scholarly journals LHF Connect: a DIY telepresence robot against COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-431
Author(s):  
Maria Rosanna Fossati ◽  
Manuel Giuseppe Catalano ◽  
Marina Carbone ◽  
Gianluca Lentini ◽  
Danilo Caporale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Multidisciplinary Team ◽  
End Users ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Related Product ◽  
Telepresence Robot ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Service Blueprint

This contribution describes a case study of a “do-it-yourself” (DIY) opensource service and related product to help combating the COVID-19 emergency. It illustrates the birth of LHF Connect, a project designed to facilitate communication between patients isolated in COVID-19 hospitals’ ward and their relatives. LHF Connect is a teleoperated robot that can move in autonomy around the hospital. A User Centered Design approach, methods and specific tools helped in managing crucial steps of the design process such as i) the collection of needs coming from the context, stakeholders and end-users; ii) defining the service blueprint; iii) imagining finishing concepts; and iv) managing the communication activities. The initiative has been promoted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers (mainly roboticists with the help of specific competences coming from Design discipline).

scholarly journals ENGAGING END USERS IN AN AI-ENABLED SMART SERVICE DESIGN - THE APPLICATION OF THE SMART SERVICE BLUEPRINT SCAPE (SSBS) FRAMEWORK

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1363-1372
Author(s):  
Fan Li ◽  
Yuan Lu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Process ◽  
End Users ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Mobility Service ◽  
Ai Ethics ◽  
Smart Service ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
Diverse Context ◽  
Service Blueprint

AbstractArtificial Intelligence (AI) has expanded in a diverse context, it infiltrates our social lives and is a critical part of algorithmic decision-making. Adopting AI technology, especially AI-enabled design, by end users who are non-AI experts is still limited. The incomprehensible, untransparent decision-making and difficulty of using AI become obstacles which prevent these end users to adopt AI technology. How to design the user experience (UX) based on AI technologies is an interesting topic to explore.This paper investigates how non-AI-expert end users can be engaged in the design process of an AI-enabled application by using a framework called Smart Service Blueprint Scape (SSBS), which aims to establish a bridge between UX and AI systems by mapping and translating AI decisions based on UX. A Dutch mobility service called ‘stUmobiel ’ was taken as a design case study. The goal is to design a reservation platform with stUmobiel end users. Co-creating with case users and assuring them to understand the decision-making and service provisional process of the AI-enabled design is crucial to promote users’ adoption. Furthermore, the concern of AI ethics also arises in the design process and should be discussed in a broader sense.

Inclusion of Users with Special Needs in the Human-Centered Design of a Web-Portal

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Renate Motschnig ◽  
Dominik Hagelkruys
Keyword(s):  
Special Needs ◽  
Design Process ◽  
End Users ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Human Centered Design ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Users With Special Needs

Human-Centered Design focuses on the analysis, specification and involvement of a product's end users as driving elements in the design process. The primary research objective of the case-study presented in this paper is to illustrate that it is essential to include users with special needs into all major steps of designing a web-portal that provides services to these special users. But how can this be accomplished in the case of users with special cognitive and affective needs? Would the “classical” Human-Centered Design Process (HCD) be sufficient or would it need to be adapted and complemented with special procedures and tools? In this paper the design team shares the strategies they adopted and the experiences they gained by including users with dyslexia in the design of the LITERACY Web-Portal. Besides providing insight into the special effort and steps needed to adapt HCD for users with special needs, the paper encourages application designers to include end-users even though - or particularly because - they have needs that are special and critical for the adoption of the product.

An Interactive Tool for the Participatory Design of Product Interface

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris Barbieri ◽  
Agostino Angilica ◽  
Fabio Bruno ◽  
Maurizio Muzzupappa
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
End Users ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Accurate Analysis ◽  
Usability Tests ◽  
Interactive Tool ◽  
Novel Approach

