Design Propositions Research Articles

大数据时代步行城市和社区的设计

In this paper, we discuss walkable cities from the perspective of urban planning and design in the era of digitalization and urban big data. We start with a brief review on historical walkable cities schemes; followed by a deliberation on what a walkable city is and what the spatial elements of a walkable city are; and a discussion on the emerging themes and empirical methods to measure the spatial and urban design features of a walkable city. The first part of this paper looks at key urban design propositions and how they were proposed to promote walkability. The second part of this paper discusses the concept of walkability, which is fundamental to designing a walkable city. We emphasize both the physical (walkways, adjacent uses, space) and the perceived aspects (safety, comfort, enjoyment), and then we look at the variety of spatial elements constituting a walkable city. The third part of this paper looks at the emerging themes for designing walkable cities and neighborhoods. We discuss the application of urban big data enabled by growing computational powers and related empirical methods and interdisciplinary approaches including spatial planning, urban design, urban ecology, and public health. This paper aims to provide a holistic approach toward understanding of urban design and walkability, re-evaluate the spatial elements to build walkable cities, and discuss future policy interventions.

Intervention as a research strategy

AbstractThe Journal of Operations Management (JOM) has made design science central to its development strategy, creating a department to incubate papers using this methodology. An inaugural editorial published in 2016 called for papers with a generic design supported by a design proposition that provides pragmatic guidelines to bridge the gap between the case specific and the universal. In this article, I propose ways in which the scope of interventions can be expanded beyond the editorial's proposal to foster theoretical developments and better align with JOM's mission. I propose that, rather than focus on the design propositions, we explore the role that interventions (the ultimate manifestation of design science) can play in testing and developing theory (the ultimate goal of an academic endeavor). Taking as a point of departure the principles of action research and the explanatory framework of process theories, I propose two modes of research for leveraging interventions as a mechanism for testing existing theory and develop theories about organizational and system transformation. I illustrate the application of these two frameworks in the context of a previously published article.

Learning through experience: Using design based research to redesign protocols for blended synchronous learning environments

Blended synchronous environments offer benefits to learners in terms of flexibility, but there are technological and pedagogical challenges in implementing this approach. Protocols, which are highly structured discussion strategies designed to promote trust, equity, and diversity, have the potential to address some of these challenges. This exploratory study used a design based research methodology to iteratively design, implement, and assess a blended synchronous learning environment leveraging the use of protocols in a graduate education course. Across three iterations, a combination of qualitative data collection and analysis procedures were used to examine the influence of protocols on the experiences of the instructor and students in a blended synchronous environment. The findings included several assertions. Students appreciated taking on greater leadership roles through facilitating protocols when they perceived the outcome of their facilitation successful. Students became hyperaware of the time when the technology caused timing issues with the protocols. Trust of the protocol was hindered by the unpredictability of the blended synchronous learning environment. And, deep connections to texts were unachievable due to the multitasking required in blended synchronous settings. These findings resulted in a set of contextualized design propositions that contribute to the literature on both protocols and blended synchronous environments. The propositions included: (a) enabling active participation through distributed roles, (b) creating equity through flexible structures, (c) fostering trust through re-norming, and (d) prompting connections with texts by reducing task complexity.

A complexity theory perspective of kaizen: a study in healthcare

Kaizen projects (KPs) change the interactions between the elements of socio-technical systems, and therefore their impacts cannot be fully controlled. By using complexity theory as a lens for making sense of interactions, this study proposes a nine-step framework for assessing and influencing KPs planned, under way, and completed. The most innovative part of the framework is the assessment of the interactions within and between KPs. A study of five KPs carried out in the process of preparation and administration of medications in a surgical ward illustrates the use of the framework. Based on this study and extant theory, seven design propositions that support the framework application were devised. Also, the use of the framework produces descriptive data that sheds light on nuances and unintended consequences of kaizen.

