scholarly journals Giving a Voice to Students with Disabilities to Design Library Experiences: An Ethnographic Study

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Monica Cerdan Chiscano

Although librarians generally display an inclusive management style, barriers to students with disabilities remain widespread. Against this backdrop, a collaborative research project called Inclusive Library was launched in 2019 in Catalonia, Spain. This study empirically tests how involving students with disabilities in the experience design process can lead to new improvements in users’ library experience. A mix of qualitative techniques, namely focus groups, ethnographic techniques and post-experience surveys, were used to gain insights from the 20 libraries and 20 students with disabilities collaborating in the project. Based on the participants’ voices and follow-up experiences, the study makes several suggestions on how libraries can improve their accessibility. Results indicate that ensuring proper resource allocation for accessibility improves students with disabilities’ library experience. Recommendations for library managers are also provided.

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Dlugokecki ◽  
Dennis Fanguy ◽  
Lisa Hepinstall

In February 2007, NSRP awarded the project entitled “Design for Producibility (DFP) for Mid-Tiered Shipyards,” a collaborative research project which included Bollinger, Atlantic Marine, and Todd Pacific Shipyards. The purpose of the project was to incorporate DFP methodologies into the ship design process for each of the participating midtiered shipyards to enable simplification of the ship design process and vessel construction requirements. This paper will provide an understanding of the process used to develop the shipyard-specific DFP information. The paper will also provide a quantification and appreciation of the resulting cost benefits associated with the implementation of DFP principles at each of the participating shipyards. New construction programs in each of the shipyards enabled real-time metrics to be captured, illustrating the achievement of cost reduction opportunities resulting from DFP implementation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Flanagan ◽  
Fiona J Benson ◽  
Frederic Fovet

In light of the innumerable changes in post-secondary environments that reflect a movement toward inclusive education and a reliance on real-world evaluations in the form of field placements, we report on our findings from a collaborative research project that examines field placement experiences from a variety of perspectives. Our research project, prompted by our own observations of the barriers to equity for field placement students with disabilities at our institution, is an attempt to reflect on our disability service and our teaching and learning practices. We expanded on the traditional focus in the field by creating a multi-dimensional cross-sector collaboration and by including the perspectives of Professional Program Directors, Field Placement Coordinators, and students with disabilities. We found that all stakeholders reported barriers to success in field placement for students with disabilities, saw few solutions, and anticipated the barriers to continue into the world of employment. We discuss these findings in relation to the implications for teaching and learning and for disability service provision in post-secondary institutions.


Author(s):  
Catarina LELIS

The brand is a powerful representational and identification-led asset that can be used to engage staff in creative, sustainable and developmental activities. Being a brand the result of, foremost, a design exercise, it is fair to suppose that it can be a relevant resource for the advancement of design literacy within organisational contexts. The main objective of this paper was to test and validate an interaction structure for an informed co-design process on visual brand artefacts. To carry on the empirical study, a university was chosen as case study as these contexts are generally rich in employee diversity. A non-functional prototype was designed, and walkthroughs were performed in five focus groups held with staff. The latter evidenced a need/wish to engage with basic design principles and high willingness to participate in the creation of brand design artefacts, mostly with the purposeof increasing its consistent use and innovate in its representation possibilities, whilst augmenting the brand’s socially responsible values.


Author(s):  
Andrea CAPRA ◽  
Ana BERGER ◽  
Daniela SZABLUK ◽  
Manuela OLIVEIRA

An accurate understanding of users' needs is essential for the development of innovative products. This article presents an exploratory method of user centered research in the context of the design process of technological products, conceived from the demands of a large information technology company. The method is oriented - but not restricted - to the initial stages of the product development process, and uses low-resolution prototypes and simulations of interactions, allowing users to imagine themselves in a future context through fictitious environments and scenarios in the ambit of ideation. The method is effective in identifying the requirements of the experience related to the product’s usage and allows rapid iteration on existing assumptions and greater exploration of design concepts that emerge throughout the investigation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dagenais ◽  
Michelle Proulx ◽  
Esther Mc Sween-Cadieux ◽  
Aude Nikiema ◽  
Emmanuel Bonnet ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this commentary, we present a follow-up of two articles published in 2017 and 2018 about road traffic crashes, which is an important public health issue in Africa and Burkina Faso. The first article reported on a research project, conducted in partnership with local actors involved in road safety, carried out in Ouagadougou in 2015. Its aim was to test the effectiveness, acceptability, and capacity of a surveillance system to assess the number of road traffic crashes and their consequences on the health of crash victims. Several knowledge translation activities were carried out to maximize its impact and were reported in the 2018 article published in HRPS: monthly reports presenting the research data, large-format printed maps distributed to the city’s police stations, and a deliberative workshop held at the end of the research project. The present commentary presents our efforts to deepen our understanding of the impacts of the knowledge translation strategy, based on follow-up interviews, 18 months after the workshop, with the heads of the road traffic crash units in Ouagadougou police stations (n = 5). Several benefits were reported by respondents. Their involvement in the process prompted them to broaden their knowledge of other ways of dealing with the issue of road crashes. This led them, sometimes with their colleagues, to intervene differently: more rapid response at collision sites, increased surveillance of dangerous intersections, user awareness-raising on the importance of the highway code, etc. However, sustaining these actions over the longer term has proven difficult. Several lessons were derived from this experience, regarding the importance of producing useful and locally applicable research data, of ensuring the acceptability of the technologies used for data collection, of using collaborative approaches in research and knowledge translation, of ensuring the visibility of actions undertaken by actors in the field, and of involving decision-makers in the research process to maximize its impacts.


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline S. Dowling ◽  
Mary Anne Bright

Leadership ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantale Mailhot ◽  
Stéphanie Gagnon ◽  
Ann Langley ◽  
Louis-Félix Binette

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