Setting wicked problems using design methods: People’s hesitancy to engage with the Internet of Things

Abstract

Societal problems are wicked problems, defying definition and resisting resolution. The Internet of Things has the potential to deliver significant benefit, economically and socially. At the present time, however, people are hesitant to engage with the IoT in their personal lives. These concerns arise from human values such as the need to maintain of personal privacy and the desire to retain some control over how personal data might be used. But these concerns indicate that there is value tension at the core of the Internet of Things: the very elements that enable the IoT to deliver the potential benefits are also causative of the concerns that people experience. This problem is a wicked problem.The first step towards a solution to a problem requires identifying the features and characteristics of the problem; the task of problem setting. As has already been identified, wicked problems defy definition. Wicked problems are also unique, small particularities may be significant to the nature of the problem and the possible solutions. They are also grounded in reality as people live in the condition from which the problem arises so that even the task of defining a problem becomes performative, changing the condition and impacting those people. There is no generalisable approach to setting and then solving a wicked problem. Rather, an approach to setting a wicked problem must recognise and response to the properties of those problems. Before decisions can be made of the process to be followed and the methods that will be used, questions about the nature of the task of setting a wicked problem must be answered. These questions are: What is required to develop an understanding of a wicked problem? What is required of the task of setting a wicked problem? What is required of design and research when setting a wicked problem? This thesis aims to provide an exploration of a process for the setting of a wicked problem and of some design methods to support this task in order to provide some guidance on answering these questions. The problem of people’s hesitation to engage with the Internet of Things was used a vehicle for this exploration.Design approaches are suited to complex and open problems. The research approach adopted was informed by Research through Design as it supports the construction of knowledge when faced with problems of this nature. Methods including a review of discourse, technology probes, scaffolded interviews and a collaborative design process were used to investigate the concerns stakeholders hold about engagement with the IoT. The notion of a Deweyian public was adopted in order to provide a stable frame for the identification and understanding of the matters of concerns that arise around a problem. The information gathered in each stage of the project was analysed using a number of design-based methods in order to identify and describe matters of concern. Each of these methods approached the task differently, giving rise to different understandings of the matters of concern. These matters of concern and the descriptions that were developed were mapped onto a framework in order to provide a organised representation of those matters of concern.Whilst the focus of task setting is to provide some kind of representation of the features and characteristics of the problem (in this case a map), the real value from undertaking the task of setting a wicked problem arises from the process. An approach that involves a variety of methods for both investigation and analysis of perspectives of the matters of concern within a wicked problem affords a deeper understanding of the problem. Involving decision-makers in that process may ready them for the next task of re-solving the problem. Therefore, the real value of task setting is not to set the problem, but rather to set the decision-makers in the problem. There are a number of considerations when undertaking the task of setting a wicked problem including: the process that is designed to complete the task of problem setting must support the development of openness to the range of worldviews that are implicated by the problem; the methods chosen for this process must support the development of this openness by capturing the range and depth of experiences of the matters of concern as well as requiring those involved in the task to understand the different worldviews through the analysis that is completed; and, the designers involved in the task must commit to making an epistemological shift of their role in the process and that the true expertise of the problem resides with those who live in that problem.