Stella Boess

Exploring the use of a game to stimulate energy saving in households

This paper presents a study called the Energy Battle, a game aimed at encouraging home occupants to save energy. Twenty student-households were provided with direct feedback and an online platform with energy feedback over time, ranking of the competing teams, tips and a game. The study showed that the game context strongly influenced the motivation to save energy. Overall, savings averaged 24%, with the highest savings level at 45%. Directly after completion of the Energy Battle, energy consumption increased among most of the households, although consumption levels tended to stay below the baseline measurement level taken before the Energy Battle. Follow-up interviews indicated that some of the behaviours developed in the game had transformed into habits. A game such as the Energy Battle appears to provide a powerful means to stimulate energy saving in the short term. The potential to achieve long term effects appears possible, however further research is required to understand long-term implications for an Energy Battle game.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner Personality and Behavior

In this paper we report our study on the user experience of robot vacuum cleaner behavior. How do people want to experience this new type of cleaning appliance? Interviews were conducted to elicit a desired robot vacuum cleaner personality. With this knowledge in mind, behavior was designed for a future robot vacuum cleaner. A video prototype was used to evaluate how people experienced the behavior of this robot vacuum cleaner. The results indicate that people recognized the intended personality in the robot behavior. We recommend using a personality model as a tool for developing robot behavior.

When is role playing really experiential?: case studies

This paper presents and evaluates examples from our work with role playing exercises in design, both in design education and in our own design work. Rationales for role playing in design are: communication within the design process, the increase of technological complexity, the experience and empathy of designers, and the tangibility of interaction, and attentiveness to social change. They led us in developing role playing techniques for design ideation. Here, we reflect on the practical problems of integrating role playing exercises in design teaching and in a design process, and evaluate what hinders or aids the ability to engage with interaction experientially and empathically. Careful consideration of the actor-audience relationship, the setting, sufficient preparation for acting, and props emerge as important elements.

First steps in role playing

This paper presents and evaluates examples from our work with role playing in design education. Rationales for role playing in design are: communication within the design process, the increase of technological complexity, the experience and empathy of designers, the tangibility of interaction, and attentiveness to social change. These rationales inform our inclusion of role playing techniques in design education. Our aim is that the students can and do incorporate the techniques into their own design activity. Here, we focus on three questions: : 1. whether the techniques helped the students understand and question interaction, 2. whether the techniques helped students in ideation, and 3. whether the role playing exercises inspired students to use the techniques in own work. We identify several ways in which the techniques are effective for the students in their design work.

MEANING IN PRODUCT USE: A DESIGN PERSPECTIVE

Publisher Summary Users create the meanings of products in use. The design of products contributes something to that situation of use. People’s use of products could be quite different from the expectations of designers, technologists, and organizations. The users act in ways unexpected. So, rather than trying to help and guide a certain model user, a machine should be built to communicate their state and to allow users to make sense of a situation. People are being disabled or discouraged from accessing and using commodities and public services in several ways. Sometimes people are disabled by the physical dimensions of their environments, or products might be stigmatizing their users. Or people may simply be unable to make sense of things. This chapter discusses the meaning of product use from a design perspective. It focuses on the way people make sense of things in use, particularly on instrumental or denotative meaning in product use. It can no longer be assumed that it is possible to force correct usage of products onto consumers. There is great variation, and indeed creativity, in the ways that people make sense of things. Design is the exclusive domain of professionals. Design is also in the way people use things. This chapter proposes that designers can integrate the users’ attribution of meaning in product use into their design process. It reviews some of the concepts that are discussed in relation to meaning in product use. It also discusses two important concepts: product semantics and affordances. Furthermore, it points out some of the successes and shortcomings of each concept in informing design.

Using both qualitative and quantitative types of research to design a comfortable television chair

This paper reports on a design and evaluation of a chair in which users can sit comfortably while watching a television screen. The design of this chair is based on requirements that were gathered from three studies with end-users in which their needs and wishes for this chair are explored. These three types of research study show that the chair to be designed should enable users to sit in a large variety of positions and support the body where it requires it. This means that the head, back, arms and legs should be supported in various positions. A full-scale prototype of this chair was built and evaluated with end-users. This evaluation shows that the designed chair enables users to sit in a large variety of positions. A moving arm support and an adjustable feet support contribute to different sitting positions. The designed chair is also rated as comfortable but the position of the head support and the lumbar support need better positioning. The study also shows that the three experiments used to gather end-user information were very valuable to arrive at a better design.

