Collaborative Design Sessions Research Articles

Designing for Agonism: 12 Workers' Perspectives on Contesting Technology Futures

In this paper, we gather 12 workers from a large technology company, as recent participants of a research initiative on the social impact of emerging technologies, to present a collaborative analysis of the opportunities and limitations of dissensus-based approaches to technology research and design. We introduce a series of speculative and deconstructive probes and present findings from their use in four collaborative design sessions. We then draw on the theoretical tradition of Agonism to identify moments of friction, refusal, and disagreement over the course of these sessions. We contend that this approach offers a politically important alternative to consensus-based collaborative design methods and can even surface new rhetorics of contestation within discourses on technology futures. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of worker-authored research and an initial set opportunities, challenges, and paradoxes as a resource for future efforts to "Design for Agonism."

Co-design of a paediatric oncology medicines database (ProCure) to support complex care provision for children with a hard-to-treat cancer.

Paediatric oncologists often encounter challenges when seeking compassionate access to off-label therapies for their patients. This study employed implementation science and co-design techniques to develop the ProCure medicines database, with the goal of streamlining the application process and addressing identified barriers in paediatric oncology. This study utilised an exploratory qualitative research design. Seventeen healthcare providers, including oncologists, nurse consultants, and allied health professionals, participated in semi-structured interviews guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and a visual process map aid. Deductive qualitative data analysis, according to the CFIR constructs, identified key barriers and facilitators. Collaborative design sessions engaged multidisciplinary teams to develop the ProCure beta version. Barriers to off-label therapy access included resource-intensive applications, time sensitive decision-making, and complex pharmaceutical information. Facilitators included Drug Access Navigators, Molecular Tumour Boards, and a multi-disciplinary approach. ProCure addressed end-user needs by centralising medicines information. Additional features suggested by healthcare providers included blood-brain-barrier penetrability data and successful application examples. ProCure represents a promising solution to the challenges paediatric oncologists face in accessing off-label therapies. By centralising information, it simplifies the application process, aids decision-making, and promotes a collaborative approach to patient care. The potential of the database to stream and enhance off-label therapy access underscores its relevance in improving paediatric oncology practise. Further research and implementation efforts are warranted to assess ProCure's real-world impact and refine its features based on user feedback.

Co-Designing with Users the Explanations for a Proactive Auto-Response Messaging Agent

Explanations of AI Agents' actions are considered to be an important factor in improving users' trust in the decisions made by autonomous AI systems. However, as these autonomous systems evolve from reactive, i.e., acting on user input, to proactive, i.e., acting without requiring user intervention, there is a need to explore how the explanation for the actions of these agents should evolve. In this work, we explore the design of explanations through participatory design methods for a proactive auto-response messaging agent that can reduce perceived obligations and social pressure to respond quickly to incoming messages by providing unavailability-related context. We recruited 14 participants who worked in pairs during collaborative design sessions where they reasoned about the agent's design and actions. We qualitatively analyzed the data collected through these sessions and found that participants' reasoning about agent actions led them to speculate heavily on its design. These speculations significantly influenced participants' desire for explanations and the controls they sought to inform the agents' behavior. Our findings indicate a need to transform users' speculations into accurate mental models of agent design. Further, since the agent acts as a mediator in human-human communication, it is also necessary to account for social norms in its explanation design. Finally, user expertise in understanding their habits and behaviors allows the agent to learn from the user their preferences when justifying its actions.

Collaboration as graphs: Formatting Collaborative Design generative sessions from Social Network Analysis

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is demonstrably efficient as a method for studying several phenomena. However, its application as a basis for analysing in-person collaborative design sessions is still relatively scarce. Thus, this paper studies, in an exploratory manner, the applicability of SNA as an auxiliary framework for building co-creative design sessions. For that purpose, this research facilitated a generative session in a real context of a product design project. The interactions which took place during the session were analysed through SNA via the establishment, in the shape of graphs, of the perceived interactions by participants. The development process of facilitating materials for the generative session, such as its sensibilization kit, and other support media, is exemplified and possibilities of analysis for the sociograms developed are proposed. It concludes that SNA has the potential as a tool to provide analysis and subsequent systematic intervention in Collaborative Design sessions.