Fleet sizing for UNHCR country offices

AbstractVehicles are important assets generating significant costs. Relief organizations frequently struggle to define the appropriate number of vehicles to support their operations. The high level of decentralization giving country offices the autonomy to decide on the size of their fleet complicates the issue. This study follows a design science approach in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We develop a prediction model to support UNHCR's fleet sizing problem. A stepwise linear regression approach is used to construct a model able to predict the number of vehicles required by each country office based on data from comparable countries. Three variables have the best predictive accuracy: the number of locations, small partners, and large partners working for UNHCR. We validate our findings with different regression methods and by applying our approach to another organization. Our model has provided UNHCR with valuable indications on how to help determine the appropriate number of vehicles in many countries. We develop three design propositions that show how our approach can be generalized to other humanitarian operations. These propositions offer insights on how to implement a fleet sizing decision process in highly decentralized humanitarian operations with limited information on optimal fleet sizes.

Promoting deep learning through online feedback in SPOCs

Higher education aims for deep learning and increasingly uses a specific form of online education: Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs). To overcome challenges that instructors face in order to promote deep learning through that format, the use of feedback may have significant potential. We interviewed eleven instructors and four students and organized a focus group to formulate scalable design propositions for instructors in SPOCs to promote deep learning. Propositions have been formulated according to the CIMO-logic. This study resulted in identification of four mechanisms by which the desired outcome (deep learning) can be achieved, which we describe here along with proposed interventions. Results show that the “online learning interaction model” can be deepened with these mechanisms: 1) Feeling personally committed, 2) Asking and providing relevant feedback, 3) Probing back and forth, and 4) Understanding one’s own learning process. To activate these mechanisms, scalable feedback interventions are described in three categories. Results at this relatively young field of SPOCs also show that feedback as a dialogical process may contribute to solving the current challenges of instructors in SPOCs to achieve deep learning with their students.

Designing Performative Artifacts for Symmetrical Mediation

This paper introduces some design propositions that aim at enlightening the design of adaptive artificial mediators of social interactions. The argument presented herein is framed in the context of working definitions of cooperation and collaboration; two forms of social interaction based on mechanisms in which parties mutually recognize their intentionality, recognize each other’s agency, and operate under different balances of privileges and obligations. Through the analysis of interactions with adaptive mediators, the paper concludes in four design propositions that subjunctive design language could yield better outcomes when adaptive artifacts foster cooperative interactions, whereas prescriptive ones work better in collaborative interactions. Moreover, it proposes that prescriptive symbolic languages should be preferred when the mediation is about an imbalanced distribution of resources.

The joint use of resilience engineering and lean production for work system design: A study in healthcare

Although lean production (LP) has been increasingly adopted in healthcare systems, its benefits often fall short of expectations. This might be partially due to the failure of lean to account for the complexity of healthcare. This paper discusses the joint use of principles of LP and resilience engineering (RE), which is an approach for system design inspired by complexity science. Thus, a framework for supporting the design of socio-technical systems, which combines insights from LP and RE, was developed and tested in a system involving a patient flow from an emergency department to an intensive care unit. Based on this empirical study, as well as on extant theory, eight design propositions that support the framework application were developed. Both the framework and its corresponding propositions can contribute to the design of socio-technical systems that are at the same time safe and efficient.

Ecotect design simulation on existing building to enhance its energy efficiency

Ecotect Software has been used to calculate building’s energy consumption by simulating its context within the environment. Mostly use by architects and building engineers to enhance their design advancements, the software is embedded to the main Autodesk CAD architecture, fully compatible with Autodesk REVIT. Research Studies on many existing buildings have been performed to evaluate its building’s performance. It is related to its environment, especially on dealing with solar heat, its nature for day-lighting, natural airflow for ventilation, and its energy consumption for man-made systems such as Air Conditioning and Lighting.This research is conducted to reach basic optimum efficiency of an existing building at UI Campus in Depok. After using ecotect software we presumed that some strategic upgrading design propositions should be done to minimize the daily energy consumptions on air conditioning and lighting. Sensitive to the annual solar path and air/wind direction, we could propose an alternative to maximize the use of natural resource to reduce the building’s energy consumption.

