living labs university of oslo institute of informatics, inf 2260 asbjørn følstad, sintef

Living Labs

University of OsloInstitute of informatics, INF 2260

Asbjørn Følstad, SINTEF

Asbjørn Følstad, SINTEF | [email protected] 2

Agenda

• Limitations of usability testing

• Users as sources of creativity

• Living Labs and the co-creative user

31.10.2011

Asbjørn Følstad, SINTEF | [email protected] 331.10.2011

Limitations of usability testing


http://www.infodesign.com.au

Are there limitations to the usefulness of this approach?


The design right

vs.

The right design

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pp. 381-391

Usability testing


Usability testing harmful?

Early stage design

Radical innovations

Cultural changes

Mute creative ideas

Identify problems due to immature technology rather than the underlying concept

Dismiss concept due to lack of accept in current culture


Creative input appreciated in system development, but usability testing typically give problem lists

Usability problems often known (?)… but helps prioritizing

Redesign suggestions… spark creativity … and provide new ideas to solve known problems.


How to overcome the limitations of usability testing?

Know the limitations of usability testing

and employ it accordingly.

Consider other approaches to get creative input

-> Maybe users can provide creative input?


Users as sources of creativity


Users creative? Really?

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Foto: michelhrv (Flickr, creative commons)


Users creative? Really?

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Users didn’t create this

… or this

… or this


In which ways can users contibute

creatively?


Users as sources of creativity (1): Participatory design

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Participation as a democratic right

Users contribute unique insight and knowledge in design due to domain experience

User involved in creative processes with designers and stakeholders

Assumption: Tight cooperation between designers, users and stakeholders will improve process and outcome.


Users as sources of creativity (2): Social construction of tech.

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Technology outside a social context is ambiguous, in particular before it has reached wide spread use.

Innovation happens when social groups gives meaning to technological artifacts

Evolving meanings given to artifacts can be used to drive innovation processes

Assumption: Observation of social groups using new technology will give insight in ways to develop the technology.

Pinch, T.J. and Bijker, W.E. (1987) The social construction of facts and artifacts.


Users as sources of creativity (3): User innovation

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Von Hippel: Users innovate; in particular leading users- excellent in their field- not satisfied with available technology

Examples from a range of fields- Open source software- Printed circut boards- Surgery tools- Extreme sports

Assumption: Incorporating user innovation in the innovation process will lead to more radical innovations

Von Hippel, E. (2005) Democratizing innovation, MIT Press


Users as source of creativity

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Users and designers in co-creative processes

Novel meanings and uses emerge in social groups over time

Users adapt designs and develop new when current solutions does not fill their needs

Participatory design

Social construction of technology

User innovation


Living Labs and the co-creative user


Living Labs – the idea

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ant-farms.com



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Amazon.com: Fascinations AntWorks Illuminated Blue

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31.10.2011 Asbjørn Følstad, SINTEF | [email protected]

What if we do the same with humans?• Identify users in their everyday context• Add new technology / future technology

We could …• Observe what happens (Social

construction)• Identify those who adapt the technology to

better suit their needs (User innovation)• Invite users in co-creative processes to

devlop the technology further (Participatory design)


Living Labs – the basics

Environments for innovation and development- … where users are exposet to new solutions- … in familiar contexts- … as part of medium – or long term studies

New term within the field of ICT- Emerging concept- Limited literature

Innovation supportContext researchDiscoveryCo-creationEvaluationTechnical testing

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Commercially available product

<- Social construction and user innovation

<- Grounded in participatory design


The origins: Ubiquitous computing Living Labs

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Classroom 2000: an ICT augmented classroom

Vision: Utilize lecture & teacher/student notetaking outside classroom

Purposes:- Discovery- Evaluation

Abowd, G.D. (1999) Classroom 2000: An experiment with the instrumentation of a living educational environment. IBM Systems Journal, 38(4), pp. 508-530.


The detour: Living Labs as testbeds

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eStadium: Stadium instrumehted with advanced wireless infrastructure

Aim: Research advanced networking and services

Purposes:- Evaluation- Technical testing

Zhong, X., Coyle, E.J. (2006) eStadium: a Wireless "Living Lab" for Safety and Infotainment Applications. First International Conference on Communications and Networking in China, 2006. ChinaCom '06, pp. 1-6, IEEE.


The current: Living Labs as innovation platforms

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http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/

The European wave of Living Labs

Public-private partnerships- Government- Industry- Academia

User and stakeholders seen as co-creators; that is, creative resources to be utilized in the innovation process

Aim for direct contributions of users and stakeholders throughout the innovation process



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Copenhagen Living Lab: IABIS

Aim: Create ICT solutions to improve living for elderly and employed at nursing homes

Involved users: - Employees at two nursing homes- (Family of residents at the same nursing homes)- Also: Observation of residents and employees

Users/stakeholders involved in:- Context research- Discovery- Co-creation- Evaluation

http://www.iabis.dk/



31.10.2011

Botnia Living Lab: Apollon

Aim: Gain experience with in-home use of energy saving ICT.

Involved users:-30-40 households installing prototype energy saving ICT and use it for several months.

Users/stakeholders involved in:- Discovery- Co-creation- Evaluation http://saberproject.kyab.se//


Summary

Limitations of usability testing- Does not help you get the right design

Creative users?- Participatory design- Social construction of technology- User innovation

Living Labs- European Living Labs aiming for co-creation; users and stakeholders to be involved

as creative resources- Evolving approach – still in its early years

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living labs university of oslo institute of informatics, inf 2260 asbjørn følstad, sintef

Documents

sintef slide

users creative

cocreative user asbjrn

sources of creativity

users didnt

users contibute

creative input

democratic right users