Revisiting the Digital Plumber: Modifying the Installation Process of an Established Commercial IoT Alarm System

The ‘digital plumber’ is a conceptualisation in ubicomp research that describes the work of installing and maintaining IoT devices. But an important and often understated element of commercial IoT solutions is their long-term socio-technical infrastructural nature, and therefore long-term installation and maintenance needs. This adds complexity to both the practice of digital plumbing and to the work of design that supports it. In this paper we study a commercial company producing and installing IoT alarm systems. We examine video recordings that capture how a digital plumbing representative and software development team members make changes to both the installation process and supporting technology. Our data enables us to critically reflect on concepts of infrastructuring, and uncover the ways in which the team methodically foreground hidden elements of the infrastructure to address a point of failure experienced during field trials of a new version of their product. The contributions from this paper are twofold. Firstly, our findings build on previous examples of infrastructuring in practice by demonstrating the use of notions of elemental states to support design reasoning through the continual foregrounding and assessment of tensions identified as key factors at the point of failure. Secondly, we build on current notions of digital plumbing work. We argue that additional responsibilities of ‘reporting failure’ and ‘facilitation of change’ are part of the professional digital plumbing role and that commercial teams should support these additional responsibilities through collaborative troubleshooting and design sessions alongside solid communication channels with related stakeholders within the product team.

A Participatory Design Approach to Develop Visualization of Wearable Actigraphy Data for Health Care Professionals: Case Study in Qatar.

BackgroundSeveral tools have been developed for health care professionals to monitor the physical activity of their patients, but most of these tools have been considering only the needs of users in North American and European countries and applicable for only specific analytic tasks. To our knowledge, no research study has utilized the participatory design (PD) approach in the Middle East region to develop such tools, involving all the stakeholders in the product development phases, and no clear use cases have been derived from such studies that could serve future development in the field.ObjectiveThis study aims to develop an interactive visualization tool (ActiVis) to support local health care professionals in monitoring the physical activity of their patients measured through wearable sensors, with the overall objective of improving the health of the Qatari population.MethodsWe used PD and user-centered design methodologies to develop ActiVis, including persona development, brainwriting, and heuristic walkthrough as part of user evaluation workshops; and use cases, heuristic walkthrough, interface walkthrough, and survey as part of expert evaluation sessions.ResultsWe derived and validated 6 data analysis use cases targeted at specific health care professionals from a collaborative design workshop and an expert user study. These use cases led to improving the design of the ActiVis tool to support the monitoring of patients’ physical activity by nurses and family doctors. The ActiVis research prototype (RP) compared favorably with the Fitbit Dashboard, showing the importance of design tools specific to end users’ needs rather than relying on repurposing existing tools designed for other types of users. The use cases we derived happen to be culturally agnostic, despite our assumption that the local Muslim and Arabic culture could impact the design of such visualization tools. At last, taking a step back, we reflect on running collaborative design sessions in a multicultural environment and oil-based economy.ConclusionsBeyond the development of the ActiVis tool, this study can serve other visualization and human–computer interaction designers in the region to prepare their design projects and encourage health care professionals to engage with designers and engineers to improve the tools they use for supporting their daily routine. The development of the ActiVis tool for nurses, and other visualization tools specific to family doctors and clinician researchers, is still ongoing and we plan to integrate them into an operational platform for health care professionals in Qatar in the near future.

Analysing frequent natural language expressions from design conversations

This paper extracts and analyses the most frequent natural language expressions used by participants in two real-world collaborative design sessions. The frequent expressions are extracted using the natural language processing technique of word sequence tokenisation. We then select a set of frequent expressions related to design changes. The boundaries of these are expanded by extracting the progression trends to identify specific speaker intents. These are analysed in detail while focusing on ambiguity and vagueness, aiming at identifying speakers’ precision when communicating design changes. We found that frequently used expressions play the role of language markers. In our discussion, we suggest that ambiguous and vague expressions used by participants can initiate mindful explorations of design space.

Data Comics for Reporting Controlled User Studies in Human-Computer Interaction.

Inspired by data comics, this paper introduces a novel format for reporting controlled studies in the domain of human-computer interaction (HCI). While many studies in HCI follow similar steps in explaining hypotheses, laying out a study design, and reporting results, many of these decisions are buried in blocks of dense scientific text. We propose leveraging data comics as study reports to provide an open and glanceable view of studies by tightly integrating text and images, illustrating design decisions and key insights visually, resulting in visual narratives that can be compelling to non-scientists and researchers alike. Use cases of data comics study reports range from illustrations for non-scientific audiences to graphical abstracts, study summaries, technical talks, textbooks, teaching, blogs, supplementary submission material, and inclusion in scientific articles. This paper provides examples of data comics study reports alongside a graphical repertoire of examples, embedded in a framework of guidelines for creating comics reports which was iterated upon and evaluated through a series of collaborative design sessions.