Building Realist Program Theory for Interventions for Vulnerable Children and Families in Sydney, Australia

Introduction: We have previously reported on the study design and findings of a critical realist multi-level mixed method study in Sydney Australia that constructed a middle-range theoretical framework with realist causal propositions and models explaining neighbourhood context, stress, depression and the developmental origins of health and disease (1). The purpose of this study is to describe middle range program theory that draws on that study and other extant works. Theory/Methods: Realist causal propositions are described drawing on our previous work, and extant social theory. Published literature and abstract thinking (i.e. abduction, retroduction) was used to propose program mechanisms which if applied may improve outcomes. Based on this analysis, intervention activity and design elements are proposed. The programme design propositions and hypotheses will be expressed, in realist terms, as context-intervention-mechanisms and outcome (CIMO) conjectures, which will thus render the full constituents of the programme theory. Results: Causal mechanisms analysed included: expectations, loss, being alone, lifetime trauma, discrimination, mastery, sense of control, mattering, trust, isolation, access to services, information literacy, social capital, social exclusion. Preliminary realist program mechanisms were identified that have the potential to improve outcomes for vulnerable families in metropolitan Sydney. Program mechanisms identified included: family-peer trust, family-provider trust, willingness to share power, co-operation, Information, building self-help skills. Examples of intervention activities that might deliver these program mechanisms include: strengthening peer and family support, client centred workers, home visiting, and telephone support. Design Elements identified included: wrap around services, place-based initiatives, Care coordination, sustained nurse home visiting, family group conferencing, targeted parenting, social media, and workforce training. Discussion: We have used critical realist meta-theory to assist in the translation of previously reported empirical explanatory theory building to theory driven interventions. We will situate these interventions in the socially disadvantaged regions of Sydney where the local child and family inter-agencies are collaborating to design and implement new programme interventions based on earlier studies of perinatal, child, youth and family outcomes. Conclusions: The analysis described here seeks to bridge the translational research gap from theory building to program design and subsequent theory testing. The study demonstrates the application of the Confirmatory Phase of our previously described Explanatory Theory building Method (1). Lessons learned: In undertaking this study we identified that it is important to include a wide range of domains of reality including: biological, psychological, psychosocial, situated setting, service context, culture, and macro-organisation. It is also important to analyse both horizontal and vertical mechanism across those domains. Limitations: In undertaking this study we identified a complex range of relevant middle range causal theories. It proved necessary to limit the analysis to a selected number of relevant causal theories. Suggestions for future research: The analysis identified a lack of realist evaluation and realist synthesis studies from which to identify relevant integrated care program theory for interventions with vulnerable families.

Setting the design space of biorefineries through sustainability values, a practical approach

AbstractSustainable development has become an outstanding aspiration in our society. However, the meaning of sustainability and how it should be operationalized is a complex issue that depends on subjective beliefs and values. To advance toward sustainable biobased production, we present an approach to delimit the design space of biorefineries by considering stakeholders’ values. Concepts from Design for Values were taken as the starting point for this approach, which was further developed with a biojet fuel production case in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. Design propositions that considered the interaction between stakeholders’ values, sustainability, and the production system were derived and used to suggest design space boundaries. These design boundaries are indicative, allowing for deliberation during future design activities. Through them, designers are prompted to actively reflect on the interaction between biorefinery systems and the socioeconomic and environmental context around them. By opening the design process to stakeholders’ values, we have developed a constructivist approach to incorporate sustainability in an inclusive and context‐specific manner during the early stages of biorefinery design. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Prioritization of Interconnected Processes

Deciding which business processes to improve is a challenge for all organizations. The literature on business process management (BPM) offers several approaches that support process prioritization. As many approaches share the individual process as unit of analysis, they determine the processes’ need for improvement mostly based on performance indicators, but neglect how processes are interconnected. So far, the interconnections of processes are only captured for descriptive purposes in process model repositories or business process architectures (BPAs). Prioritizing processes without catering for their interconnectedness, however, biases prioritization decisions and causes a misallocation of corporate funds. What is missing are process prioritization approaches that consider the processes’ individual need for improvement and their interconnectedness. To address this research problem, the authors propose the ProcessPageRank (PPR) as their main contribution. The PPR prioritizes processes of a given BPA by ranking them according to their network-adjusted need for improvement. The PPR builds on knowledge from process performance management, BPAs, and network analysis – particularly the Google PageRank. As for evaluation, the authors validated the PPR’s design specification against empirically validated and theory-backed design propositions. They also instantiated the PPR’s design specification as a software prototype and applied the prototype to a real-world BPA.

