Ellen Tove Christiansen

Computer Support for Social Awareness in Flexible Work

How do we conceptualize social awareness, and what support is needed to develop and maintain social awareness in flexible work settings? The paper begins by arguing the relevance of designing for social awareness in flexible work. It points out how social awareness is suspended in the field of tension that exists between the ephemerality and continuity of social encounters, exploring ways to construct identity through relationships by means of social encounters – notably those that are accidental and unforced. We probe into this issue through design research: In particular, we present three exploratory prototyping processes in an open office setting (examining the concepts of a shared calendar, personal panels, and ambient awareness cues). Field studies, conducted in parallel, have contributed to a conceptual deconstruction of CSCW concepts, resulting in a focus on cues to relatedness, to belonging, and to care. Analyzing these three prototypes in their microcosmic usage setting results in specific recommendations for the three types of applications with respect to social awareness. The experiences indicate that the metaphors a ‘shared mirror’ and ‘breadcrumbs’ are promising foundations on which to base further design. We present these analyses and suggest that the metaphors work because of their ability to map experiences from the physical space into conceptual experiences. We conclude that social awareness in flexible work must be constructed indirectly, presenting itself as an option, rather than as a consequence of being able to overhear and oversee.

Selecting and evoking innovators: combining democracy and creativity

The practical undertaking of selecting users to work as innovators and of evoking their creative potential is crucial, but underexposed in the literature on user involvement in design. This paper reports findings from a recent case of user-driven innovation, the FEEDBACK-project, where the authors prepared for and conducted selection of and collaboration with innovators. The outcome was successful in the sense that the innovators produced excellent foundation for conceptual interaction design by creating mock-ups and explanations incarnating their preferences, attitudes and habits. By referring to theories of learning we try to explain how our way of working with selection and evoking of innovators has contributed to this positive result and how our approach to user-driven innovation can be regarded as a way to combine democracy and creativity in design.

Community and Social Network Sites as Technology Enhanced Learning Environments.

This paper examines the affordance of the Danish social networking site Mingler.dk for peer‐to‐peer learning and development. With inspiration from different theoretical frameworks, the authors argue how learning and development in such social online systems can be conceptualised and analysed. Theoretically the paper defines development in accordance with Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development, and learning in accordance with Wenger’s concept of communities of practice. The authors suggest analysing the learning and development taking place on Mingler.dk by using these concepts supplemented by the notion of horizontal learning adopted from Engeström and Wenger. Their analysis shows how horizontal learning happens by crossing boundaries between several sites of engagement, and how the actors’ multiple membership enables the community members to draw on a vast amount of resources from a multiplicity of sites. They show how the members thereby also become (co)producers of such resources, which then in turn become resources for other communities.

Designing for ephemerality and prototypicality

As a context for IT design, flexible work presents a new challenge. Ways of working tend to be prototypical, habits are forming slowly and work is carried out everywhere. Even when applying ethnographic methods, it is difficult to capture the ephemerality and prototypicality of cooperative work that Grudin claims must be preserved through design. Through a discussion of a design project dedicated to the design of support for social awareness, we reflect on the means of design - scenarios and prototypes, and their ability to support design for ephemerality and prototypicality. Our conclusion is that by using scenarios as boundary objects, in multiple prototyping experiments, they support the negotiation and boundary understanding of design ideas, rather than one or more solutions. Hence it becomes possible to design to preserve ephemerality and prototypicality.

Gardening: A metaphor for sustainability in information technology-technical support

Based on an empirical study of how technical support people work in a nonprofit research and consulting institute, the notion of gardening, first coined by Nardi, is unfolded as a metaphor for a sustainable way of making use of information technology (IT). Sustainability is defined as development characterized by optimal interaction in and between the resource systems and the economic and social systems.

Robots for Real: Developing a Participatory Design Framework for Implementing Educational Robots in Real-world Learning Environments

As educational service robots become increasingly accessible, the demand for methodologies that generate knowledge on r-learning applicable to real world learning environments equally increases. This paper proposes a participatory design framework for involving users in the development of robot-supported didactic designs and discusses its applicability to existing educational contexts on the basis of a case study on the implementation and use of the therapeutic robot seal Paro at a school for children with an autism diagnosis.

From ‘ethics of the eye’ to ‘ethics of the hand’ by collaborative prototyping

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to answer the question: how can judgment about good and bad behavior of a device or service under development be included in the development process? Design/methodology/approach – By distinguishing between detached good/bad judgment, called “ethics of the eye”, and judgment about good and bad behavior embedded in doing and dialogue, called “ethics of the hand”, two examples of designer judgment are examined, one embedded and one detached. The outcome is explained by means of an application of Ricoeurs hermeneutics, where he shows how narration comprises pre-figuration, con-figuration and re-figuration. An examination of collaborative prototyping in Krzysztof Wodiczkos work on building a vehicle together with homeless people in Manhattan, New York, is contrasted with an example of the detached evaluation of use in Joseph Weizenbaums account for use of his computer therapy program Eliza. Findings – The difference is identified as the difference between joint making and ...

User-Driven Innovation as Mutual but Asymmetrical Learning

In this article we position user-driven innovation vis-a-vis participatory design and Scandinavian systems In this article we position user-driven innovation vis-a-vis participatory design and Scandinavian systems design by identifying the defining characteristics of user-drive as the relationship between power over interaction, and learning in interaction. A case of design of feedback on electricity consumption for private households based on user-driven innovation serves to exemplify core principles of user involvement and user engagement. By referring to a phenomenological understanding of what it means to be in an innovative state of mind, we explain how letting users take the innovative lead has contributed a positive outcome, and how our approach to user-driven innovation can be regarded as a way to combine classic Scandinavian values of democracy with new economy calls for innovation in systems design. The article stresses the importance of designers taking a genuine interest in learning from users while also giving users the opportunity to learn about design.

What next for energy-related building regulations?: the occupancy phase

ABSTRACT Building regulations are important policy instruments for increasing building energy efficiency. However, when it comes to actual energy use, studies have shown that improvements in building energy efficiency are offset by changes in the inhabitants’ comfort practices. Nevertheless, the improvement of energy efficiency continues to be a cornerstone in building regulations, with no consideration of how this simultaneously influences everyday practices. The example of Danish building regulations, which are among the strictest in Europe, is critically reviewed for the implications regulatory design can have for reducing energy consumption. Based on readings of policy documents, consultancy reports and research papers from the last two decades, this paper outlines where things go amiss during a building’s lifetime if a user perspective is excluded. The focus is on three phases: the development of new building technologies, the design and construction of buildings, and occupancy. The question of how building regulations could be redesigned to regulate energy use better is explored, along with what research and strategies are needed within four domains: developing alternative measures to energy per square meter; developing more advanced models simulating occupancy; improving feedback technologies’ usability; and the increased use of commissioning and post-occupancy evaluations.

Digital Living at Home - User Voices about Home Automation and a Home-Keeping Design Discourse

Does living with digital technology inevitably lead to digital living? Users talking about a digital home control system, they have had in their homes for eight years, indicate that there is more to living with digital technology than a functional-operational grip on regulation. Our analysis of these user voices has directed us towards a ‘home-keeping’ design discourse, which opens new horizons for design of digital home control systems by allowing users to perform as self-determined controllers and groomers of their habitat. The paper concludes by outlining the implications of a ‘home-keeping’ design discourse.