Extracting and Analysing Design Process Data from Log Files of ICT Supported Co-Creative Sessions

AbstractThe observation of designers' behaviour in collaborative design activities and the analysis of protocols improved the understanding of how novel ideas emerge, what occurs among designers and, indirectly, what methods have a good impact on the outcomes. Yet, protocol analysis requires recording the design sessions, often in a simulated environment, thus introducing a bias in the observation. Moreover, the analysis takes up to 1000 times the duration of the observed design session. These limitations definitely hinder the scalability of this practice to large experiments in real operational environments.This paper investigates the possibility to use the data collected in log files, automatically recorded during collaborative design sessions assisted by an ICT design support tool, as a means to extract relevant information about the design process and ultimately to infer insights about co-designers' cognition during the session. In this perspective, the paper proposes a set of metrics tailored to an Augmented Reality-based collaborative design tool. The study has been carried about by processing the data collected in 5 real case studies conducted in three different design companies.

Understanding Collaborative Interaction for Varying Product Complexity

Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) often develop products collaboratively. Significant interaction among designers is critical to the success of any collaborative design session. There exist various tools for remotely located interactions, such as textual, video, audio, screen share modes with varied level of cost; however, often, SMEs are unable to afford them. This work aims to identify the most appropriate mode that are required for a successful collaborative design for a given product complexity. The authors made three categories of collaborative design activity (i.e., designing an existing product, designing an existing assembly of the component, and designing a new product). The authors identified and categorized the appropriate modes of interaction for a particular level of product complexity. They conducted a number of experiments with products of increasing number of feature complexities to identify the minimum facility that a company should have to enable remotely located interactions during product design. Based on the requirement, a company can select the appropriate tool.

What if it Switched on the Sun? Exploring Creativity in a Brainstorming Session with Children Through a Vygotskyan Perspective

We contribute in this study a first step in theory-based understanding on how creativity in collaborative design sessions relates to the elements that are present in a creative act. These elements include group composition, objects present, practices used, and previous knowledge of the participants. The context of this study was our search for lightweight methods for technology design with children, which can be used in a school context with large groups, will require as little amount of training as possible, and can be set up quickly. We formed a mixed group, consisting of young children, an older child and an adult, with the aim of involving children in creative collaborative brainstorming during the very early phases of design, so as to come up with fruitful ideas for technology development. We report our process and examine the implications of our results in relation to different elements that trigger and affect creativity in the collaborative design process. Use of Vygotsky’s cycle of creativity as our theoretical lens together with timeline analysis method presented in the paper were essential for seeing beneath the surface of what happened in this complex, collaborative creative process. Our results can be used for further methodological development of creative collaborative sessions, both with children and adults.

Designing and evaluating a workstation in real and virtual environment: toward virtual reality based ergonomic design sessions

This paper adresses the issue of properly designing a digital mock-up (DMU) to be used in an experiment comparing simulated assembly tasks in both real and virtual environments. Motivations and specifications relative to the experiment are reported, and the design process of the DMU is described and illustrated. Recommendations are proposed with a particular focus on specificities relative to the use of a DMU as a support for both manufacturing and virtual reality—3D visualisation and interaction. A subjective evaluation of Real (RE), Virtual (VE), and Virtual with Force Feedback (VEF) environments is provided. Results indicate a real sensory and difficulty gap between RE and VEF, whereas a smaller difference was observed between RE and VE. In further improvements of scale-1 (where the objects in VE have the same size as in the real environment), co-localized simulation using haptic devices are warranted to fill in this gap. Results also highlight the impact of cognition and sensory feedback on user’s feeling and presence sensation. Applications of such numerical designs are presented in the last section, especially focusing on collaborative design sessions. Virtual Reality based evaluation of newly designed workstations will be a way in the future to improve design and user learning processes.

Invisible computer for collaborative design: evaluation of a multimodal sketch-based environment

In the areas of design, especially in architectural design, collaboration has become an important challenge. The specialization of skills increase, work teams are more and more extensive and the geographic distance between them increases too. The economic and ecological stakes related to remote collaboration are an evidence. This context involves the need to support most efficiently possible remote working meetings. We present the Distributed Collaborative Digital Studio (DSDC), a tool designed to recreate, in distant situations, the context of copresence meetings. This shared environment is created in the "invisible computer" approach [11]. The idea is that the tool should disappear from user's consciousness. Indeed, creative design activities require some fluidity in their process. Therefore, any involuntary interruption created by the system can potentially brake creativity. In this perspective, we investigate specifically the "invisibility" of our environment. To do this, we propose a framework for the operationalization of the concept and a methodology to test the system invisibility. This methodology was applied through a case study consisting of a corpus of 12 hours of remote collaborative design sessions with the DSDC. We highlight the learning effects while using our system, conclude on its effectiveness and discuss our methodology.