Contextualizing a professional social network for health care: Experiences from an action design research study

AbstractProfessional social networks (PSN) are online environments where practitioners can present themselves, get in contact and socialize with coworkers, share and discuss ideas, or exchange business‐related knowledge. Despite the fact that collaboration and information sharing are becoming more relevant for delivering high‐quality services, PSN are not yet widely adopted in complex domains such as health care. While most of the literature is still focusing on the exposition of the unbound potential of PSN, this paper seeks to clarify the question of how to capture and manage the professional identity of an industry such that PSN can be purposefully anchored in the working context. Following an Action Design Research approach, we describe practical design propositions and possible tensions along the contextualization of a PSN, which was specifically catered for improving interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in and between hospitals. We identify several implications for future research. In particular, we explain intended and unintended uses of PSN in hospitals and provide metaphors for explaining possible alternative understandings of domain engineering.

Information sharing for sales and operations planning: Contextualized solutions and mechanisms

We develop actionable design propositions for collaborative sales and operations planning (S&OP) based on the observation of contexts in which benefits are generated — or are absent — from retail information sharing. An information sharing pilot project in a real-life setting of two product manufacturers and one retailer was designed. The project resulted in one manufacturer, serving a retailer from its local factory, developing a process for collaborative S&OP, while the other manufacturer serving a retailer from more distant regional factories abandoned the process. The evaluation of the outcomes experienced by the two manufacturers allows us to examine contexts in fine-grained detail and explain why introducing information sharing in the S&OP processes produce — or fail to produce — benefits. The paper contributes to the supply chain information sharing literature by presenting a field tested and evolved S&OP design for non-standard demand situations, and by a contextual analysis of the mechanisms that produce the benefits of retailer collaboration and information sharing in the S&OP process.

Towards evidence-based management of external resources: Developing design propositions and future research avenues through research synthesis

The general question of how best to access and leverage resources that reside outside the boundaries of the focal firm has become increasingly important for companies during the last decennia, and scholars across management disciplines have responded with increasing research efforts. However, managers still seldom base their decisions on scientific evidence. Research on managing external resources is carried out in disciplinary silos and it is extremely difficult for managers to make sense of the vast amount of scientific studies. The success story of medicine as the first domain to widely adopt evidence-based practices has been an exemplar for other disciplines such as management to address the prevailing research-practice gap. Through a systematic review and synthesis of 601 articles in six academic journals representing three management disciplines we develop design propositions for supporting evidence-based management of external resources in firms. Our analysis reveals external resource management (ERM) research to be concentrated on six distinct, yet interrelated, themes. We adopt the CIMO-logic (Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcomes) for developing the set of design propositions within each of the research themes. A key scientific contribution is our identification of future research opportunities and directions to advance science in the field of ERM.

DEVELOPING DESIGN PROPOSITIONS FOR AN OPEN INNOVATION APPROACH FOR SMEs

This paper proposes design propositions for an open innovation approach for small and medium-sized enterprises based on the open innovation lifecycle framework. The design propositions direct small- and medium-sized enterprises in implementing, executing, and improving open innovation in their organisations. The design propositions are developed through a synthesis of the literature on open innovation and other implementation and improvement best practices. A design sciences method is followed, using context interaction mechanism outcome logic to conduct a systematic review of the literature on open innovation, and using the open innovation lifecycle framework as boundaries. Twenty-two design propositions are formulated as a result. A case study is also discussed as an initial test of the application of the design propositions.