Community-Based Co-Design for Informal Care: Bridging the Gap between Technology and Context

Innovative Product Service Systems (PSSs) are needed in order to keep the healthcare system affordable, while safeguarding or enhancing care quality. This study examined application of the Community-based Co-design approach to assistive technology development for informal care. A sequence of methods was applied, involving end-users and communities in the earliest design stages. A design target was found together with informal caregivers, and a solution was iteratively developed together with various stakeholders. This PSS solution enables the informal caregiver both to monitor the care recipient while being away, and to efficiently manage emergency situations if these occur. The PSS arranges existing technology in a unique and contextually appropriate way. This makes the solution much more likely to be accepted by end-users and their neighborhood communities. Community-based Co-design was essential in reaching this result. After the early design stage, an embodiment design stage was carried out. Various qualitative research and design engineering methods were combined, 1) to develop and validate the estimated supportive value of the PSS to target users, and 2) to develop and study the feasibility of the PSS. A role-play evaluation study formed an important part of this process. Significant insights from both the early and embodiment design stages were fed back as far as possible into the PSS itself, or into PSS design requirements. Reflecting on the results, it has become more likely that the PSS will have supportive value to caregivers, and that the PSS is feasible. Several recommendations were made for further development - in particular, the societal cost-benefit analysis for the PSS is promising but premature, and requires elaboration.

Do that again

The proposal is for a design theatre session that explores the readability of a staged interaction. This is based on our work with role playing in design education, design research and design work. It is also based on our background in both observational research and interaction design. Reading an interaction is not straightforward. Presenting an interaction is not, either. In this presentation, a very small interaction is presented in several different ways. The audience is invited to guess and discuss about the readability of this interaction and about the consequences of the possible readings for design.

Designing a Care Pathway Model – A Case Study of the Outpatient Total Hip Arthroplasty Care Pathway

Introduction: Although the clinical attributes of total hip arthroplasty (THA) care pathways have been thoroughly researched, a detailed understanding of the equally important organisational attributes is still lacking. The aim of this article is to contribute with a model of the outpatient THA care pathway that depicts how the care team should be organised to enable patient discharge on the day of surgery. Theory: The outpatient THA care pathway enables patients to be discharged on the day of surgery, shortening the length of stay and intensifying the provision and organisation of care. We utilise visual care modelling to construct a visual design of the organisation of the care pathway. Methods: An embedded case study was conducted of the outpatient THA care pathway at a teaching hospital in the Netherlands. The data were collected using a visual care modelling toolkit in 16 semi-structured interviews. Problems and inefficiencies in the care pathway were identified and addressed in the iterative design process. Results: The results are two visual models of the most critical phases of the outpatient THA care pathway: diagnosis & preparation (1) and mobilisation & discharge (4). The results show the care team composition, critical value exchanges, and sequence that enable patient discharge on the day of surgery. Conclusion: The design addressed existing problems and is an optimisation of the case hospital’s pathway. The network of actors consists of the patient (1), radiologist (1), anaesthetist (1), nurse specialist (1), pharmacist (1), orthopaedic surgeon (1,4), physiotherapist (1,4), nurse (4), doctor (4) and patient application (1,4). The critical value exchanges include patient preparation (mental and practical), patient education, aligned care team, efficient sequence of value exchanges, early patient mobilisation, flexible availability of the physiotherapist, functional discharge criteria, joint decision making and availability of the care team.

‘What's Love Got to Do With It?’ The Experience of Love in Person-Product Relationships

ABSTRACT In this paper we examine if love for products can be said to exist, and investigate how it can be studied. We collected real-life stories about products people love in order to understand the experience of love for products. Participants described their love for products as a very rewarding, long-term and dynamic experience that arises from relationships with special products they choose to own and use. Selected theories of interpersonal love from the field of social psychology are applied to the love stories. By tracing how well the theories explain person-product love, we develop a framework that identifies the structure and dynamics of the experience of love for products. Furthermore, we consider the potential benefits of research on love in the design domain and propose studies to further develop the framework.