The importance of participatory design (PD) is progressively increasing thanks to its capacity to explore a wide variety of concepts, thus increasing the opportunity to create a successful product. In fact the design process should not be a solo activity, as designers often need inputs and other points of view, especially from end-users. According to the ultimate idea of PD, end-users are actively involved in the various activities of the product development to ensure that their needs and desires are satisfied. This paper presents a novel approach to the participatory design of product interfaces in a user-centered design (UCD) process. The approach is based on an interactive tool that allows end-users to design custom user interfaces of household appliances taking advantage of their own needs and experiences. The tool incorporates the analytical and more abstract knowledge of the designers codified in the form of aesthetical, technological and manufacturing constraints (i.e., limitations in the number and geometry of interface components, a limited number of colors, a discretization of the area where interface widgets are placed). This solution allows the end-users to directly design their favorite interface without the interference of any other subject. Through an accurate analysis of the choices done by the users, the designers are able to access to the deepest level of the users’ expression in order to catch their latent needs and tacit knowledge. The tool has been designed in order to make possible to immediately perform usability tests on the designed interface by using a Mixed Reality prototype. The paper describes the development of the tool and proposes a methodology that has been specifically addressed to include this tool in a design process based on UCD principles. Both the tool and the methodology are presented through the description of a case-study related to the redesign of a washing machine dashboard. Experimental results show that the proposed tool can be an effective support to design product interfaces during PD sessions.

scholarly journals Using Operational Scenarios in a Virtual Reality Enhanced Design Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 448
Author(s):  
Katie Aylward ◽  
Joakim Dahlman ◽  
Kjetil Nordby ◽  
Monica Lundh
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Design Process ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
End Users ◽  
Concept Development ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
User Testing ◽  
Training And Education ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
User Centered

Maritime user interfaces for ships’ bridges are highly dependent on the context in which they are used, and rich maritime context is difficult to recreate in the early stages of user-centered design processes. Operations in Arctic waters where crews are faced with extreme environmental conditions, technology limitations and a lack of accurate navigational information further increase this challenge. There is a lack of research supporting the user-centered design of workplaces for hazardous Arctic operations. To meet this challenge, this paper reports on the process of developing virtual reality-reconstructed operational scenarios to connect stakeholders, end-users, designers, and human factors specialists in a joint process. This paper explores how virtual reality-reconstructed operational scenarios can be used as a tool both for concept development and user testing. Three operational scenarios were developed, implemented in a full mission bridge simulator, recreated in virtual reality (VR), and finally tested on navigators (end-users). Qualitative data were captured throughout the design process and user-testing, resulting in a thematic analysis that identified common themes reflecting the experiences gained throughout this process. In conclusion, we argue that operational scenarios, rendered in immersive media such as VR, may be an important and reusable asset when supporting maritime design processes and in maritime training and education.

Using Do-It-Yourself Practitioners as Lead Users: A Case Study on the Hair Care Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaesik Hahn ◽  
Amy Marconnet ◽  
Tahira Reid
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Care Industry ◽  
Close Resemblance ◽  
Lead Users ◽  
Hair Care ◽  
Do It Yourself ◽  
Typical Design

Lead users play an integral part in helping engineers to identify latent needs of customers, and this approach has been used in a variety of ways within the design community. However, despite their close resemblance to lead users, do-it-yourself (DIY) practitioners have not been directly examined by the design community. A seven-step framework is presented where the first four steps resemble a typical design process and the remaining steps are relevant for the approach of identifying DIY practitioners as lead users. A case study from the hair care industry is presented to illustrate this framework. This paper establishes a connection between these two groups of customers and demonstrates how the insights of DIY practitioners, which manifest as latent needs for knowledge, can inspire research for the development of new technologies.

Cost reallocation in social housing projects considering the desired values of end-users

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce de Andrade Ruiz ◽  
Ariovaldo Denis Granja ◽  
Doris C.C.K. Kowaltowski
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Single Case ◽  
End Users ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Housing Projects ◽  
Cost Constraints

