a social practice perspective to map out the interrelations between an RwL and higher education therein. The detailed analysis of the processes is used to identify the potential of the RwL to support learning. It shows that all dimensions of social practice can be identified in the interplay between Real-world Lab and Transdisciplinary Project Courses, even though to a very different degree and in different phases. The text closes with lessons learned for teaching project courses in RwLs and similar labs.

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The Practice of Urban Experimentation in Dutch City Labs

Urban Planning ◽

10.17645/up.v6i1.3626 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 161-170

Author(s):

Christian Scholl ◽

Joop De Kraker

Keyword(s):

Urban Planning ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Small Subset ◽

Urban Living ◽

Policy Goals ◽

Resource Limited ◽

Comprehensive Picture ◽

Living Labs ◽

Group Interviews ◽

Dutch City

‘Urban planning by experiment’ can be seen as an approach that uses experimentation to innovate and improve urban planning instruments, approaches, and outcomes. Nowadays, urban experiments—interventions in the city with the aim to innovate, learn, or gain experience—are increasingly taking place in the context of Urban Living Labs. In the Netherlands, a certain type of Urban Living Lab, called city labs, is flourishing, and it has been suggested that these labs could make an important contribution to ‘urban planning by experiment.’ However, previous studies have indicated that this will depend on how experimentation is conducted in these labs. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of the practice of experimentation, we conducted a survey among Dutch city labs, supplemented by individual and group interviews with practitioners from a small subset of the 17 responding labs. We conclude that there is a poor match between the practice of experimentation in Dutch city labs and the characteristics that are considered to support effective ‘urban planning by experiment’ (i.e., a structured approach to experimentation, co-creation of experiments, active and targeted dissemination of lessons learned, and experiments as linking pins between municipal policy goals and the needs of urban society). This suggests that the current contribution of Dutch city labs to ‘urban planning by experiment’ is probably quite limited. Further research is needed to determine whether the typical practice of experimentation encountered in the Dutch city labs, i.e., action-oriented, resource-limited, and largely driven by opportunities, is also found in Urban Living Labs elsewhere.

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Lessons Learned From Coaching Postsecondary Students With Traumatic Brain Injury

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2019_persp-19-00092 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 88-96

Author(s):

Mary R. T. Kennedy

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Sense Of Self ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Sudden Onset ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

The Brain ◽

Exhaustive List

Purpose The purpose of this clinical focus article is to provide speech-language pathologists with a brief update of the evidence that provides possible explanations for our experiences while coaching college students with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method The narrative text provides readers with lessons we learned as speech-language pathologists functioning as cognitive coaches to college students with TBI. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather to consider the recent scientific evidence that will help our understanding of how best to coach these college students. Conclusion Four lessons are described. Lesson 1 focuses on the value of self-reported responses to surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. Lesson 2 addresses the use of immediate/proximal goals as leverage for students to update their sense of self and how their abilities and disabilities may alter their more distal goals. Lesson 3 reminds us that teamwork is necessary to address the complex issues facing these students, which include their developmental stage, the sudden onset of trauma to the brain, and having to navigate going to college with a TBI. Lesson 4 focuses on the need for college students with TBI to learn how to self-advocate with instructors, family, and peers.

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Experiences With and Lessons Learned From Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating a Support Program for Older Hearing Aid Users and Their Communication Partners in the Hearing Aid Dispensing Setting

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2020_aja-19-00072 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (3S) ◽

pp. 638-647 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Janine F. J. Meijerink ◽

Marieke Pronk ◽

Sophia E. Kramer

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Hearing Aid ◽

Critical Discussion ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Research Note ◽

Support Program ◽

Large Sample Size ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Communication Program ◽

Communication Partners

Purpose The SUpport PRogram (SUPR) study was carried out in the context of a private academic partnership and is the first study to evaluate the long-term effects of a communication program (SUPR) for older hearing aid users and their communication partners on a large scale in a hearing aid dispensing setting. The purpose of this research note is to reflect on the lessons that we learned during the different development, implementation, and evaluation phases of the SUPR project. Procedure This research note describes the procedures that were followed during the different phases of the SUPR project and provides a critical discussion to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the approach taken. Conclusion This research note might provide researchers and intervention developers with useful insights as to how aural rehabilitation interventions, such as the SUPR, can be developed by incorporating the needs of the different stakeholders, evaluated by using a robust research design (including a large sample size and a longer term follow-up assessment), and implemented widely by collaborating with a private partner (hearing aid dispensing practice chain).

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