An empirical framework for designing social products

Abstract

Designers generally agree that understanding the context of use is important in designing products. However, technologically advanced products such as personal robots engender complex contextual characteristics that are not yet well understood. The social context of use shapes the roles that the user and the product play in the interaction. For instance, an intelligent agent that acts as a coach for an exercise program and one that supervises a physical rehabilitation regimen for the physically challenged function in different social contexts. Only a few studies to date have considered the social context of use as part of the design. My research proposes a conceptual framework for understanding the critical social aspects of interaction with products such as the social context of use. I combine interaction design and social science methodology to make an evaluation of my framework with a series of empirical studies.