Purpose – Challenges in social housing projects (SHP) in Brazil are mainly related to design and construction quality and cost constraints. Value delivery to end-users must be a goal, however, jointly considered with the restrictions of such developments. In the SHP context, tight cost constraints frequently have a negative impact on delivering value to end-users. The purpose of this paper is to put forward the proposition that value enhancement can be achieved by reallocating costs to better meet the attributes most valued by end-users, without increasing initial project costs. Design/methodology/approach – A set of tools used in value methodology (VM) is adopted to assist a systematic process with the goal of attaining an optimal functional balance between costs and value delivery to end-users. Desired values were indicated by users in a previous study, resulting in an Index of General Significance. A single case study was carried out to test the approach in a SHP. Opportunities for improvement guided by the desired values of end-users were evaluated. Findings – The VM approach suggests that initial project cost constraints do not necessarily induce value loss for end-users, a recurrent problem that designers and stakeholders frequently face in such contexts. Improvements were made possible through simple cost reallocation. Research limitations/implications – A single case study was carried out to validate this approach. To create a generalized approach for other similar context further tests should be undertaken. Practical implications – The proposed VM approach was shown to be efficient in assessing decisions which designers and stakeholders must take, bearing in mind cost constraints and improvements in value delivery to end-users. Social implications – Currently in Brazil, end-users’ perceptions are rarely considered into the design process of SHP. The research shows that the proposed approach could be used in similar contexts of social housing to enrich the design process and attain higher satisfaction levels. Originality/value – An important lesson learned was that subjective parameters based on the desired values of end-users could be combined with technical and functional analysis, thus an objective improvement process was devised. The approach can have clear implications for the product development of SHPs to best match the end-user's value propositions, without neglecting financial and economic needs in such a context.

scholarly journals Creating genetic reports that are understood by nonspecialists: a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Recchia ◽  
Antonia Chiappi ◽  
Gemma Chandratillake ◽  
Lucy Raymond ◽  
Alexandra L. J. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Current Clinical Practice ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Cystic Fibrosis Carrier ◽  
Usability Problems ◽  
Risk Probability ◽  
User Centered

Abstract Purpose Guidelines recommend that genetic reports should be clear to nonspecialists, including patients. We investigated the feasibility of creating reports for cystic fibrosis carrier testing through a rapid user-centered design process that built on a previously developed generic template. We evaluated the new reports’ communication efficacy and effects on comprehension against comparable reports used in current clinical practice. Methods Thirty participants took part in three rounds of interviews. Usability problems were identified and rectified in each round. One hundred ninety-three participants took part in an evaluation of the resulting reports measuring subjective comprehension, risk probability comprehension, perceived communication efficacy, and other factors, as compared with standard reports. Results Participants viewing the user-centered reports rated them as clearer, easier to understand, and more effective at communicating key information than standard reports. Both groups ended up with equivalent knowledge of risk probabilities, although we observed differences in how those probabilities were perceived. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that by starting with a patient-friendly generic report template and modifying it for specific scenarios with a rapid user-centered design process, reports can be produced that are more effective at communicating key information. The resulting reports are now being implemented into clinical care.

scholarly journals Participatory design for ontologies: a case study of an open science ontology for qualitative coding schemas

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Hocker ◽  
Christoph Schindler ◽  
Marc Rittberger
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Open Science ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Evaluation Phase ◽  
Qualitative Coding

PurposeThe open science movement calls for transparent and retraceable research processes. While infrastructures to support these practices in qualitative research are lacking, the design needs to consider different approaches and workflows. The paper bases on the definition of ontologies as shared conceptualizations of knowledge (Borst, 1999). The authors argue that participatory design is a good way to create these shared conceptualizations by giving domain experts and future users a voice in the design process via interviews, workshops and observations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a novel approach for creating ontologies in the field of open science using participatory design. As a case study the creation of an ontology for qualitative coding schemas is presented. Coding schemas are an important result of qualitative research, and reuse can yield great potential for open science making qualitative research more transparent, enhance sharing of coding schemas and teaching of qualitative methods. The participatory design process consisted of three parts: a requirement analysis using interviews and an observation, a design phase accompanied by interviews and an evaluation phase based on user tests as well as interviews.FindingsThe research showed several positive outcomes due to participatory design: higher commitment of users, mutual learning, high quality feedback and better quality of the ontology. However, there are two obstacles in this approach: First, contradictive answers by the interviewees, which needs to be balanced; second, this approach takes more time due to interview planning and analysis.Practical implicationsThe implication of the paper is in the long run to decentralize the design of open science infrastructures and to involve parties affected on several levels.Originality/valueIn ontology design, several methods exist by using user-centered design or participatory design doing workshops. In this paper, the authors outline the potentials for participatory design using mainly interviews in creating an ontology for open science. The authors focus on close contact to researchers in order to build the ontology upon the expert's knowledge.

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