A Pilot Study on Design Performance in a Collaborative Virtual Environment

A Collaborative Virtual Environment or CVE extends stand alone virtual environment to include real-time collaboration, interaction and sharing of the same virtual space among users across the network. We utilize the Torque Game Engine Advanced to develop a CVE application that was customized to support architectural students' design activities in a virtual environment. This application allows multiple users across the local area network and the internet to collaborate, interact, and share information within the same virtual space. Included in the application is an automated data-mining system to record the various users' activities during the collaborative design sessions in the virtual environment. In this paper, we present findings from our pilot study where we evaluate performance when designing and working collaboratively in a virtual environment. Subjects were divided into four groups; Group 1: experts working as individuals, Group 2: non-experts working as individuals, Group 3: experts working in pairs, and Group 4: non-experts working in pairs. Subjects were to assemble a building structure in the virtual environment using the CVE application. Several dependent measures were computed while performing the experimental tasks. The measures included: time taken when moving objects, the movement frequency, and the average pitch angle where subject's gaze was oriented. The results show that the overall performance of experts working in pairs in a CVE is better than that of the individuals working alone.

Fictional characters in participatory design sessions: Introducing the “design alter egos” technique

In recent years, the discourse concerning the relationship between narrative theory – storytelling in general – interactivity, and design is undeniably noteworthy. A significant part of this discourse concerns the use of fictional characters in design. Fictional characters have been used as user representatives, either substituting actual users or supporting idea generation, and their foremost objective is to facilitate the identification of user needs and goals and to support the development of detailed and comprehensive scenarios. Motivated by the aforementioned ongoing discourse and inspired by relevant approaches in the use of fictional characters in design, we aim to investigate the applicability and effectiveness of their use as a creative technique in participatory design sessions. We present a novel approach to using fictional characters in collaborative design of educational software with students, one that asks the participants for the formation and use of their own fictional characters – we introduce the term “design alter egos” – as a means to eliciting requirements and design ideas. In order to evaluate our approach, we conducted 20 collaborative design sessions with the participation of 94 undergraduate university students (aged 19–24) for eliciting requirements for the design of an ideal course website. The analysis of the results suggests that the design alter egos technique liberated the majority of the students from the fear of straightforwardly exposing themselves, supported and enhanced their introspection, stimulated their creativity, and helped to establish an informal and constructive atmosphere throughout the design sessions. We suggest the use of design alter egos as an engaging and effective supportive technique for co-designing educational software with students.

A Study on Collaborative Design in a Virtual Environment

A Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) extends a standalone Virtual Environment to include real-time collaboration, interaction and sharing of the same virtual space among users across the network. A CVE presents a positive learning environment for students where they can learn to work collaboratively. Architectural students could benefit from the use of a CVE because it provides the opportunity for them to work interactively in a virtual workplace, and collaborate directly on a design project. In this study, we utilize a 3D game engine to develop a CVE prototype software application; the Collaborative World Design Tool (CWDT). The CWDT software application allows for real-time collaboration and interaction among multiple users across the network. The CWDT is customized to support architectural design activities in a CVE. An automated data logging system is also developed to record activities during collaborative design sessions. We conducted an experiment with architectural students as the subjects, to determine the effects of working collaboratively within a CVE, as opposed to working individually in a standalone VE. The results and observations obtained suggest the benefits of working collaboratively within a CVE outweighed working individually in a standalone VE. Our findings indicate that collaboration within a CVE has great potential to increase the productivity at which designs are assembled, reduce the number of errors in design, provides a constructive learning environment, reduces the overall stress levels, and increases positive thinking and a group mindset for subjects. These findings also have allowed us to identify areas of focus for future research.

The impact of tangible user interfaces on spatial cognition during collaborative design

The use of tangible user interfaces in new design environments promises to facilitate the designers' interaction with the design model. In order to clarify the impact of tangible user interfaces we compare the design protocols of collaborative design sessions using a tabletop system and tangible user interface (TUI) with a typical keyboard/mouse/display graphical user interface (GUI) to identify changes in designers' spatial cognition. We focussed on design collaboration because many tabletop systems are intended to support designers in communicating and developing a shared model of the design. The results reveal that the use of TUIs changed designers' spatial cognition, and that these changes affected the design process by increasing their ‘problem-finding’ behaviours leading to creative design.

Collaborative computational steering: Principles and application in HVAC layout

In this article, we present the Collaborative Computational Steering platform CoCoS. It enables geographically distributed engineers to use steerable simulation and analysis facilities during a collaborative design session. The environment is based o

A model for synchronous collaborative design using CAD and database management

Collaborative design is currently supported through the integration of graphical representations with relational databases and the distribution of data and applications across local and wide area networks. Recent developments in computer support for synchronous collaboration have led to the development of multi-user drawing boards and video conferencing software for remote meetings. The extension of CAD for use in a collaborative design session changes the focus of collaborative design from a distribution of data to a shared workspace. Combining CAD with the concept of multi-user software introduces issues of shared visualisation and shared decision making. A model for the integration of CAD and database management in a collaborative design session is presented within a client server architecture, and an implementation of this model using AutoCAD as the shared CAD system is described.