User-centred design for collaborative 4D modelling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the CSCW in collaborative 4D modelling and its user interface (UI)/interaction designs for prototyping. Four-dimensional (4D) modelling technology has potentials to integrate geographically dispersed planners to achieve collaborative construction planning. However, applying this technology in teamwork remains a challenge in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW). Design/methodology/approach – The research adopted user-centred design (UCD) methodology to investigate a usable 4D collaboration prototype through analysis, design and usability testing. By applying CSCW theories, it first clarified the meaning of 4D CSCW to formulate design propositions as design target. By leveraging UCD theories, subsequently, the first-stage research sought an optimal standalone 4D modelling prototype following a parallel design approach. At the second stage, it further investigated into a collaborative 4D modelling prototype using an iterative design. It adopted collaborative task analysis into the UI/interaction design extension for a collaborative prototype based on results obtained from the first stage. The final usability testing was performed on the collaborative prototype to evaluate the designed CSCW and UI in a controlled geographically dispersed teamwork situation. Findings – The test results and user feedback verified their usability. It also disclosed design weaknesses in collaborators’ awareness and smooth tasks’ transitions for further enhancement. Originality/value – The combination of CSCW and UCD theories is practical for designing collaborative 4D modelling. It can also benefit designs for collaborative modelling in other dimensions like cost analysis, sustainable design, facility management, etc. in building information modelling.

Hyper-realism and loose-reality: the limitations of digital realism and alternative principles in landscape design visualization

Despite on-going advances in digital visualization technologies, the messy complexity of the corporeal landscape remains a challenging subject to represent. Nevertheless, realism-oriented rendering software developed in other fields drives an escalating supply and demand for hyper-realistic visualizations of design propositions. Through the lenses of perception, technology, technique, practice, and education, this paper argues that the limitations associated with hyper-realism in landscape design visualization are profound. In its place, the paper frames an adaptable visualization rubric that is more suited to the varied nuances of the landscape, while also complementing the intermediate skills of many designers who undertake landscape visualization.

Resourcing local communities for climate adaptive designs in Victoria, Australia

This article proposes a new theoretical framework that supports the preparation of local communities to deal with climate impacts. In this framework, derived from the metabolism model, the resources that form the input (social capital and practical conditions) for design charrettes are processed to deliver output resources in the form of enhanced and sophisticated spatial design propositions, which are more resilient en adaptive. Elaborating this model, processing input to deliver desired outputs can only occur when deep learning experiences are offered to the local community. The framework is used and tested in two case studies in northwest Victoria, the City of Bendigo and town of Sea Lake. The findings from the study show the performance of the framework and the improved properties of the design propositions. Conducting design charrettes has two effects. New ways of collaboration are explored allowing exchange to happen between community members with different interests. This leads to new social constr...

Abstracts of Scientific Papers Presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Biofeedback Federation of Europe

We previously presented alternative presentations of HRV feedback based on real-time Poincare plots, which offer a faster and more direct feedback of heart rate variability than other approaches. We take a design perspective in creating biofeedback systems, which empower their users in matters of health and wellbeing, for instance, in coping with stress. In 2011 we discussed the relative advantages (more direct and faster feedback, more precise patterns visible) and disadvantages (lower outlier robustness and narrative adaptability) of real-time Poincare plots. Now we ask ourselves whether a similar effect could be reached using the auditory modality rather than the visual. The main envisioned advantage is that feedback sessions can be done with the eyes closed and leaning back, which we assume is an excellent condition for relaxation. Our way of working is to develop experiential prototypes and explore the functional, aesthetic, and perceptive qualities of the feedback—with an emphasis on the form giving. Using a PPG sensor and the Processing programming envi- ronment we created a prototype, in which four variations of direct auditory feedback are implemented (besides visual forms such as traditional tachograms and real-time Poincare plots). In each of these forms the aim is to map timing variations of the heart-beats to timing or dynamic variations of the sound. The motivation for this is the design principle ‘‘natural mapping’’, which would be violated when mapping timing information to more qualitative aspects of sound (texture, frequency spectrum, filtering) rather than frequency or amplitude, for example. Results on the effectiveness of the design propositions are not available yet. However, we shall demonstrate and discuss them, and in doing so we look forward to share our work with members of the BFE community and hear their opinion.